Sounds wonderful but clear up this question for me...You say you overdid it on the salt....So did you do the 1/8 cup that the recipe called for or did you add more. I might try this recipe so I would like to know.

I added too much salt. Somehow I ended up putting closer to 1/4 cup...more like 3/4 of 1/4 of a cup...if that makes any sense. I added the pineapple juice and that helped with a little sugar.

I think it could also use more crushed pineapple. Do you think this is possible given the acidity?

Carol? Annie? Ken?

Canning salt vs. Kosher salt can cause differences. If the orginal recipe called for Kosher salt, adding pickling salt would be about 1/3 less due to the smaller granule size. Adding a bit more tomato paste can also thicken and offset the salty taste, as can a some added dried sweet red peppers, garlic, and onions.

The recipe looks like Annie's original Tomato salsa recipe, with added pineapple and peaches. I wouldn't put onions, peppers and salt into a fruit salsa. Sorry but is doesn't sound appetizing to me. Just my opinion. Why ruin a good recipe.

Shirley, yes it is Annie's Salsa with 4 cups of fruit versus 8 cups of tomatoes (see my Annie's Pineapple Salsa post). Every time I've made fruit salsa, I've always ended up mixing it with Annie's tomato salsa because I liked the tomato and fruit mixture! It is very good BTW. Target has a Pineapple Peach Salsa with tomatos in it by Archer Farms, and I thought, "Hmmm...I wonder if I could do this with Annie's?"

Ken, I don't want to add any more tomatoe paste or low acid ingredients because I don't want to lower the acidity. The pineapple juice and a bit more sugar helped with the saltiness.

Should I add more crushed pineapple?

The tomato paste isn't low acid, as its cooked down tomatoes and the acid level remains and gets more concentrated. Dried veggies added will also soak up liquid and that liquid is acidic already. You could add a bit more pinapple if you like, maybe the tidbit size, vs. crushed. If need be, you can also add some citric acid if your concerned about lowering the acid level too much. Salt is added to many fruit based and sweetened things, but in low amounts.

I've seen similar tomato-fruit salsas offered at many stores, including Costco, which sells a very good tomato-mango-peach.

I have two thoughts, for what it's worth. Without getting into the acidity issue, my first thought is that for my taste, at least, even at the original 1/8 cup level, it's too much salt. That's a teaspoon of salt per pint, which is pretty high, especially allowing for any additional salt that might be in the commercial tomato sauce. (I know that varies by brand.) A salsa with fruit in it is going to be more delicate and I think the salt can overwhelm the fruitiness pretty easily.

I think the best option for over-salting, assuming the mixture isn't already canned, is to make another salt-free batch and combine them. The yield isn't that great per batch and if you really like this combination, 12 pints isn't too much to have around. That's one per month. It would take a whole lot of pineapple to reduce the saltiness of the original batch. At some point your salsa would lose the character that appeals to you.

Secondly, I'm not sure you caught Annie's comment (There have been so many threads on her salsa over time.) that the pressure canning method with less vinegar/citrus juice is no longer recommended. The Extension service she consulted was comfortable with the boiling water recipe at the higher level of vinegar but couldn't commit to the pressure canned version.

I don't know that it's unsafe, just that it's not approved, so I thought I'd share a heads-up on that one.

Good luck with your salsa, whatever you decide to do.

Carol

Thanks Carol...it's not too, too salty, but then again I tasted it last nite when it was hot on the stove, so it could have come across as saltier.

Sigh...I'll taste it again today, after it has chilled and see what it's like. I just don't want to go back to the store, buy all the ingredients, and do all that chopping! LOL!

I remember the post about PCing Annie's Salsa, but fortunately I don't mind the extra vinegar, so it's no big loss to me.

So, do you think it would be alright to add about 1 cup more of crushed pineapple? I think it "needs" something.

Maybe a few sun dried tomatoes chopped up too. They will easily rehydrate.

I don't think I can give you an answer on that, at least as a canned product. It'll have to be your judgment call.

Canned pineapple can be as high as 4.1 pH, which is getting a little close to the line. It's also going to alter the overall density and the ratio of vinegar to solids. That's where things get really uncomfortable for me.

Can you identify specifically what's lacking? Because if the salsa is coming off as a little bland or characterless, I'm guessing (just a guess) that the canned pineapple won't correct the problem. If anything, it will be more sweet and more bland.

I might be more inclined to re-hydrate some dried hot peppers in lime juice and add that to the mixture for some safe "oomph." Re-hydrating in an acid product gets around the textural issues of adding dried chewy flakes to the salsa. A little chile powder might also be a possibility. It's too bad you don't have some powdered lime.

This probably isn't much help. Not being there to taste, I can't be too specific. I hope it works out.

Carol

Here ya go! Lime powder!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lime powder

Aw heck, I'm just gonna make it over. I kept tasting it last nite and was going back and forth..."Hmmm, this isn't too salty. Let me take another taste...oh wait, it is! Naw, it's not..."

So I'm gonna take a huge honking bag of tortilla chips into work and feed it to the piranhas...err coworkers and start over on the weekend.

Sigh.

On a good note, I made some Caramelized Red Onion Relish and Ginger Garlic Mustard last nite that turned out great!

Thank goodness for piranha-like coworkers. They can be handy sometimes ;)

Ooh, the ginger garlic mustard sounds great. Care to share?

Carol