After searching for and testing salsa recipes for over a decade, this cook settles on the a recipe from the Pacific Northwest Extension PNW395--before they started charging! This recipe must be a time-honored resource, because it still resides at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Other good sources are Wisconsin Safe Food Preservation Series (B3570), Ball Blue Book of Canning, and Sunset Home Canning. (Click on Recipes above for online links.) Be sure to consult these sources for more detailed instructions on safely canning food. It is critical to keep the exact proportions of the ingredients for safe canning. Non-canners can trim the yield to one pint with this tip: it takes about one pound of tomatoes to make one pint of salsa. The rest of the ingredients can be added to taste.

This recipe has the right combination of ingredients and the right consistency for this family. Heat intensity can be regulated by using more or less hot or bell or sweet peppers, as long as they do not exceed a total of the 2 pounds called for in this recipe. Peppers do not need to be peeled, but seeds can be removed. If peeling is desired, they need to be roasted first. This cook is biased and prefers the less "flabby" non-peeled approach.

Spices can be adjusted or added, because they do not constitute a safety hazard in canning. Note that they are not identified in this recipe. They are closely guarded by most cooks,including this one! Send us an email and we may divulge a few hints.

Most canners only can 7 pints at a time, so there may be some left over for use. I can 30-36 pints a year. That's a lot of tomatoes and peppers! See Yields in our Garden Archive for more details.