So we consolidated freezers - yes you heard that right freezerS. We have two one upright, one chest - the chest was when we had broiler chickens but now we are down to our last 5-7 chickens we are able to fit everything into one freezer especially since it's nearly spring and soon to be summer (more power required to run a freezer or two).
Anywho - the Freezer is packed so we needed to get some space freed up. Thus another round of canning. I took out my peppers (Green and Purple Bell, Poblano, Anaheim, and a whole lotta Jalapenos) and let them thaw. Tomatoes stayed in the freezer so that I could take them from freezer to simmering pot to peel their skins easier without the mushy mess that would occur from a thawed tomato.
Hot Jalapeno Relish (Try 4 for Perfect Recipe):
Took from 10am to 6pm including thawing, but I could probably cut an hour or two off that if I timed my jar sanitation and water bath boiling time right.
Recipe Source: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/FDNS-E-43-18.pdf
My recipe - makes 5 pints, I probably reduced it too long
Thaw all peppers
6 cups chopped Jalapenos
(Take off heads, leave seeds in every other pepper - chopped via food processor)
4 cups other peppers
(Purple bell, Poblano, Anaheim - all deseeded and thrown in food processor)
3 Onions
Then placed in pot with 2.5 cups white distilled vinegar and 4t salt
Cooked for 1 hour stirred every 10 minutes. Canned for 10 minutes in a water bath.
Salsa (Try 3):
Took from 10am to 6pm, but mostly due to doing two recipes at once.
Recipe Source: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/canned_tomato_salsa/
Peeling Frozen tomatoes: Go quick - 3 or 4 tomatoes into simmering water. As soon as the skin feels loose to a fork, knife, spoon, whatever, use a slotted spoon to pull them off - hand peel by pressing skin off, cut out steam area, throw frozen ball of tomato mush into bowl. There's no de-seeding frozen tomatoes or if you know how to do it - share!
Ok My salsa recipe
Makes 5 - I probably reduced too far but I like THICK salsas!
5cups Frozen tomatoes peeled placed in a bowl
Add the 1/2C cilantro,
3 cloves garlic minced,
1 cup white distilled vinegar,
2t Oregano
1t Cumin
3t Salt
Mix together until liquid is covering as much as possible (no whole frozen tomatoes sitting on top)
Place in fridge for next 2-3 hours for it to continue thawing and marrying flavors
3 hours later
Pour bowl into pot and add
3 bell peppers de-seeded
5 jalapenos (with seeds and mine are small)
1.5 cups onions (~3 medium onions)
Cook for over an hour to reduce down (thicken), stirring every 10 minutes.
Can via water bath for 10 minutes
We ended up with only 4 jars of salsa - one lost it's top in the water bath - WHOOPS!
I'll update when we taste these! Hopefully good... Happy spring! :)
