Speaking of Salsa

I've been reading the other interesting thread about blueberries
(y'all are so lucky. But I've found them growing down in Texas and
we've had some local sales). Anyways, we were talking about salsa.
Somebody mentioned that home made salsa was necessarily a bit more
watery. I don't like that, so I'm planning on adding some plain tomato
puree to thicken a bit. I'll roast my chiles because I like that
flavor, but I suppose you could sneak in a bit of hickory flavored
salt or liquid smoke for that. (Oops, get a rope) (shades of anti
New-York-made-salsa commercials).
Edrena, packing her market basket for tomorrow.

The Joneses wrote:


Add an 8-ounce can of tomato sauce to a small batch, or a 6-ounce can of
tomato paste to a large batch. It'll thick it right up.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
What does it do to the pH?
Ellen

ellen wickberg wrote:


That's a good point. I don't think it'll do anything, but I'm assuming
a recipe that already has plenty of vinegar to allow for the possibility
of low-acid tomatoes. Perhaps that's not a good assumption; thanks.

Canned tomato sauce has citric acid in it, tomato paste is very acidic
all by itself, that's why I think it's OK. It might not be OK if the
recipe is marginal to begin with.

Bob

"zxcvbob" <[Only registered users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered users can see links. ]...

I made my first batch today....... 28 pints of salsa and 7 pints of t.
juice...... pic's on A.B.F shortly.

My recipe is based on the UGA NCHFP Tomato Salsa with Paste Tomatoes recipe,
except I eliminate the oregano, the long chile's, double the cilantro, add 1
tbsp of Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning, 1 tsp crushed rep pepper flakes and
1 tsp of Jalapeno salt.


I also do a couple of things to thicken it up and ensure that the ph stays
in check. First I squeeze a fair amount of the juice out of each tomato once
I core and remove the skin, then let'em drain in a strainer until I'm ready
to chop. (Thus the where I get my juice). Secondly for each 7 quart batch, I
put a 6oz can of tomato paste and an additional 1/2 cup of lime juice. It's
still not as thick as say, Pace.... but it's no longer watery. Using Roma
tomatoes will make it turn out a little thicker than Better Boys or other
slicing tomatoes also.

Keith

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:22:31 -0500, zxcvbob wrote:


An easy way to ensure good acid in a salsa is to let it ferment. I make
my salsa by chopping up tomatoes, capsicum, chili, coriander (i.e.
cilantro for you lot in the Americas), onion, garlic and adding salt
(and sometimes ground spices), then letting it ferment for a couple of
days. No vinegar needed, the lactic acid build up does a nice job.

Here's a website where someone does something similar. She uses a little
kimchi juice to start the ferment, but I find it starts fermenting just
fine by itself.
[Only registered users can see links. ]
--
Ross McKay, Toronto, NSW Australia
The planet is in a pickle, but fermenting will help save us

Ross McKay wrote:


I knew y'all would come thru with great idears. I put up pesto today instead
of salsa, but it's all good.
(I love that sig line Ross!)