This is great. I needed a good laugh.

Thanks,

Carol

It's laughable all right. To do according to USDA guidelines I would have to process for 75 min at 15 lbs pressure which considering all the vinegar seems ridiculous. And to leave out the corn and beans would ruin the entire recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatillos

Sorry, John. I must be getting burned out on substitution questions. I thought you were joking.

If you're serious, I'd look at a corn relish recipe. You're not really aiming for a plain pressure-canned vegetable. Processing time is much shorter and lists of ingredients are pretty similar. You can see what proportions of vinegar to corn/onions/peppers etc. are recommended and go from there.

Carol

It's my fault, Carol.

At the time I posted I had not completely done my homework and honestly thought that the subs I wanted to make were feasible. The idea came from a black bean, corn & tomatillo salsa that was posted on another forum. And I knew there are commercial salsas based on the same 3 ingredients.

Pressure processing a salsa for 25 min at 15 lbs pressure turned out better than I had hoped for and I could accept that, but the 75 min just seems too much.

Anyways, I'm making a batch of what I posted as we speak. It will be refrigerated for a day or so until I decide how to process. Might freeze some and pressure process some. And who knows, I might just eat it all! But what I think will really do is make burritos with it.

Thanks for your help... you are one of the very best contributers to this great forum!

jt

Thanks for the pat on the back. We can all use it at one time or another.

I didn't think to mention that Annie at one point tried including some corn and black beans in her salsa. She did follow the longer processing time. She thought the results were disappointing. It seems the corn and beans lost a lot of their character. Instead of separate ingredients it just sort of melded into this anonymous mixture.

I still think a good look at a corn relish would be the way to go. Tomatillos are not a problem with that and a lot of recipes do include peppers, onions, some herbs. Cumin would certainly work. You might find doing some sort of "corn salsa" works best then stir in the black beans upon use.

Just a thought. Let us know what you come up with. It should be an interesting experiment.

Carol

has anyone looked at the salsa recipes in Small Batch Preserving?
There's a freezer recipe for Southwest Black Bean and Corn Salsa... no tomatoes, but I think you might be able to make a larger batch and put in some tomatoes.

If you're interested, I'll type it ... unless Carol already has it in her data base
Kay

I'm laughing. No "Carol doesn't have it in her data base."

Makes me sound much more "together" than I am. Kay, I'd love for you to type it in. I can't even find my copy of "Small Batch Preserving." It took me 20 minutes today to find my jar lifter. In the garage. Buried. The couch is in there, so is the old refrigerator and numerous boxes of books, including most of my canning references.

(Carol, who finally has a kitchen after 5 months and is now prepping her first batch of salsa for canning.)

Carol

I made a corn salsa last year (am including the link regarding it). I have to say, it was a bit disappointing. It was okay, but not great. I think, now that I've tried it, in the future I would probably simply make a salsa "base" and add frozen corn to it. And fresh cilantro. I am just not very happy with the corn after processing, I much prefer the frozen.

Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: corn salsa

Wonderful ..So when do we see pictures of the long awaited kitchen ...
We redid our kitchen two years ago, kept the same footprint so we were down only four weeks ... but I nearly went crazy.

So here goes

Southwest Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Source: "Small-Batch Preserving," Topp & Howard
Yield: About 2 3/4 cups

1 cup cooked black beans
1 cup frozen or fresh corn niblets
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 jalapeño peppers seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tbsps lime juice
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red peppers
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Place beans, corn celery, jalapeno pepper, garlic, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, cumin, black pepper and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.
Stir in red pepper, green onion, olive oil and cilantro.
Spoon salsa into clean jars or plastic containers to within 1/2 inch of rim. Cover with tight fiting lids. Label jars and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for longer storage.

Thanks, all. I'm still looking. Spent 2 hours googling and am so sick of looking at hits that were just not relevent. Even so-called advanced search freatures on recipe sites just delivered too much junk to sift through.

