I’ve been canning salsa with all our garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions using My favorite Salsa For Canning. It has remained my favorite even after trying three different recipes last year. I like that I don’t have to deal with store-bought-preservative-filled lemon juice, which every site I visited recommended as the only lemon juice with a guaranteed 5% acidity.
However, I just had to share with you how I am making it now that cuts the preparation time in half:
I’m using a food processor to chop the tomatoes, peels and all!
Thanks to Katie at Kitchen Stewardship who posted about this when making her own salsa, my salsa-making life is much easier now. It had never occurred to me to not peel the tomatoes, but I tried it with one batch last year and I couldn’t tell the difference between that batch and all the others where I peeled and hand-chopped all the tomatoes.
The tomatoes do come out a bit smaller than with hand chopping, but there are usually some larger chunks left when using a processor. Really the biggest drawback I’ve found is that I can’t drain any of the liquid that used to accumulate while I was taking all that time to peel and chop each tomato. The resulting salsa is a little thinner, but hmmm, let me see…
An extra hour vs. a bit thinner?
I’ll take the time any day- what a blessing!
Have you ever used a processor to chop tomatoes for a recipe? Is it worth it to you?
-Jami
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Oh thank you Jami, I was just wondering what to do with all the tomatoes I’ve got to harvest before the next frost hits!! I knew there was a reason why my food processor didn’t sell on Kijiji!! lol
I don’t like to use the food processor to chop raw tomatoes. It may sound strange, but it seems to me that the processor “fluffs” air into raw tomatoes, resulting in a not-quite-foamy product. I don’t notice this happening with cooked tomatoes for whatever reason. However, I do use my processor to chop the garlic, onions, and peppers. It saves me both time and tears!
This just sounds so yummy and a fun project. Thanks for the post.
I always enjoy your blog.
Our Indian Summer is great here in OR.
Hmmmm…I’m going to have to try this recipe next year. My tomatoes are done for the season.
Hi! I appreciate your blog so much ~ you are such an inspiration!
I would like to share with you the link to a wonderful organic gardening film, in the hopes that it will be a blessing to you as well. (The film is at the bottom of the webpage.) http://backtoedenfilm.com/index.html
Anne
Oh wow – thanks for the information. I have my tomatoes this year all finished but will certainly save the time next year and do it this way. I prefer the salsa to not be chunky so I have been putting mine in the processor as I take them from the cabinet….this is my first year at canning salsa! Love your blog!
Dawn
vermont66@yahoo.com
http://www.dawnscomfycorner.blogspot.com
If I have enough tomatoes this weekend I just might have to give this recipe a try. I did get a food mill this year, but no the right attachment for salsa. Next year for that, I guess. This year I’ll try the food processor and maybe some hand-cut tomatoes to add a little more chunkiness.
I just found your site today and loved reading about your food processor idea. This is my first year canning and when I heard that one is “supposed to” peel the tomatoes I balked. No way would I do all that work! So I dug out the food processor and gave it a whirl and love it. I even used it the first time we made pasta sauce (and then last week we bought a used food mill off craigslist and discovered that worked better for sauces).
I’m now following your blog and look forward to your future posts!
Marie- Thanks! I’m glad it works for you, too. And I love my food mill for sauces, as well- I use it for apples as well as tomatoes.
The Salsa recipe sounds so good! And yes, I use a food processor for anything I can. Thin salsa is GOOD!
CAS
I know this was posted a year ago, but I’m using your recipe this year. The one thing I’m doing different is I’m making it in my roaster and using my immersioin blender right in the roaster. The tomatoes I’m using are straight from the Garden, so no wax! Thanks for the recipe I’ll let you know if my family loves it!
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Oh yes, I’d love to know how you like it that way – I’ve never thought to cook it in my roaster (probably because I always make huge batches!).