Hi guys! Today I am back with my Creative DIY Team (Brenda, Cristina, and Susan) and we are each bringing you a Fall project. To me, Fall is all about spending time together as a family outside, getting those last days of nice weather in; it’s about harvesting everything you’ve worked hard to grow over the summer; and it’s about getting ready for the colder season ahead. A couple of weeks ago I wrote all about what I had recently purchased from Amazon so that I could commence the canning! Since everything arrived, I have been putting my supplies to extreme use, canning peaches, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and this no sugar added peach salsa I am sharing today.
Before I get into the post, I need to fill you all in on a little something you may not know. My husband is an area manager for Chipotle… the Chipotle. What does that have to do with this recipe? Well first, he loved it! Win right there, since his standards must be higher than mine. And second, he stood by me watching, silently judging my cutting techniques which drive him crazy. He offered to show me the proper way, but I just growled in response. Making salsa in the Bustamante kitchen is a high pressure job, you guys!
As the weather gets colder, we love to eat crock pot salsa chicken. (Easiest recipe ever…. dump in your thawed chicken breasts, dump in a bunch of salsa, and then add a lot of taco seasoning. Cook on high for a few hours.) Chris prefers savory and hot, whereas the rest of us prefer sweeter salsas. I typically combine different salsas, but wanted to create a recipe that would satisfy us all, and be better for us as well.
I stopped by one of my favorite farm stands last week and purchased 1/2 bushel of “seconds” peaches as well as 1/2 bushel of canning tomatoes, each only $10. I had already canned our own tomatoes, so needed to purchase some to make this salsa. I didn’t use all of the peaches and tomatoes for this recipe. I used 6 pounds of peaches, and 5 pounds of tomatoes. This weight was taken prior to trimming off any damaged areas and removing peach pits. And I am going to apologize now for my less than stellar phone photos, but my hands were not in a condition to be touching my expensive camera as I made this salsa! 😉
Once you have them measured, trim off any of the bruises or icky spots. Now, this first step is what I consider to be the most fun… peeling the peaches and tomatoes! I am not even kidding, there is something about this process that I love.
You’ll follow the same steps for both the peaches and tomatoes when it comes to peeling.
First, bring a large pot (large enough for water and all of your tomatoes or all of your peaches) of water to boiling. If you put a lid on it, it will come to boil more quickly. I know that’s a stupid tip and most people know that, but hey… worth sharing for the small percentage of people who don’t!
Once the water is boiling, put all of your tomatoes or peaches into the pot and allow them to boil for two to three minutes. Be careful putting them in the hot water… my technique was sort of haphazardly toss a few in and jump away so I didn’t get splashed. So maybe come up with a better technique for yourself.
While it’s boiling, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl or pot. Because I needed ice for both tomatoes and peaches, I actually used ice and a bit of water so that my bath was an ice cold water and ice bath. It worked beautifully.
Use a spaghetti ladle to remove your fruit from the hot water, and place it directly in the ice bath. The change in temperature that occurs will cause the skin to loosen up and it becomes easy to peel right off.
Use your fingers to remove the skin… it should slip right off. If it doesn’t, a vegetable peeler can help get any of those errant pieces.
Once they’re peeled, your tomatoes and peaches should look like this:
After peeling, cut them in half so that you can remove the peach pits, and dice it all up easilt.
If you just lay them on the flat sides of their halves, they are super easy to dice.
As you dice up the tomatoes and peaches, place it all in a large sauce pan.
Add to that 3/4 c. chopped cilantro, 4 diced red jalapeño peppers, 4 diced garlic cloves, 1 yellow onion, 1 large bell pepper (I used a small red and a small yellow from my garden, so you can use whatever you’d like), 1 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar, and 2 tsp. sea salt. Mix it all up and bring it all to a boil on the stove, and then turn the heat down, simmering until it’s as liquid as you prefer. I simmered mine for about an hour.
Next, fill your sterilized jars using a funnel and ladle. The canning set I purchased has the perfect sized funnel in it. Make sure that the mouth of the jar is perfectly clean before screwing on your sterile lids as well.
Once all of the lids are on, place the jars in the rack of your canning pot and lower the rack to the bottom of the pot. Fill with warm water (Your jars will be hot- do not use cold water!!!) until the water reaches about an inch above the top of the lids. Put the lid on your canning pot, and bring it to a boil and allow it to boil for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, use your jar lifter to remove the jars from water and set them on a towel to cool. As they cool, you will hear the lids pop, indicating they are sealing. Allow them to sit for 24 hours before moving. Any jars that do not properly seal can be put in the refrigerator for immediate use. That didn’t happen to me, but wanted to let you know in case it happens to you.
Chris and I have tried it with chips and both loved it. I gave a jar to my parents and they ate it on their burgers… the options are endless! Emmy is looking forward to her favorite salsa chicken this Fall.
The step by step version of this recipe is below. (I had it in a lovely printable format but I am having a lot of technical issues you may have noticed, and I can’t seem to get it back to that.) Although for the love of all that is good, I can’t get my image to show up in it… if you have any pointers, fill me in!
How do you prepare for Fall? Be sure to visit Brenda, Cristina, and Susan to see how they are getting their Fall on as well!
No Sugar Added Peach Salsa for Canning servings:8 pints
Ingrediends
6 lbs peaches
5 lbs tomatoes
3/4 c. chopped cilantro
4 red jalapeño peppers
4 garlic cloves
1 yellow onion
1 large bell pepper
1 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. sea salt
Directions
1. Cut off and discard any bruises or damaged areas of tomatoes and peaches.
2. Peel peaches and tomatoes and place in large sauce pan.
3. Add chopped cilantro.
4. Dice peppers, onion, and garlic and add to sauce pan.
5. Pour in apple cider vinegar.
6. Sprinkle in sea salt.
7. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low. Simmer until salsa has reached desired consistency, app. 1 hour.
8. Remove from heat and ladle into 8 sterilized pint jars, wiping the mouths of the jars clean after filling. Screw sterilized lids into place.
9. Place in canning pot in water bath, with water reaching an inch above lid level. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for 20 minutes to process.
10. Using a jar lifter, remove jars from bath and place on towel on flat surface to cool. As they cool, lids will vacuum seal. Allow to sit for 24 hours.
Sharing here: The Inspiration Gallery
