Green Tomato Salsa

 

Green Tomato Salsa

Over the past week, Josh has made two batches of this since we had so many green tomatoes that just weren't getting ripe in our cool fall weather. We love salsa in our house and since it can be pricey, we figured that this could be a great use for all of that fruit—and boy were we right. This stuff is downright delicious, which is surprising since I never knew that you could do so much with green tomatoes. The original recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens, but we increased the spices to give it more flavor. If you are sensitive to heat, seed your peppers. (Also, feel free to fill your pot with green tomatoes if you have that many to put to good use—Josh did that and both of our batches yielded closer to 4 quarts!) We kept a jar in the kitchen after putting all of the others down into the basement for the winter and we've eaten this with chips and spooned on top of vegetarian chili so far. I can't wait to have it with scrambled eggs and with rice and beans. 

Makes 5-6 pints

15 cups chopped green tomatoes

2-3 Anaheim or poblano chiles, chopped 

2 jalepenos, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

1 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup white vinegar

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons cumin

1 tablespoon pepper

1. Chop tomatoes, removing the core and seeds. Let drain in a colander for 30 minutes.

2. Transfer tomatoes to a large pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer, uncovered, for 1 to 1.5 hours, until your tomatoes are thickened (to a salsa-like consistency).

3. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. 

4. Ladle salsa into hot, sterilized jars with 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe jar lids clean and tighten lids.

5. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes (start timing with water is boiling). Remove from pot and place on wire racks to cool.