Annie's Salsa

Do a test batch and find out if the skins matter to you.  I quit peeling tomatoes 20 years ago and no one has complained yet.

One more question: Can I use reg table salt instead of canning salt for this recipe? I'm not entering them in the county fair!   

Yeah.  That is what I used and no one complained.  But, I weighed the salt.  A tablespoon of pickling salt weighs 3/4 ounce.  I do not remember how the table salt volume compared.  Sorry about that. 
Here is where I got the figure for 3/4 ounce.http://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-on-substituting-salt-in-pickling/

Great bit of information! Thank you!   

Seriously, Use kosher salt not table salt. Kosher salt is available everywhere.

sanderson wrote:One more question:  Can I use reg table salt instead of canning salt for this recipe?  I'm not entering them in the county fair!   

I used sea salt.  mmm mm m

Also, table salt may discolor the final canned product.

Iodized table salt did not noticeably discolor the salsa.  It might of clouded the brine some for the dilly beans (more likely the dill did) but the taste was fine and it did not discolor the beans.
For the county fair I would use non iodized salt (which means no sea salt as well), but not for home use.

Why would kosher salt be better than table salt?  I have already discounted the color possibility.  The granules are larger making it harder to dissolve for a brine.  Because the granules are more variable, measuring for brine does require weighing it. 
Kosher salt is ideal for salting meat but for reasons that make it less ideal for making brine.
http://www.salt101.com/~salt101/index.php/blog-articles/item/1-kosher-vs-table-vs-sea-salts#.U-j-h2NeIr0

I did a bit more research on this and TUran did the correct thing in weighing her salt for her recipes. Table salt can weigh more than the flake or fine canning salt, thus the brine would be saltier if measured by volume. Apparently all kosher salt is not created equally. Morton has an anti caking agent where Diamond has none. It's the anticaking agents that may lead to discoloration of the product in the brine.Any old salt will do for the salsa is my guess. Salt to taste and make sure to add the correct amount of bottled lemon juice (much better flavor than the vinegar) to each jar when canning.

Here are a few links.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/food_safety/preservation/hgic3101.html

http://www.goodfoodstories.com/2012/10/29/kosher-salt/

http://www.thekitchn.com/pickling-salt-what-is-it-and-do-you-need-it-193108

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/805067

Thanks for all the info you guys have given me. For the salsa, I'll weigh the table salt. It's just for DH and me. Anything where clarity or color is important I'll use appropriate salt. I had DH buy bottled lemon juice. I thought the vinegar would be a little sweet for salsa, for our taste. I think in Cal we eat more authentic Mexican food. Less Americanized.

Thanks to Annie..the chip is truly only a vehicle for the best salsa recipe ever produced imho..you could eat it on a shoe sole & enjoy it....bout 24 pints & plans to make more...I almost dare not share it with many more friends lest they pester me to death.....I have the perfect slogan...

"Annies Salsa..more addictive than crack!"

My cilantro is all long ago bolted and I did not keep up with the replanting.  Has any one ground the seed and used it instead of the leaves? 
This Labor day is salsa making time!

Turan wrote:My cilantro is all long ago bolted and I did not keep up with the replanting.  Has any one ground the seed and used it instead of the leaves? 
This Labor day is salsa making time!

to my palate coriander has a different flavor than cilantro despite being from the same plant. Maybe you can pick up some cilantro at market.

I made a batch of Annie's salsa yesterday for the first time and it is truly delicious!  It is much thicker than the recipe I've used before. I like that a lot.  But I wonder if I made a mistake and drained the tomatoes too much.  Will it affect the canning/ shelf life? The recipes I've used before ended up with a very watery end product. Should I be concerned? Appreciate thoughts from others who have used the recipe. Love the flavor! I didn't have cilantro so I used my parsley, and it still tastes great.

camprn wrote:I did a bit more research on this and TUran did the correct thing in weighing her salt for her recipes. Table salt can weigh more than the flake or fine canning salt, thus the brine would be saltier if measured by volume. Apparently all kosher salt is not created equally. Morton has an anti caking agent where Diamond has none. It's the anticaking agents that may lead to discoloration of the product in the brine.Any old salt will do for the salsa is my guess. 

I was wondering why our pickles turned out salty this year and that is the answer. We used Mortons kosher salt. I just bought a new box of Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt and did the weight by volume test myself and Mortons weighs 3 ounces more per cup. Wow! That's a huge difference. Thanks Camprn for the post! Problem solved, lesson learned!

Jrfrommd, Nice photo of that granite counter top!

I ended up using a quarter cup of fresh cilantro chopped and a teaspoon of ground up berries.  We decided we really like the fresh coriander flavor in the fresh salsa as long as there is also cilantro leaves.  Right now there are 14 cups in the hot water canning bath so we will find out how the flavors bloom together this winter.

I found out that 6 cloves of garlic is supposed to be 2 tablespoons, according to the Cook's Thesaurus.  Next batch I am going to substitute some garlic for some of the onion.  We like it garlicier.

Sure is yummy on a corn and beans burrito for lunch.

Half a cup of chopped garlic replacing an equal amount of chopped onion gives a good zing.  The cooking tames it a lot.

That makes 3 pints and 25 cups of salsa canned today.

I did it!  Only took 3 summers to can something from the garden.  My tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic, and neighbor's lemons.  No sugar, tomato sauce or paste for our personal taste.  This was the only clean spot left on the counters.  

Congratulations!  And we'll done.

Thanks. It turns out that the semi-vintage canner/pressure cooker I bought months (a year ago) off eBay was never used! The seal was soft and supple, everything shiny. The salt conversion link was helpful as a nice Kosher was all hubby could find. The only impossible thing was dumping the used water in the sink. It was impossibly heavy after water bathing.

Well done, sanderson.  Nice that you canner seemed not to have been used. Hope it all tastes good.

I must try to remember the name of this thread whenever or if I ever make salsa etc.

It was useful reading back into this thread to see what I did last year and how it worked out.  I can report that the mixture of coriander seeds ground up and cilantro leaves (from the same plants just different life stages) was tasty all winter long.  We are just now out of salsa from last year.

This year I tried out a smoky salsa recipe I found on Balls canning website.  We did not like it, too acidic.  I made a batch of Annies using roasted tomatoes, half garlic and half onion, lemon juice, and some smoked sea salt.  Mixed the two batches together and canned that.  Came out pretty good.  

Some points for tweaking~
Store lemon and/or lime juice is adjusted acidity and can be substituted for the vinegar.  It actually makes a more acidic salsa but tastier.  Home lemons are much more variable in acidity and thus questionable for this use.

Onions and garlic, chopped, together should be 2 3/8 cup.  The proportions is dependent on taste (or what the garden decided for you)

If you are of the weighing/geeky type the parameters are~
Per pint volume~
200g tomatoes
200g (mix of onions, garlic, peppers and dry spices)
1/4c (60-61ml) bottled lemon juice
Will result in a salsa of about pH of 3.8 which well into the safe range below pH 4.6
http://nchfp.uga.edu/papers/2004/04ift-tomatosalsaPoster_combined.html

Here it is end of August and I am making salsa again.  I am sure glad that this thread exists.  We had a computer die where we stored recipes and much other stuff so I lost all the adjustments I had made over time for my families tastes.  I got the recipe again from this thread and then looked at what I posted and made adjustments accordingly.
This year I have lots of tomatillos but not a lot of tomatoes so it is mostly verde. I halved the salt and upped the coriander. Right now there are 12 cups in the canner.

Happy Salsa making season!