Salsa, Anyone?

The only salsa I like is the dancing kind, but my husband loves ^salsa^. He munches on it almost every night while we are watching our shows. I wanted to see if I could make him some salsa that he might like and could possibly be healthier and cheaper. I decided to combo-step my way through a salsa recipe this past Sunday. I found it in the Better Homes and Gardens-Can It! Cookbook. 

1-score, 2-boil, 3-slip, 4-pull, 5-cool <---so does not look like it makes sense

 I thought about finding some canning partners, but instead went it alone. I set up my skin-slip station and got to work. It worked out quite well. I would score 4 tomatoes at a time, place them in the mesh colander and put them in the boiling water. While one set was boiling I was slipping the four that came out previously. I would pull 4 more out of the boiling water and put them into the cold water. While those cooled, I started the process all over. 

 I realized that the smaller bowl would be better for cooling since I was only cooling 4 at a time. While the big bowl was best to hold the slipped "maters."

Tomatoes look so pretty in the boiling water. You boil them for about a minute or two-until wrinkly

One thing I found useful was rinsing my hands in the cold water after slipping the skins. Sometimes the tomatoes got a little mushy and can get quite messy.

R->L:cut off stem, cut in half, cleaned out. Bottom: diced

 Chopping them was a breeze also. I cut of the stem end, cut in half, wiped out most of the seeds and pulled the core if it came out easily. The I cut it one way then the other until it was diced nicely. I did not stress about a few seeds getting into the salsa. When I can tomatoes, I don't even bother getting rid of the seeds.

 Finally, break time was upon me. The recipe called for the tomatoes to rest in a colander for 30 minutes. My feet hurt even though it only took me about 30 minutes to do all the prep work. I have no idea what the purpose of the rest time was.

 Time to make the salsa. The tomatoes cooked down a bit (photo below) from what I put in the pot (above). It was time to cut up the peppers. I decided to brave it and not use gloves. I did succeed in not getting it in my eye, yeah me! However, my fingers are still on fire and I cut those bad boys up about 11 hours ago and washed my hands quite a few times. 

The best way to mince garlic.

The salsa looked and smelled so yummy while I was making it. I have no idea why I do not like salsa, but I sure do love the smell. I am partial to pico de gallo myself. After simmering everything together for about 90 minutes, I canned it. <--- the easy part :D .

The verdict: the husband said he still prefers the stuff from the store. He stated that this recipe was not tangy enough for him. I guess I will look for another recipe. 

Now that I know how easy it is, I am up for making this quite often, especially if the tomato prices stay low.