We are Swimming in Tomatoes

We had our first freeze last weekend; we even had a bit of snow! It melted quickly here on the valley floor, but enough stuck in the mountains that some ski runs will open this weekend. Before the temperatures dropped, I was determined to harvest every thing I could from my garden. I picked every ripe and near ripe tomato, as well as the peppers, cucumbers, onions, and squash. Then I pulled up some of the tomato plants, hung them upside down in the garage, where more tomatoes are ripening on the vine. As soon as we polish off one basket of tomatoes, another “crop” is ripe.

I have been working hard to find ways to use up the tomatoes. I made several batches of Broiled Cherry Tomatoes. I made a large batch of Vegetable Garden Minestrone Soup and attempted to make a double batch of salsa. Despite my efforts, I have not been able to stay ahead of the tomatoes and have had to toss at least ten into the compost bin. I also had to toss a couple of peppers and one cucumber. In the case of the peppers and cucumber, I think I lost track of which were old and which new. My kitchen was pretty chaotic for a couple of days with baskets of veggies every where. I did not photograph all that was tossed, but I did manage to capture some tomatoes before they found a new home in the compost bin. The picture on the left just does not capture the ewww factor, but believe me, it’s there!

I was lamenting the fact that my salsa was too runny to my husband. He said, “that’s because you did not make salsa. You made picante sauce”. I like his philosophy; from now on if something doesn’t turn out, I will just rename it. My salsa was not as thick as I like it because I could not bring myself to squeeze the juice out of the tomatoes before I cooked them. I didn’t have time to do something with the tomato juice and could not bear to watch it go down the sink. And because I did not want to waste some juice, I could have ruined 8 pints of salsa. Fortunately, my family is quite content with the picante sauce, so I will share the recipe with you.

Recipe for Picante Sauce

16 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped (You know what to do if you prefer salsa!)

3 cups onion, chopped

4 cups of peppers, chopped (We take our salsa and picante mild so I used a combination of sweet gypsy peppers, banana peppers, and bell peppers, but you can add some jalapeño to increase the heat).

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/4 cup cider vinegar

3 teaspoons marjoram

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 – 7oz. cans of green chiles

juice of 4 limes

2 – 6 oz. cans tomato paste

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into 8 hot, pints jars; leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Put one jar in the refrigerator for immediate consumption and the other 7 into the water-bath canner. Process 15 minutes (if you are at sea level. I am at 4500 feet, so I processed mine for 20 minutes.) in a boiling-water canner. Remove jars from water-bath and place on countertop to cool. Check cap for successful seal by pressing down on the center. If the lid center does not move up and down, when pressed, the lid has sealed.

Now, I need to get back to putting up tomatoes!

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