Food

My First Canning Experience

September 28, 2010 /

YES! I did it! I canned for the first time ever this past weekend. I have to say, it was much easier than I thought it would be. Strangely enough, the only thing that took a good amount of time was the cooling down of the jars. I have always seen my mother canning since I was little. Jelly, tomatoes, salsa, sauce, cucumbers, peppers, anything she could, she was canning. Still does to this day. I mean even HER mother and my Dad’s mother canned! I used to watch it when I was little and the women in my family would say “some day you will being doing this too, Raven”. They were right! (as most women are 😉 )

Since the crop of tomatoes is coming to an end I thought I would make one last batch of salsa, but this time I wanted to make it HOT. I enjoy hot salsa more than I enjoy mild ones. I think that mild salsa can have some great flavor but honestly, if I have the choice, I will always reach for the hot.

I am going to just give you the ingredients as to what I used but I am not going to put any quantities in the recipe. That way if you choose to make it yourself you can adjust to how you like your salsa to taste. 🙂

Ingredients for Hot Salsa:

Olive Oil

Pepper

Salt

Water

Red Pepper Flake

Cayenne powder

Chili Powder

Fresh Garlic

Onion

Tomato Paste (can)

Tomato crushed (can)

Red bell peppers

Habaneros

Hungarian hot peppers

Cherry hot peppers

Italian Fryer Peppers (not spicy)

Fresh Tomatoes

(whew! that was a lot of peppers now that I think about it! haha)

Garlic
chop Garlic
and onion
Red bell Pepper
Hungarian Hot Peppers

Italian Fryer Peppers
Habanero

Super easy directions, very similar to my salsa in an earlier post. Actually I think it might be exactly the same, haha, but I will put it here anyways….

Directions for Salsa:

Place olive in large sauce pot on medium heat. Put garlic, salt, and pepper, into the pan and let garlic start to brown. Place chopped onion in pan and let the onion start to sweat. Once the onions start to change color put in tomato paste along with your red pepper flake, cayenne, and chili powder. Fill small tomato paste can with water and place in pot as well. Mix tomato paste well with onions and garlic until it resembles pasta sauce. Pour in crushed tomatoes. Let simmer on medium to high heat for about 10 minutes.

Place all your chopped peppers in you pan and stir. Add more salt and pepper to taste. (I like to save some of my peppers and let the salsa cook so that I can try it after it cooks for a while. This way if it is too hot I can add more tomatoes or if it is too mild I can add the rest of the peppers) Add your fresh tomatoes and well. Bring your heat down to medium low and let simmer for about 2 hours.

After the salsa has cooked take a little out in a small bowl and try it. Normally you will have to add more salt, pepper, or more peppers.

Place in your jars or in containers or just eat right from the pot.

Yay!

So there you have it, my first canning experience! It was a good one and I am glad I didn’t mess anything up haha. Hopefully someday I will be just as good at canning things as all the other women in my family. 🙂

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