Roasted Green Tomato Salsa

Who's got green tomatoes??! We do... And we have LOTS. Last year our tomatoes stayed green all summer although we diligently watched for a hint of orange or red. We were let down when the first frost hit and they all died. It was a waste of time and money in my opinion. However this year, I decided to work with the green tomatoes and one of the best ideas I could come up with was salsa. I had been reading the ingredients on my salsa bottle at home and was disappointed by all the ingredients I couldn't even pronounce. I thought, what is this crap? So I decided to make my own homemade salsa - the kind where I know exactly what is in it and exactly where it came from.

Ready to put in some work?? I hope so! This recipe is not ideal for a weeknight when you have to wake up at 6am the next morning... however, it can be done and the only reason I know this is because I did it. The outcome of this recipe is so worth it though and I actually had some fun creating it. I ran into a few snags along the way, which didn't hurt my product in the long run but made it difficult throughout.

First - I didn't have a big enough pot for the entire batch so I had to use two separate pots for cooking.
Second - Have all your ingredients cut, chopped and ready. Otherwise you will be running back and forth while your food burns on the grill.
Third - The water in the canning pot takes FOREVER to boil. Start it early. It was so huge it took up two of my stove burners.

Here goes, enjoy!

What You Need:

3-4 lbs mostly green, orange and red tomatoes
(I used my garden tomatoes)

2 bell peppers, sliced into strips
(I used my garden peppers)

2 white onions, cut in quarters

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, chopped
(More or less depending on your spice level)

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1/2 C lime juice, about 5 limes

1 C lemon juice, about 4 lemons

Salt to taste

Cumin to taste

Pint (recommended) or quart jars

New lids
Rims

Canning funnel

Ladle
Canning rack and canning pot

Prep time: 20-30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Processing time: 15 minutes from boiling point

What to do:

1. Fire up the grill! I used a chimney starter to get my charcoal going and it heated up within 10 minutes. 

 

2. Lay out the tomatoes, bell peppers and onions to roast on the grill. You want them to be slightly charred before flipping, but not too mushy. If they are too mushy, they will already be cooked and you don't want that since you will be cooking them later. Make sure they are slightly charred to get that nice roasted taste. 

3. Take the veggies off the grill and put them in a large (or two large) pots. Turn heat to high and bring to boil, then reduce to a medium simmer. Stir often. 

4. Add minced garlic and chopped jalapenos. Cook for 45 minutes. 

5. Start your canning water. In a large pot add enough water that will cover jars by at least 2 inches. You can add more hot water if needed after the jars are submerged. Keep canning rack on it's "elbows".

6. Add cilantro, lime and lemon juice, salt and cumin to your tomato mix. Cook for another 15 minutes or until salsa is cooked down and tomato chunks are greatly reduced. You can "chop" up the tomatoes in the pot of add salsa to a blender and puree for about 5 seconds or until it is the consistency you want.  Here is what the reduction process looks like:

7. I only had four pint jars so I used those and two quart jars. I read online that it would be ok to combine the two sizes for processing as long as you processed for the time of the larger jar. Wash all jars, lids and rims in hot soapy water. Rinse and leave jars in hot water to keep warm so they don't crack when you add hot salsa.

8. Prepare a shallow dish with hot water to soak the lids while filling jars. Keep rims dry.

9. When canning water is about to boil, ladle salsa into each jar using the funnel to avoid spillage. Wipe the jars tops clean, place a hot lid on top, screw on a rim with a tight twist (tight enough that you know you can get it off again) and place jar into canning rack. Repeat with each jar until rack is full then lower the rack slowly into the boiling water. If water has not begun to boil, start processing timer when boiling starts. For pint jars, boil for 15 minutes and for quart jars boil for 30 minutes. 

10. Once processing is finished, carefully pull up the rack onto it's "elbows" and remove each jar from the boiling water using tongs or hot mitts. Try not to touch the lid or rim since this could cause an issue with sealing. Place each jar on a towel or drying rack. Listen for the popping sounds!! This is a good sign that your jars are sealing. Let sit for 12 to 24 hours and resist all temptation to press the poppy button in the middle of the lid.

Enjoy your homemade roasted green tomato salsa!

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