This last Sunday I tried my hand at making homemade salsa. This was not only my very first experience with making homemade salsa, but I also canned the salsa. Now, while I have often canned with my mother and family (I consider myself a professional canning helper), I have NEVER canned anything by myself, without close adult supervision. What a treat this was. ha ha ha
To begin with, I do have pictures, however, I am having problems downloading them from my camera, so I'll have to post those later. Secondly, please remember, I am not a solo canning professional. So, here is how it went...I decided to make salsa because my neighbor and a really nice lady at church had a bunch of tomatoes from their gardens they had offerred to me. Also, I've been meaning to try out the solo canning for some time now, but haven't had 1) the guts to do it 2) the energy and 3) a canner. My mother, a professional solo canner, had a spare canner she gave me and then all I could blame this on was my energy and bravery. I don't like to say I'm a whimpy person, so I felt slightly goaded into action this summer. With the gift of the free tomatoes, I felt as if all my opportunity for excuses were taken away. It started out well enough, I gathered a canning book, some jars, other canning tools and all my ingredients in my kitchen. THEN I let them stare at me for approximately 3-4 days while I gathered my courage and energy. It's hard to have energy for anything when you're 28 weeks pregnant, but a marathon of canning (read 6 or so hours, not days) took much courage gathering. :)
Next, I waited for some down time between errands, child entertaining, and mandatory appointments. Then, I just made myself start. Much to my amazement, it wasn't so bad, but I made several classic novice solo canner mistakes. First of all, my blanching water was not hot enough for my tomatoes, and I ended up slightly cooking the tomatoes, instead of just shocking them to get the skin off. Cutting steaming hot tomatoes into chunks isn't that easy, and I don't recommend it. It adds considerable time to the canning process. Then I also left in too many of the jalapeno seeds. Now, I know they measure hot on a scale, but not being a knower of the scale, let me invent my own. If bland is 0 and hot is 10, I like my stuff at a 3 or 4. My jalapeno salsa was a 8 I would say. Oh my. So there was some scrambling, and some internet researching, and a some errand running to the grocery by my friend who helped me out since it was Sunday (mistake #3 - never can on Sunday in case you need to run to the market!). We finally figured out we could add some of the following and lower the heat level of the salsa : sugar, more cider, some tomato paste, some more diced tomatoes. I now feel confident to say my salsa is a 5, not an 8. Still a little spicy for me, but bearable when added to sour cream or other dishes.
Overall, I feel like the event was a success, and I am proud of me for getting my 12 little jars of salsa made and canned. Yay me! Next I'm going to try my hand at peaches, and apple pie filling. Maybe even green beans if I can squeeze in a trip to my parents when their beans come in. I'll be sure to keep every one posted.
To begin with, I do have pictures, however, I am having problems downloading them from my camera, so I'll have to post those later. Secondly, please remember, I am not a solo canning professional. So, here is how it went...I decided to make salsa because my neighbor and a really nice lady at church had a bunch of tomatoes from their gardens they had offerred to me. Also, I've been meaning to try out the solo canning for some time now, but haven't had 1) the guts to do it 2) the energy and 3) a canner. My mother, a professional solo canner, had a spare canner she gave me and then all I could blame this on was my energy and bravery. I don't like to say I'm a whimpy person, so I felt slightly goaded into action this summer. With the gift of the free tomatoes, I felt as if all my opportunity for excuses were taken away. It started out well enough, I gathered a canning book, some jars, other canning tools and all my ingredients in my kitchen. THEN I let them stare at me for approximately 3-4 days while I gathered my courage and energy. It's hard to have energy for anything when you're 28 weeks pregnant, but a marathon of canning (read 6 or so hours, not days) took much courage gathering. :)
Next, I waited for some down time between errands, child entertaining, and mandatory appointments. Then, I just made myself start. Much to my amazement, it wasn't so bad, but I made several classic novice solo canner mistakes. First of all, my blanching water was not hot enough for my tomatoes, and I ended up slightly cooking the tomatoes, instead of just shocking them to get the skin off. Cutting steaming hot tomatoes into chunks isn't that easy, and I don't recommend it. It adds considerable time to the canning process. Then I also left in too many of the jalapeno seeds. Now, I know they measure hot on a scale, but not being a knower of the scale, let me invent my own. If bland is 0 and hot is 10, I like my stuff at a 3 or 4. My jalapeno salsa was a 8 I would say. Oh my. So there was some scrambling, and some internet researching, and a some errand running to the grocery by my friend who helped me out since it was Sunday (mistake #3 - never can on Sunday in case you need to run to the market!). We finally figured out we could add some of the following and lower the heat level of the salsa : sugar, more cider, some tomato paste, some more diced tomatoes. I now feel confident to say my salsa is a 5, not an 8. Still a little spicy for me, but bearable when added to sour cream or other dishes.
Overall, I feel like the event was a success, and I am proud of me for getting my 12 little jars of salsa made and canned. Yay me! Next I'm going to try my hand at peaches, and apple pie filling. Maybe even green beans if I can squeeze in a trip to my parents when their beans come in. I'll be sure to keep every one posted.
I'm so proud of you! My friends always thought that I was crazy to can pregnant, but I think it's easier than canning with a baby, so maybe you can skip next year. Good luck with all your other stuff--I can't wait to hear about it.
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