So I Have a Vegetable Garden...Now What?

When I planted my vegetable garden last spring, I had two goals in mind - healthy eating and canning.  Healthy eating is nothing new for me, but the canning?  I've never canned before.  I used to watch my mother can green beans, pickles, etc. and it always seemed like a huge undertaking when she canned.  Needless to say, I was slightly intimidating myself with my intent to can.  People ask me, "Why do you want to can food when you can go to the store and buy it?"  There are a multitude of reasons people choose to can food ranging from health reasons to financial ones.  For me, the reasons are sentimentality and connection.  I like creating recipes that my family and friends will enjoy, I love giving personal and handmade gifts,  but most of all, it gives me a connection to my past - my family and heritage.  

So now it's August and I have a garden full of ripening vegetables that were planted with the intent of making and canning salsa - tomatoes, jalapeños, poblano and bell peppers, cilantro.  How hard can this be?  I'm an educated woman, I have a Master's Degree, I know how to use Google, I think I should be able to find a good salsa recipe, put it in some jars and be good to go! Right?

After harvesting a nice big basket full of tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeños, poblanos and cilantro, I took a look at the salsa recipes that I have been saving to my Pinterest board.  Unfortunately, I didn't see one in particular that I really loved.  So I decided to create my own with my favorite ingredients:

3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 jalapeño
1/2 poblano pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red onion
3 green tail onions
1/2 cup cilantro
2-3 T lime juice
cumin, salt, pepper, sugar to taste (I like mine sweet with just a little kick.)
Note - since this was just an experimental recipe, I only made a small amount.  

I chopped everything in the food processor, brought it to a boil in a stock pot, then added the salt, pepper, cumin and sugar to taste while it was simmering.  I simmered the salsa for about 20 minutes.  
I like mine chunky and on the sweet side so I turned on the processor just long enough to get it nice and chopped up but still chunky.  I kept adding a little sugar at a time until I got it to just the right sweetness.  

Now that I am happy with a recipe and I have made my first batch, it's time to put it in the jars.  I sterilized my jars in the dishwasher and my lids and rings in boiling water on top of the stove.  Each jar was filled, leaving about a 1/2 inch at the top.  I placed the lids on and screwed the rings tightly.  

The last step went as planned - I immersed the jars in boiling water for 10-15 minutes and they sealed nicely.  (By all means, use the proper equipment - my experience with an improper jar lifter was not pretty.)   I saved a small amount to chill and taste with chips for the final inspection.  The only change I would make is to make it chunkier and thicker.  The taste was good. 

I picked up some Calhoun Peaches near Calhoun County in Southern Illinois on a recent visit to my dad's.  Calhoun peaches are some of the sweetest tasting peaches I have ever tasted.  I secured about 21 lbs, enough to slice and top with simple syrup for 12 pints of peaches and cut up and mix with my favorite salsa ingredients for 14 half pints of peach salsa.  When creating the peach salsa, I did not use the food processor to chop, which made the salsa nice and chunky, the way I like it.  I can't wait to give my creations to friends and family with the suggestion of topping off a nice bowl of ice cream with some Calhoun peaches.  (My version of Peaches 'n Cream!)  Last but not least, I created labels for my jars using Avery Print-to-the-Edge Oval Labels.  

 Next - Homemade Pasta Sauce!