Cooking recipes 37

Making Your Own Salsa At Home Can Be Quite Rewarding!

Some homemade salsas have been a favorite for years and even generations. Families have been handing down their own special family recipes to successive generations and kept a long tradition of making their own salsa.

It's easy to go to the nearby corner grocery store and pick up a jar of salsa, but making your own at home can be lots of fun and quite rewarding! If you have had a productive garden and have an overstock of tomatoes and peppers, salsa is an excellent way to use them up!

Once you do this, you may find that making salsa and stocking up your pantry each year will be a regular goal of yours! You only need a basic supply to make salsa, a simple recipe and the process of making the salsa.

Typical salsa ingredients are variations of the following: tomatoes, green pepper, Jalapeno, red chili pepper, garlic salt or powder, onion, cilantro, lemon juice. Don't be afraid to experiment!

As you can see, homemade salsa is full of vitamins and antioxidants that are known to keep your body stay healthy!

Personalize to your taste - Adding more jalapenos and other peppers will make the salsa hotter. In the same way reducing the number of peppers and adding more tomatoes will create a milder salsa.

The full flavor and strength of spices deteriorate over time so make sure to use fresh spices. And always use fresh oils. Like spices, oils lose their flavor over time and some can go rancid if kept too long.

To avoid chile pepper irritation wear rubber gloves or even small plastic bags over your hands. Don't touch your face or rub your eyes while handling hot peppers.

When making and preserving your homemade salsa, you will need all the supplies that you typically need when you are preserving tomatoes. You will need canning jars, lids and bands, a hot water bath canner, a large pot to cook the salsa, strainer, jar lifter, large bowl, and the ingredients from your recipe. Thoroughly wash all the utensils you will be using and boil the jars and bands. Warm the lids but don't boil them. Leave the jars and the lids in the hot water up until the time you are ready to fill them.

Alternatively you can store them in your freezer. After making a large batch of salsa, simply divide it into small containers and place them in the freezer. You'll be able to enjoy fresh-tasting salsa year round!

Salsa Lover Tony Buel has put together a delicious collection of various tried and true salsa recipes. Nothing beats the taste of good old fashioned Homemade Salsa!