Too nice a day to be sitting here at the computer. Lots of peppers need picking and freezing and tomorrow is supposed to be really cool.

Later....

I've made Annie's wonderful and versatile salsa for 2 years now (if you're reading, thanks, Annie, in our house it's become a tradition) with fresh corn and canned and drained black bean additions. We used 1 cup of cider vinegar and 1/3 cup lime juice and processed in a BWB for 15 minutes (pints). I see now that it doesn't conform to USDA BWB guidelines, but it worked for us (and it was delicious).

sandyponder

sandyponder,

You should have seen the recipes that I found on the internet for salsas/relishes that contained corn, black beans etc. Some looked outrageously dangerous. A couple of them said basically to boil, pour into hot jars and cap. That's it! No processing, no freezing or refrigerating.

The canned corn and the turtle beans that I'm adding have presumably already been processed by Bush's Best & Green Giant.

I'm trying to decide what kind of cheese to use if make burritos out of the majority of it. Really don't need more burritos in the freezer right now though.

Frustrated...

jt

You're right. Corn and beans do present definite challenges in canning. Not just low pH but density issues. I personally would be very careful about merely adding it to Annie's salsa with a little additional acid as the previous poster mentioned. That could be a risky proposition. For one thing, I don't see that you could use the same processing time.

You can pickle green beans, corn, etc. but the problem is you have to add so much vinegar it definitely is a pickle, not a salsa.

It's interesting that Topp & Howard did a freezer version of that kind of salsa. They're very good at coming up with imaginative, safe, can-able recipes. The fact that they didn't in this case says something.

I'd really like to see the new edition of their book. I wonder what's been added?

John, if you're like me you may find yourself researching this as a winter project. Sometimes it takes more than one season to figure something out that's tasty and also safe.

I always end up wishing I had more freezer space. Some kind of humungous commercial walk-in, LOL.

Well, I'm canning salsa today. The first and only canning of the season. Good thing I over-canned last summer. I have lots I need to use up anyway.

Carol

I found this in the description of the new book at amazon.
"A brand new chapter features freezer preserving as an alternative to the traditional methods. "
I'll hold to see a review by someone who had the old book.

jt-

I used drained and well dried store bought black beans and fresh corn which had been cooked for 10 minutes at a rolling boil, cooled in ice water and cut off the cob (then cooked again with the salsa of course). I had no problem with the jars sealing or spoilage, however, the salsa was gone by February, so I cannot comment on long term storage.

I learned to BWB can from my mother and grandmother, and they grew and canned *everything* (out of necessity), so what I know about canning is familial knowledge, not scientific info.

Now I can because I enjoy it and because it keeps food without energy usage (save for the initial processing propane use), there is no hated plastic involved and my precious freezer space is then available for meat, pesto, pie crusts, cookies, etc.

I'm sure readinglady is correct, as I've read many of her posts, and I know how knowledgeable she is about canning. I will only say that I have had tasty results and no spoilage using black beans and corn in my version of Annie's Salsa.

sandyponder

You may continue to eat the salsa with perfect safety. (Well, that sounds like I'm giving permission, LOL, which is not what I mean.) But it's like Russian roulette - a gamble.

We all have to decide where our comfort level lies in regard to canning. One thing I try to keep in mind, having grown up in a canning family, is that bacteria "evolve". We live in a different world with different challenges in regard to what threatens our health.

When I think back to my grandmothers and "greats" I try to remember they were canning according to the best information available at the time. We should do no less. Food science has changed exponentially and I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation has its own concerns about our methods.

Carol

Hi guys & thanks for the replies!

I ended up with quite a bunch after adding the beans and corn. The heat level was just right for me and I wasn't about to pressure process and ruin everything. Ate all I could for two days with corn tortilla chips. It shouldn't be a surprise where it ended up...

