Sheree's Homemade Cooking Made Easy

I make this salsa verde green tomato salsa every year with some green tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapenos that I have growing in my garden. It is really simple to make, and it makes a great side to Mexican dishes or just adding it to some chicken breasts and cooking. You will need the following ingredients:

This recipe yields 5 half-pint jars or 2 pints and one half-pint jar.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Recipe:

2 pounds of green tomatoes

1 jalapeno pepper

1 cup of onions

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon of canning salt

1/3 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice or bottled juice

Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cilantro

Began by washing and coring the green tomatoes.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Dice the tomatoes up into small pieces and add to a stainless steel saucepan that is at least 4 quarts.

Finely diced the onions. I also like to grate the garlic on a hand grater but you could just chop it really finely.

Seed and dice the jalapeno up into small pieces. If you like it spicier you can add up to 2 jalapenos and leave the seeds in.

If you are adding cilantro, wash and stem it and cut the leaves up into small pieces.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Tip: You can always add bottled lime juice when a canning recipe calls for fresh juice but you can not add fresh for bottled, it isn’t safe.

Prepare your water bath canner and go ahead and put it on the stove and begin heating the water. Just don’t bring it to a boil. You need the water bath canner water temperature to be close to the water that is in the jars.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Add all the ingredients to the sauce pot with the tomatoes and bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

I like to use an immersion blender to blend my salsa into a smooth texture but you can leave it chunky if that is the texture you like.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Place the salsa into the jars and wipe the rims of the jars, use a butter knife to debubble the jars and place a lid and a ring finger tip tight on the jars and very carefully place them into the water bath canner.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Bring the canner to a boil and process the jars, pints, or half-pints, for 10 minutes.

Salsa VerdePhoto bySheree

Remove from the canner and let sit on a dry towel undisturbed for 24 hours. After they have cooled off completely, check to see if the jars are sealed. If you have a jar that did not seal, place it in the refrigerator and eat it. Enjoy!

Note: You do not have to water bath this recipe if you are going to eat it all at one time. You can just cook it and place it into a container and refrigerate it. It will last a few days like this.