2016 Can Salsa Review

So... as I mentioned earlier. I made salsa and canned about 9 jars.
What I did for the 2016 Recipe is below:

8 C Tomatoes - Peeled, chopped & drained (Garden Fresh, peeled via hot water dip)

2.5 C chopped onions (small white, Garden)

1.5 C green peppers chopped (Garden, but already frozen)

0.5 C Jalapeno pepper chopped & de-seeded (Garden milder ones, but already frozen)

0.5 C anaheim pepper (Garden, but already frozen)

3 T minced garlic (from a jar)

2 t cumin

2 t pepper

1/8 C canning salt

1/3 C Sugar

1/3 C vinegar

2 C homemade tomato sauce 

1 6oz can Tomato Paste

Mixed everything together and brought to a boiler for 20 minutes (recipe says 10)
Water bath canned for 10 minutes. Made 9 pints (recipe says 6...)
Recipe from: http://www.food.com/recipe/wonderful-salsa-9272

Now. My 2015 recipe fermented (ha, ha, ha - not good). Thus I was afraid of opening any of these jars. Deathly afraid! (No, I did not fall ill from the 2015 salsa, but it did leave a big caution of sickness due to canning in my mind).


Anyway I opened a jar. And.... *Drum Roll Please* Wasn't fermented.  YES! But not perfect.

Things that were good:

1. Jar didn't ferment (Whoo-hoo!)
2. It's chunky! 
3. It doesn't burn the shit out of my mouth (which actually is below too)

Things to change for 2017:

1. Do not use mild jalapenos if going to cut recipe heat in half! Salsa was not hot at all
2. Needs significantly more flavor
3. Less sugar
4. More salt / herb / seasoning
5. Did I say more flavor????

Recipes to try next year or year after: 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/canned_tomato_salsa/

           Don't use anhiem peppers, stick to straight jalopenos (hotter)

           Double salt?

Why this recipe? More vinegar, more seasoning/herbs, less sugar

http://www.quietcreekfarmcsa.com/recipe/salsa-recipe-for-canning-or-freezing

           Have the 1/2 peppers be hot jalopeno, not the medium heat ones...

Why this recipe: more vinegar, sh*t-ton of cilantro, and zero sugar.

Fly away Flag!

My husband, being awesome, made me a flag holder. It's 3 metal poles spray painted black. The metal poles we used were found in our house after we bought it - which were a piece of conduit cut in half and an old brace bar from some unknown-farm equipment.

I used binder clips to help keep the flag straight for awhile. My husband got the bright idea of putting metal rings at the bottom of the flag and a small hole near the bottom of the flag on each post to bungee cord the flag down such that it moves but stays up right...

That lasted for over two days! Which is impressive considering this is in the flat farmland of Iowa, (with our windblock only 2.5ft high right now). I thought it was sooooo ingenious too. At least until I came home one day and found the flag flying free once again. 

Oh well, at least you can read it sometime... Hopefully it won't freeze too badly so that I can easily change to the christmas flag when the time comes. :) (I don't have a winter one yet.

Blink and Gone

Time has moved quickly. I'm not even sure where I left off. Maybe I'll go through my notes and back-date posts, but most likely we'll just move on.

Next year (if I don't back-date). I'll need to post my canning adventures. I adjust recipes as I make them so blogging them should help my annotations.  Until those posts are made, I'll give the cliff note version:

Jalopeno relish: http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/canned/hot_relish.html
                 Notes: increased recipe 50%, by adding 1 quart onion.
                             Need to not add sugar next time
                             Heat of relish depends on heat of jalapenos.

Salsa: http://www.food.com/recipe/wonderful-salsa-9272
                 Notes: Jalopeno's were too hot for the 1 cup, should have half'ed.
                             Didn't have sauce, made own from tomotes.

Apple Butter: Amazing Recipe http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/
                 Notes: So much easier. Only de-seeded & steamed apples)
                             Used a Squeeze-o to make the apple sauce. Too easy!
                             Over spiced on the allspice and clove. Kept sugar the same
                             When reducing the sauce, I stirred it every 3 minutes for 30 seconds for 2 hours.

Frozne Apple Pie Filling: http://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/freezer-apple-pie-filling/
                 Notes: Peeled and course chopped apples by hand. Used whole wheat flour.

The pumpkins this year got sick, only ended up with 13 pumpkins. :( Will have to do a better job with the plants next year.

Again sorry for the belated post and not keeping up to date.