One of my best ever! Looks skimpy in the picture, but 15 of them weighed a little over 10 lbs. Had one for supper last night and was so happy. Sometimes things just work.

JohnT

John, that does look great. I'll keep that in mind; it just sounds a treat for winter. So did you end up freezing sme?

Carol

sandyponder, With the recipe you canned spoilage is not the issue. That recipe is unsafe to can without a pressure canner (and possibly even then) because of all the low acid ingredients and the potential for botulism. Most of the time you may be safe, if there was no botulism present when you canned the salsa. However if there was the jar without air is the perfect place for it to grow.

As Carol said it is like Russian Roulette. SO far the chamber has been empty. Or like my DH said when I could not find my pressure canner instructions, "It's all fun and games until somebody loses a family member."

John, that looks wonderful!!

-Robin

John, that does look wonderfully yummy.

I agree with Carol and Robin. Everyone has their own comfort level as to safety, and that's their own personal choice, but I'm pretty diligent when low acid vegetables are involved, even more so when it's meat products.

Yes, I know our grandmothers did it for decades. Yes, I know only a couple dozen people got botulism last year. I don't want to be one of them...

As for changing safety issues, I rode all the way to Canada one summer in the back of a pick up truck too, but I'd sure never do it with my kids or grand kids. Heck, my parents didn't even know that smoking could kill them when they started. As our knowledge grows and our technology improves, my procedures change and adapt. It seems reasonable to me. (shrug)

Annie

Event was last weekend and was a phenomenal success. An auction of donated items and the $10 contest entry fees raised over $1400 for "Step Up For Charity" and the first ever annual hot sauce competition was held. There were over 120 entries of both commercial and amateur sauces. In the salsa category Annie's Salsa took 1st, Annie's Peach Twist Salsa took 2nd and a variation on Annie's Peach Twist Salsa took 3rd. (my entries) My Tomatillos Turtle Bean Salsa took 2nd in the "Fresh From the Fields" category which used peppers picked there and prepared entirely on site.

Only entered 4 items and they all ribboned so felt did really well. I so wanted to enter my fermented sauces, but until I can get them certified safe am going to continue to use for my own consumption only and dehydrate the rest for powder.

Swept the salsa category with these.....

1st

2nd

3rd

And my entry in the "Fresh From the Fields"

2nd

jt

WOW ... congratulations...
I like your combination of acids 1/3 cider vinegar, 1/3 lime juice, 1/3 lemon juice. Think I'll use that.

Kay

Thanks, Kay

I screwed up the Annie's Salsa label though. Should have looked like this:

#1

jt

Nice job jt!!

tap...tap.....tap.....we're waiting for pictures!!

Deanna (ain't Annie grand???)

Fantastic! Congratulations on your ribbons!

Boo

Well I wanted to try making Annie's Salsa but it was going to be my first attempt at canning so I chickened out. I did make, don't laugh, 5 half pints of peach preserves. First time and it turned out pretty good. Will make stuff again.
Annie is your recipe for pear chutney here somewhere? Sounds good.
Kim

Thanks Boo! There was a Boo in attendance. Any relation?

Deanna,

I haven't rounded up all the pictures yet and only have 1 of me that someone else posted on another forum. Should give an idea of how primitive it was. It took me a couple of hours to dice everything in my Onion Chopper. I had an ice chest to keep everything cool.

Yes, Annie ROCKS! I hope she isn't mad that I used her name and made so many substitutions to original recipes.

jt

Here is a link that might be useful:

Gosh, you guys are busy! I have a question about substituting canned diced tomatoes, drained, for the fresh chopped ones in Annie's salsa. Would I need to adjust any of the other ingredients? I got started too late in the summer to make enough of this wonderful stuff....7 more pints today. This would also be a big timesaver for me but I don't want to screw it up. By the time I share my 22 jars with 4 kids and grandkids I won't have any left and that would NOT be a good thing.

Thanks, Jude