My tomatoes are doing very well this year. This week I have been so busy that I have decided that I will not even look at them so then I won’t even know that there are tomatoes that should be picked!
A few weeks ago we made several batches of delicious salsa. My children enjoy it as an afternoon snack after school with taco chips. So it is not unusual to eat several pints a week.
I have made this for quite a few years so I have perfected my own recipe. We like ours a little warm but not too hot.
First I cut up tomatoes to make 6 quarts. While I am cutting the tomatoes I get my daughters to chop up 2 quarts of onions. (We do them in the food processor). The girls also like to slice the peppers on our slicer then I just have to cut them in smaller pieces. It takes 2 quarts of peppers and I do about 1/3 hot peppers.
Then I mix everything except for the tomatoes. This includes 6 tablespoon salt, 3 tablespoon chili powder, 1 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 1/2 tablespoon cumin, 5 tablespoons sugar, and 1 1/2 cups vinegar. Boil for 5 minutes and then add the tomatoes. Boil for about 10 minutes and then add about 1 cup Thermflo or clear jell to 2 cups of juice from the salsa. I shake this in my gravy shaker and then add it to the salsa until it is as thick as I want it.

While the salsa is boiling I get my jars ready. I put original salsa jars or pickle jars in very hot water. When the salsa is done I funnel it into the jars and immediately wipe them and screw the lids on.

When I was finished I had some tomatoes left over that I made into juice. It wasn’t too much so I got out my old fashioned tomatoe strainer. Do any of you still use these?