Continue reading »]]> I know.  Snooze.  Canning sounds boring.  But canning is one’s only option when the garden produces too many vegetables.  Sure, you can always give some away.  But I’ve always wanted to see if try my hand at this time-honored practice of preserving homegrown veggies.

But can what?

According to my trusty canning book (thanks Amazon!), Zesty Salsa™ looked doable.

Fresh garden tomatoes.

I started with five cups of homegrown tomatoes.   Peeled and chopped.  That took…let’s see…about 5 hours!    Next came bell peppers.  Another five cups worth.  Diced into little salsa-sized cubes.

A bevy of bell peppers from our garden.

Add to that five cups of onions.  Store-bought Vidalias.  Um, peeled and chopped.   Then I added 2-1/2 cups of banana peppers.  Hungarian Wax.  Hot, but too hot.   I topped it off with three cloves of chopped garlic, one tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of cilantro and 1-1/4 cups of cider vinegar.

Place into a large pot and bring to a boil.

Stirring the pot.

After boil, I reduced the heat and cooked (while stirring) for another ten minutes. As this was going on, I heated the jars and lids in the giant canning pot my wife and I bought from Wal-Mart.

Next, I ladled the salsa into the hot jars, leaving a half-inch of space at the top, and making sure there were no air bubbles in the liquidy-substance. I screwed on the lids (tight, but not too tight) and submerged the jars in water, making sure each jar was completely covered.

Rapid boil for fifteen minutes!

Boil those jars!

After fifteen minutes, I turned off the heat and removed the lid, allowing a 5-minute cool-down. Carefully, I removed the jars from the pot, placing them in a row on a towel, where the magic “vacuum” process would occur.

It did, but overnight while everyone was sleeping.

A dozen jars of Waller-made salsa.

Thankfully, my first “canning” was a success.  The lids on the jars were properly sealed.

Zesty salsa close up.

And while this doesn’t look like any salsa I’ve ever eaten, it tastes darned good.  Garden fresh!

We’ll be eating it from now until winter.

Coco contributes nothing to the canning effort.