Salsa

[Laurenfra]

I was given about 25lbs of tomatos, I was just going to chop them with onion and jalapanos. But what I cant figure out is do you peel them first or leave the skin on?

[NulloModo]

Wow, that is a ton of salsa... I hope you are planning to make lots of varieties Salsa has great potential for variation, do some with cilantro, some without, use jalapenos in some, habaneros in others, maybe a chipotle batch or one with serranos, lemongrass, and thai basil...

Do you know how to can things? As long as you kick up the acid content a bit any home canning setup should be capable of keeping salsa fresh for a while.

[not2late]

I would peel the tomatoes before processing them.

Also, I've frozen chopped raw tomatoes in little baggies whenever I've had a bumper crop of summer tomatoes. They're great to use during the winter when tomatoes are horrible. I've used the frozen tomatoes in things like meat sauces or just heated with some herbs and used to top a piece of chicken or fish.

[Laurenfra]

What do you think is the best way to peel them?

[not2late]

Cut a small "x" on the bottom of the tomato. The cut should only be deep enough to break the skin of the tomato

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Lower the tomatoes in a couple at a time, depending on the size of your pot. Wait 10 seconds, remove the tomatoes and put them immediately into a bowl of ice water. The sking where the "x" was cut should curl up and you can peel the skins off.

[MotherOfGizmo]

That is alot of Salsa! We had a ton of tomatos this summer too, in fact we had spaghetti last night , with homemade sauce from those tomatos! It was wonderful! I just blanched the tomatos like Not2late is talking about and then put them in a tupperware container in the freezer, when I was ready to make the sauce they were there waiting for me! Nothing like homemade from homegrown tomatos!

[Laurenfra]

OK folks let me start this by saying a was born a YANKEE, this being said there are a few thing I should have known.
1. chop jalapanos with gloves on
2. dont touch face for hours afterward(beware of rubbing eyes)
3.20 tomatos and 2 large jalapanos make fire in your mouth

DH suggested I roast the skins off using the stove. It worked well for a few but next time i'll use the boiling water for that many tomatos

[MotherOfGizmo]

Oh--the jalepenos will kill you if you slice many w/ bare hands! Sorry didn't think to warn you--I did that a few years back with 2 large baskets of jalepenos --it took about 8 hours for the sting to wear off--nothing helped ( and believe me i tried everything!) so, 20 tomatos and just 2 jalepenos was really hot for you? urplequ: