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scwasil

Pureeing tomatoes, canning salsa

scwasil
9 years ago

Ive been looking for a salsa recipe for canning my never ending supply of tomatoes. I found annies recipe and it looks great, but I have already pureed my tomatoes - I hate chunky salsa. Am I out of luck with all of my tomatoes or can I still use them safely in the salsa? If it matters I would be pureeing everything else too.

Comments (6)

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    If already pureed and not weighed or counted first and stored in weighted/measured amount then it will be almost impossible to covert them to usable recipe measurements. If a recipe calls for 10 lbs of tomatoes or 10 large tomatoes, how many cups of puree is that? No way to know. And ingredient pH, density is vitally important in salsa recipes because of all the low-acid foods added.

    So you will have to combine it with non-pureed tomatoes and use it as a secondary ingredient.

    The link below from NCHFP might work if you still have non-pureed tomatoes and you use the puree instead of the tomato paste called for.

    Annies Salsa would work if you use non-pureed tomatoes and use some of your puree for the tomato sauce and paste called for in the recipes (convert oz to cups).

    Dave

    Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Tomato Salsa

  • lpinkmountain
    9 years ago

    Here's a recipe I ran across on the Univ. of GA Extension Web site. You cold make it and mush up the tomatoes while cooking them. Also perhaps puree AFTER cooking for smoother sauce.

    Tomato Taco Sauce
    ⢠8 quarts peeled, cored, finely chopped paste tomatoes
    â¢2 cloves garlic, crushed
    â¢5 cups chopped onions
    â¢4 jalapeño peppers, seeded, chopped
    â¢4 long green chiles, seeded, chopped
    â¢2ý cups vinegar (5 percent)
    â¢2 tablespoons salt
    â¢1ý tablespoons black pepper
    â¢1 tablespoon sugar
    â¢2 tablespoons oregano leaves (optional)
    â¢1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
    Note: This recipe works best with paste tomatoes, as slicing tomatoes will yield a thin watery salsa. If you only have slicing tomatoes available, use theTomato/Tomato Paste Salsa recipe.
    Caution: Wear plastic or rubber gloves while handling and cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.
    Procedure:
    Wash and rinse canning jars; keep hot until ready to
    use. Prepare lids according to manufacturerâÂÂs directions.
    Preparing Peppers:
    The jalapeño peppers do not need to be peeled. The skin of long green chile s may be tough. If you choose to peel chiles, use one of the two methods on page 5.
    Hot Pack:
    Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot and heat,
    stirring frequently, until mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently until thick (about 1 hour). Ladle hot into clean, hot jars, leaving ý-inch headspace.

    Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations below.

    (Hot pack and process 15 min. from 0-1,000 ft. altitude. Add five minutes for every 6K feet after that.)

    Below is link to the recipes, there are a whole LOT of them and you might find something you like and meets your needs. You can cook and mush up your salsa to make it less chunky.

    Also instructions for peeling and de-seeding your peppers, which will make a smoother salsa.

    Preparing Peppers:
    Wash and dry chiles; slit each pepper along the side to allow steam to escape. Peel using one of these two methods
    to blister skins:

    Oven or broiler method to blister skins
    Place chiles in a hot oven (400ðF) or broiler for 6 to 8 minutes until skins blister.

    Range-top method to blister skins
    Cover hot burner (either gas or electric) with heavy wire mesh. Place peppers on burner for several minutes until skins blister.

    To peel, after blistering skins, place peppers in a pan and cover with a damp cloth. (This will make peeling the peppers easier.) Cool several minutes; slip off skins. Discard seeds and chop.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sensational Salsas from Univ. GA Extension

  • scwasil
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I know how many tomatoes I have, and how much they weighed before so that wouldn't be an issue. From what I understand its a viscosity issue so if there thing else is pureed to a liquid as well wouldn't they all mix into a homogenous mixture. I'm not talking small chunks, but like spaghetti sauce smooth is how I always make it.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Heat penetration is different for chunks vs puree (why they say not safe to can pureed pumpkin) so if you are doing your salsa that consistency I would follow the Tomato-Vegetable Juice processing instructions even with the extra vinegar/lemon juice.

    Which means 35 minutes for pints instead of 15 minutes, and that's just a guess, if you are folllowing an approved recipe for salsa there should be enough acid in there even if using more than the 1Cof low-acid veggies per 7.33lbs (or more) of tomatoes.

    If your salsa is thicker than a juice, cooked down like a tomato/spaghetti sauce, then I'd follow the instructions for Spaghetti Sauce without Meat, which means PCing, not BWBing, even with the added acid.

    Even "Mexican Tomato Sauce" is not pureed, so I can't find any closer recipes - maybe "Easy Hot Sauce" which is only done in half pints, or Ball's Chili Sauce, which is 20 minutes for pints (it's not pureed but is not as chunky as a salsa).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ball Chili Sauce

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    so if there thing else is pureed to a liquid as well wouldn't they all mix into a homogenous mixture. I'm not talking small chunks, but like spaghetti sauce smooth is how I always make it.

    That's the problem. None of the approved salsa recipes call for everything being pureed. Salsa is by its nature is "chunky" and the chunks are surrounded by the acidic liquid. Any puree used in making salsa is normally only a secondary ingredient.

    So you are making a sauce. One that happens to taste like salsa. That's fine for tomatoes but pureed low-acid vegetables like onions and peppers have different safety guidelines and require longer processing times, careful acidification and are normally pureed only after opening the jars.

    So if you are using your own recipe to make it we'd need to see the recipe. Otherwise it is a done-at-your-own-risk thing.

    Dave

  • lpinkmountain
    9 years ago

    I make Ball Chili sauce all the time, for enchiladas. To me it tastes just like salsa.