Tips and Tricks to Making Your Own Flavorful Salsa at Home
Some homemade salsas have been a favorite for years and even generations. Families have been handing down their own special family recipes to successive generations and kept a long tradition of making their own salsa.
It’s easy to go to the nearby corner grocery store and pick up a jar of salsa, but making your own at home can be lots of fun and quite rewarding! If you have had a productive garden and have an overstock of tomatoes and peppers, salsa is an excellent way to use them up!
When you do this once, you may find that stocking up your pantry with homemade salsa will be a regular goal of yours! You only need a basic supply to make salsa, a simple recipe and the process of making the salsa.
Typical salsa ingredients are variations of the following: tomatoes, green pepper, Jalapeno, red chili pepper, garlic salt or powder, onion, cilantro, lemon juice. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
And salsa is full of antioxidants and vitamins that are known to keep your body stay healthy!
Be sure to tweak the ingredients to your taste - Adding more jalapenos and other peppers will make your salsa hotter and spicier salsa. Alternatively, for a milder salsa, add more tomatoes and reduce the number.
It is important to know that the full strength and flavor of spices deteriorate with time so make sure to use fresh spices. And always use fresh oils as well. Like spices, oils will lose their flavor over time - some can even go rancid if kept too long.
When making salsa you will need to wear rubber gloves to skin irritation from the chili peppers. And don’t touch your face or rub your eyes while handling hot peppers.
You will need all the supplies that you typically need when you are preserving tomatoes. You will need canning jars, lids and bands, a hot water bath canner, a large pot to cook the salsa, strainer, jar lifter, large bowl, and the ingredients from your recipe. Thoroughly wash all the utensils you will be using and boil the jars and bands. Leave the jars and the lids in the hot water up until the time you are ready to use them.
A freezer is also a good place to store your salsa. After making a large batch simply divide it into smaller containers and put them in your freezer. Imagine being able to enjoy your fresh and tasty salsa year round!
