Simple Canned Salsa – Using up the Summer Harvest

This post was most recently updated on September 15th, 2020

If you are like me, all the Summer produce comes ready to harvest all at the same time. One of my family’s favorite meals is Pork Carnitas which is best made with homemade salsa! This delicious but simple salsa uses up onions, garlic, heritage tomatoes and bell peppers (capsicum) and (chillies if you want).

Summer Harvest Salsa

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Passive Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A simple and delicious salsa recipe that will use up your garden's Summer bounty or make the most of the cheap Summer produce.

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Ingredients

• 10 Cups Chopped Tomatoes
• 4 Cups Chopped Bell Pepper, Capsicum - mix of red and green
• 5 Large Onions
• 1 Cup Cider Vinegar
• 3-5 Cloves garlic, Minced
• 4 Tablespoons Ground Coriander
• 3 Tablespoons Ground Cumin
• 1/2 Cup White Sugar, Optional - but I prefer it
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 3-4 long Chillies, Optional
• 1/4 Cup Cilantro/coriander greens or parsley, Finely Chopped

Instructions

1. Chop up everything that needs chopped.
2. Put everything except the cilantro (if using) in to a very large pot over a medium heat.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 hour. After 40 minutes place your clean jars in the oven set at 200f/100c for 20 minutes to heat and sterilise them. Boil the lids for 5 minutes.
4. Tip the hot salsa into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch (1.25cm) of head space. Remove any air bubbles by running a knife down the edges of the jar, and top up with more salsa if required.
5. Wipe the rims and place the lids on screwing on firmly but not overly tight (known as finger tip tight)
6. Half fill a large pot with hot water with a canning rack in the bottom. Bring to the boil and add your jars so that there is about 1 inch of water over the top of the jars. Simmer for 10 minutes then carefully remove the jars on to a folded towel and don't touch them until they are cold.
7. Label and store.

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• 
  Ball  lids
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  Automatic Canning System
• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

I prefer to re-use bought salsa jars to can my salsa in. I know that this is not recommended as the gold standard of preserving, but it has served us well so far.

Obviously don’t eat anything canned if the lid is bulging or if it looks or smells rancid.

You can of course preserve your Summer Harvest Salsa in proper canning jars.

RELATED POST: 20 ways to use excess tomatoes

RELATED POST: Preserving zucchini and tomatoes

Check all the jars lids once they are cool. They should be concave downwards and not loose. Store any that haven’t sealed in the fridge and use them within a week.

My three favorite ways of using the Summer Harvest Salsa are:

1. In wraps with chicken and salad
2. As pork carnitas
3. As a salad topping as a change out for mayonnaise.

You can swap out the spices for flavors that you prefer or add 1/2 a cup of chopped cilantro/coriander greens or parsley right at the end before putting the salsa in the jar.

You could even swap out a small amount of the tomatoes (up to 1/4 ) for zucchini or cucumbers if you have lots of them in your garden. Replacing too many of the tomatoes will both change the color, flavor and more importantly the acidity. So don’t replace more than 1/4 by weight.

The cooking time with this Summer Harvest Salsa is approximate as you simply cook it out until it is as thick as you would like it to be. It will thicken slightly on cooling like a conserve will.

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I love the Ball canning book recipes and instructions combined with my own canners recipe book.