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Welcome. This blog site, healthy eating and food safety, has been discontinued as of June 23, 2017. I look forward to your comments and feedback regarding use of this tool to disseminate educational information.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tips for Canning Salsa

Tips for Canning Salsa


With tomatoes ripening, onions and peppers ready to harvest, it is time to can salsa. Here are some tips for making great canned salsa.

• Use only high quality tomatoes for canning salsa. The type of tomato you use affects salsa quality. Paste or Italian tomatoes such as Roma VF, Debaro, Italian Gold, Sheriff, or Viva Italia have a firmer flesh and produce thicker salsas than large slicing tomatoes, such as Celebrity, and Big Boy. Although both types make good salsas, slicing tomatoes usually yield a thinner, more watery salsa than paste tomatoes. You can thicken salsas by adding tomato paste or by draining off some of the liquid after chopping tomatoes.
• Acid must be used in canned salsas. The amounts of vinegar or lemon juice in the recipes cannot be reduced for safe boiling water canning. An equal amount of bottled lemon juice may be substituted for vinegar in recipes but do not substitute vinegar for lemon juice. As an unsafe product may result.
• Do not increase the total amount of peppers in any recipes. You may substitute one type of pepper for another or use canned chilies in place of fresh. Hot peppers such as jalapeƱo do not need to be peeled, but seeds are often removed. Finely chopped mild peppers do not usually need to be skinned.
• Red, yellow, or white onions may be substituted for each other. Do not increase the total amount of onions in any recipe.
• Spices and herbs are often added to salsa. Do not increase the amount of fresh herbs or garlic. For a stronger, fresher flavor, add fresh herbs such as cilantro just before using.
• Canned salsas are processed in a water bath canner. Salsa is typically processed for 15 minutes at an elevation of 0-1,000 feet and 20 minutes for elevations 1,001 – 6,000 feet.

Have a great time making salsa!

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