Sweet & Tangy Salsa

Sweet & Tangy Salsa

Ingredients

8 cups tomatoes, chopped
4 cups onion, peeled & chopped (3 medium onions)
4 cups peppers, chopped
6 jalapenos, diced
16 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pickling vinegar
3 tbsp pickling salt
1 cup sugar
2 limes (juiced)
2 tsp cumin

Salsa ingredients

Directions

Boil for 15 minutes and pour into sterilized jars, then do a 15 minute water bath. Makes about 6 pints.

Salsa cooking

Bottled salsa

Lady Ashburnham Pickles

Lady Ashburnham Pickles

Who the Heck is Lady Ashburnham, Anyway?

Apparently, Lady Ashburnham was a Frederictonian who was employed as a telephone operator and her distinctive voice charmed a British royal and they wound up getting married. He became the Duke despite being like 6th in line, but they weren't really in favor with the Royal Family who "encouraged" him to bring his bride back to New Brunswick where they were basically socialites in Fredericton. The pickles were actually her sister's, not hers, but she gets the credit for them through their name. Not the coolest story, but it answers the question, Who the heck is Lady Ashburnham?

The Recipe

Ingredients
6 large cucumbers, chopped fine
4 cups onions, chopped
1 red pepper (apparently not part of the original recipe, but makes them prettier)
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 cups vinegar
2 cups white sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed

Directions

Day 1:
Wash your cucumbers and pepper. Peel and dice your cucumbers and onions, and chop the red pepper fine. Place all vegetables in a large bowl, sprinkle the salt over them and set overnight, covered with a clean cloth.

Peeling cucumbers

Onions

Peeled and de-pulped cucumbers

Some people really chop the cucumbers fine, but I cut mine about 1/4" - 1/2" cubes.

Cucumbers & onions

Cucumbers & onions sitting in salt overnight

Day 2:
Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Pickles cooking

Sterilize 6 500-ml jars and soak lids and bands in hot water for about 15 minutes (don't boil).

Preparing the lids and bands

Sterilizing the jars

Ladle the pickles into the jars, cover with lids and screw the bands on finger-tight. Most of the recipes don't say to, but I always place them in a sterile sink and pour a kettle of boiling water over them. For good measure.

Bottled Lady Ashburnhams

Peach Mango Salsa

Peach Mango Salsa

Making Salsa

We grew just enough tomatoes to make a batch of salsa this year. We tried to grow a lot more but we had blight on most of them.

Along with the tomatoes, we also grew all the garlic and peppers, including the jalapenos, and the fresh herbs.

Salsa veggies

Ingredients

8 cups tomatoes, chopped (about a dozen tomatoes, plus some cherry tomatoes)
4 cups mangoes & peaches, peeled & chopped (2 mangoes & 5 peaches)
2 cups onion, peeled & chopped (3 medium onions)
4 cups peppers, chopped (2 green bells, 2 Anchos, 2 Anaheims, 2 Peppercinis, Corni di Toro, 1 Purple Marconi)
1 cup jalapenos, diced
16 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
6 cups cider vinegar
2 3/4 cups sugar (the recipe we used as a guide didn't call for any)
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp cumin

4 cups tomatoes

Garlic

Directions

Wash and chop everything, then cook it all in a big pot for an hour. Ladle into sterilized bottles and cook in hot water bath for 15 minutes. Let cool, label and horde them until you run out.

Everything chopped, ready for the pot

You can decide how long to cook this for, from 20 minutes to an hour. The shorter the cooking time, the chunkier the salsa. We cooked it longer because we found it too runny, but we're fine with a less chunky salsa.

The process

After an hour of cooking

We got 10 pints from this batch, which was a double batch.

16 x 250 ml & 2 x 500 ml

Personally, I like a sweet salsa, and if I make it again I will be adding another 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar, but overall, it's a fantastic salsa. 

Tortilla chips & peach mango salsa