Turn those Home Grown Tomatoes into Homemade Salsa

Your journey from tomato seed to edible tomato began a few months ago. Now you have so many tomatoes you aren’t sure what to do with all of them. You have given so many to the neighbors that when they see you coming they close their front doors and hide, because they don’t want anymore. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but you get the point.

One of the best ways to preserve your tomato harvest is to learn some canning methods. Particularly the water bath canning method. I will get to more on that in a moment. This method allows you to take your tomatoes and safely preserve them for consumption later on. If done correctly, they could last for up to one year.

But if you really want to maximize your time, efforts and tomato harvest, then combine the canning process with pre-made dishes. In other words, before you can your tomatoes, turn them into something first, i.e. tomato sauce, tomato soup, or as is the case with this article, salsa. What you choose is up to you, but it will definitely make things easier later on down the line.

Today I am focusing in on salsa. You can add it to just about anything, or nothing at all and use it as a dip for chips and tortillas. When you make a salsa from your own home grown tomatoes, it really tastes that much better. So let’s begin. 

I would like to say that I am a seasoned chef and conjured up my own salsa recipe, however I did not.  I use a pre-made mix that requires adding nothing more than my own tomatoes and distilled vinegar.

As shown in the picture, I used Mrs. Wages salsa mix.  A nice and easy recipe that anyone with 10 minutes and a working stove can make (and tomatoes of course).

I chose the mild/medium salsa as I am not one that likes things too spicy, however, even that had a bit of a kick to it.  At least to me anyway.

Follow the instructions on the back to prepare the mix.  The only thing you will need to add is vinegar and your tomatoes.  So below I gave a brief example of how to get your tomatoes started.

I used a variety of tomatoes to make up my salsa.  This season I grew beefsteak, romas and cherry.  If you look in the photo you will see a combination of all three, with a bit more romas then the others.

Most people use only romas because they are easy to cut the core out and keep the seeds out of their salsa mix.  The choice is up to you.

To get your tomatoes ready for the salsa mix, you will first need to blanch them.  This makes removing the skins (which you don't want), much much easier.  Blanching is simply the process of putting your tomatoes into boiling water for 45 seconds, then removing them and immediately submerging them into ice water.


 


Once the blanching process has been completed, move the tomatoes to an area with enough space and start removing the skins by hand.  You should not have to use a knife or any other tool to remove the skins.  Save the knife for the dicing step.  If you do, place the tomato back into the boiling water for a little bit longer.

After you have "skinned" the tomatoes, use a sharp knife to dice them.  Cut the tomatoes into small cubes then place the diced tomatoes into your salsa mix. 

Follow the instructions on the back of the pack, which is bringing the tomato mixture to a boil, then reducing the heat and letting it simmer for 10 minutes.

If you plan on canning your salsa for long term storage, then please read the rest of this article.  If you plan on consuming your salsa within the next few weeks, then you can skip the canning portion and read the part of putting the salsa into canning jars.

If you plan to "can" your salsa

Before you begin the above tomato salsa mix, get your canning supplies ready.  Get your water bath going over high heat to get it to a boil and another large pot on a medium to low heat that you will submerge your jars, lids and bands into to sterilize.

I used pint sized jars and made enough to fill four and a half pints.  I felt using smaller jars made it easier to consume in reasonable sized quantities later on.

Get your other canning tools ready.  They normally consist of a jar grabber, tongs, a magnet, funnel and jar tightener.

Each serve a valuable purpose in the canning process.  If you have never canned before, I recommend that you read, Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

It is a great source of information on diving into the world of canning and food preservation.


After your mix has finished simmering, use the funnel and a ladle to pour the mixture into one of your canning jars leaving a quarter inch of head space.  That is the space from the top of the jar to the top of the salsa inside the jar.  

Once you have your jars filled and sealed with a lid and band, submerge your filled jars into your boiling water bath.  Once the water returns to a rolling boil, then the clock begins.  Boil your jars for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, use your jar grabbers to remove the jars and place them on a cooling rack or towel to let cool.  You will know that your jars properly sealed if you hear them begin to pop.  That can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the contents of the jar.

If you find that your jar did not seal properly you can either try again, or place that jar in the fridge and consume within a couple of weeks.

And that's it!  You now have tasty salsa.


About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us. Be sure to join Mike`s vegetable seeds mailing list.

