Making and Pressure Canning Tomatillo Salsa

 

Some dear friends gave me a bag of tomatillos that they grew in their garden.  I knew I loved green sauce but had never made it.

Tomatillos come with a husk that is easy to peel away.

Peeling the husk then soaking in water helps remove the sticky residue that covers the tomatillos.

The husk isn't hard to pull off.

It looks like a green tomato.

The beginning of the sink full of soaking tomatillos.

I roasted them in the oven and froze them (after cooling), till I had some time to make the salsa..

I did make one batch of the salsa and made the best chicken enchiladas I’ve ever eaten. That encouraged me to make the rest into salsa. My friends were so happy that I used them, and didn’t let them go to waste, that they gave me another bag! Now I knew I had a serious batch of salsa to do. So I roasted them as well, and after cooling, froze them. This past Saturday I pulled out all the tomatillos, thawed them and made some yummy salsa.

A full pot of salsa, simmering.

The food processor worked great to blend the salsa to a nice texture.
I used it to chop all the vegetables as well. 

A very full bowl of salsa ready to go into my hot jars. (Sterilized in the oven for 20 min at 250)

 The 23 Qt pressure canner ready to work. It fit all 14 jars. It's ok to stack jars in this tall canner. I'm ordering another metal plate to make stacking easier next year.

Beautiful Tomatillo Salsa Verde cooling. You can see some of the Tattler Re-useable canning lids in front.

 I looked at several recipes, and then decided to put my own recipe together. Making the most of what I had without a trip to the store, helped form this recipe. I’ll include it here but keep in mind that you can play with the recipe to suit your tastes.

Here is the first recipe I used. It turned out really yummy.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tomatillo-salsa-verde/detail.aspx

Here is the recipe I used for Pressure Canning.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

      20 c. of tomatillos, roasted

      2 c. mild peppers, (red, orange and yellow) chopped

      2 hatch chilies, chopped

6 c. onions, chopped

2 c. lemon and lime juice

      24 cloves garlic

      4 T cumin

      4 T oregano

      4 T salt

      4 T black pepper

      4 T cilantro

Combine all ingredients in large pot. Cook over low-med heat. It scorches easily so I used a lower heat. Simmer for 20 min.Use a blender or food processor to blend the salsa in batches. I used a food processor so I could achieve the texture I was looking for. I wanted some chunks but not a puree, like the blender might have given me.

Ladle into hot jars, leaving ½ “ head space. Wipe jar rims with a clean cloth dipped in boiling water. Put lids on tight then loosen a small amount, 1/4” (for air to escape during processing). Use the recommended amount of water for your canner.  Process in your canner for 20 min at 15 lbs of pressure. (Everything I’ve canned gets 15 lbs of pressure because we live above 5000 ft.)

Please check your canner book for processing changes, for your altitude.

This recipe yielded 14 pints of salsa.

I've started searching for recipes and ideas for using all this salsa. As a result I think you should experiment! It's good on any meat and gives a hot dog some zing! Yes, we tried this last night. After watching some cooking shows my husband got inspired and suggested we put it and some raw onions on our hot dogs. I was skeptical, but it was really good! Try it in an omelet or as a quick sauce for anything!

I wanted to make a note about the re-useable canning lids I tried this year. The Tattler Canning Lids have been a great investment. They sealed with no problems. I love that I won't have to spend money every year on new lids.  I bought 3 dozen, wide mouth lids to start with. I wanted to try them out before buying all I need. I'm sold. I'll be making a sizable purchase to cover our needs. Here is a link if you haven't heard about these.  http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/

I have more tomatoes to can so I'm not done yet. We picked everything in the garden before it froze. We have had our dining room table taken over with ripening tomatoes for a while now. As they ripen I do another batch of sauce. I'm ready to be done. Tired girl walking.