Watch the video below to learn more about Mike`s Seeds of the Month Club:

Home Vegetable Gardening: The New Prescription from Doctors and Nutritionists

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While finishing up a project I was working on the other night, I was flipping through TV stations to at least put something on that was watchable as background noise. I came across an infomerical selling some new great weight loss product that is guaranteed to give you those 6 pack abs and rock hard muscles in as little as 20 minutes a day.

As luck would have it, I was able to catch the fine print after the narrator uttered those words that read, “results may vary and were based on a combination of proper exercise and eating 3 healthy meals every day for 12 weeks.”

I am not a dietitian or nutrition expert but common sense would leave me to believe that a healthy eating regimen combined with exercise would yield a healthier “you” with or without that piece of equipment that costs 4 easy payments of $99 per month.

The commercial, if nothing else, did make me think about something and that was how can you tie in a home vegetable garden with a healthier eating lifestyle. I mean, after all, fruits and veggies by definition are healthy for you.

I recently brought up this topic to food and nutrition expert Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, author of the book The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment and the creator of the DVD, Pressure Cooking, A Fresh Look: Delicious Dishes in Minutes.

Jill is a registered dietitian who also teaches cooking classes. She recommends to her students that they should always grow their own fruits and vegetables. She had one student who grew a large garden and was able to lose 10 pounds by adding into her healthy eating habits the fresh fruits and veggies she grew herself.

Freshness, flavor, likeliness of consumption and pick what you need are just some of the reasons why Jill recommends to her students that they grow their own. Vegetables you grow yourself will always be fresher than what you can buy in the store and have a better flavor too. She says that you are more likely to consume what you grow since you will be growing what you like to eat and she says that waste will be at a minimum because you can wait and harvest only what you will consume.

Jill also recommends, “anyone who can grow their own fruits, vegetables and herbs do so in an effort to be sure that they are getting the freshest, best and unsprayed produce. The flavor and freshness will be much improved. Also in the growing process, people get a lot of spiritual nourishment. You can't get that from buying your vegetables. And almost everyone can grow a small pot of herbs of some sort.”

There is enough research out there to prove that adding fresh fruits and veggies to each of your meals is a great way to excellent health. So, is having a home vegetable garden the new prescription from doctors?

Yes, says, Dr. Nathan Daley a member of the International Association for Ecology and Health and the American College of Sports Medicine. “As a physician I do a great deal of nutrition and lifestyle counseling. I often recommend that patients grow their own vegetables, or at least some of them, in order to maximize the nutritional value and minimize the toxicant burden of their produce.”

In an environment where “fast” food is becoming the norm, doctors prescribing home vegetable gardening as a remedy is a great start in moving away from unhealthy eating habits. Everyone listens to their doctor right? Once prescribed though it becomes the challenge of parents everywhere to not only take and use that advice themselves but also instill that lifestyle into their children so they can then pass it on to future generations.

As a father of two children myself, I know it is important to me to do this as many other parents out there I spoke with. Registered dietitian Marcia Crawford, works with her clients to focus in on getting their children to enjoy the benefits of a “farm to fork” lifestyle. “The process always ends up with kids eating more produce. Inevitably the whole family gets involved. Meals begin to be planned and produce becomes the star of the plate, not an afterthought,” explains Marcia.

“I love the fact that you can garden at any age in any place and really impact your health - be it herbs that give flavor to foods that previously would have been drowned in fat for flavor or no fat, big flavor berries or some seriously healthy vegetables. "Fresh" and "local" cease to be marketing words; there is nothing more rewarding then eating the fruits of your labor.”

Ms. Crawford, along with Dr. Daley and Ms. Nussinow, all agree that once you make fresh home grown produce the focus, the calories will decrease and nutrient density will increase with every meal.

To determine the best way to incorporate your home vegetable garden with you and your family’s healthy eating style, evaluate a few areas first, so says nutrition expert and author of the book Nutrition Simplified: A Realistic 7 Step Workbook to Jump Start Your Metabolism , Betsy Markle, RD.

“What are the fruits and veggies the individual likes/dislikes? Are there any particular meals or foods that they would like to make? For instance, I love making my own salsa so I try to plant most of those ingredients. How much space do they have? How much time do they have to spend on their garden? Where do they live (weather/garden time period)?” says Betsy. You must be able to honestly plan this out in order to make it be affective and work.

If you can walk into your doctor’s office and get a prescription for pains and aches why not get a prescription from your doctor to grow your own fruits and vegetables? Maybe if more doctor’s made this prescription a staple to every office visit, more people would live a healthier lifestyle.


About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club: