Green Tomato Salsa

Step one: tomato preparation 

Step two: chop onions and peppers

Pat had gifted us a jar of her green tomato salsa some time ago and was it ever delicious. She said that she would make salsa with anyone who wanted to do it. . .but, the tomatoes had to be green! This is the end of the growing season and yes. . .there were green tomatoes so the time to make it was now!

Step three: adding the ingredients together 
and Step four: cooking it

Step five: filling the jars and lidding them;
putting them in the water bath canner

Step six: emptying the water bath canner

The sayings--"The more hands, the merrier" and "Many hands make light work," came into play two weeks ago when JoJo asked a local farmer if he had any green tomatoes because she was interested in making salsa. He did have green tomatoes. In true farmer fashion, he led the way to his field in his tractor. As he passed the "field," he stuck his arm out the window and pointed! I wish I had been there to capture the photos because his actions reminded me of my dad. Perhaps certain farmer traits are just inherent!

Mid-way view of the process

This farmer farms organically so these tomatoes were not sprayed with any chemicals. He also grew hot peppers and told her where to find those too. They were beautiful hard green tomatoes. The peppers were beautiful red jalapeños.

JoJo invited me and our friend, Pat to a salsa making day. Pat has made a lot of green tomato salsa. We refer to her as the "Queen of Salsa." She brought her Cuisinart food processor. We started a little after 10am and finished about 3:30pm. It was so much FUN to work together.  The time flew as we filled more jars! Thanks again Pat and JoJo for a great day!

Playing with Bowdee--a really fun part of the day

The first step was to cut the tomatoes into chunks. Pat commented about how the hard green tomatoes felt cold and the the ones that had started to ripen felt warm. I was surprised to find this to be true!

The second step was to chop onion and jalapeño peppers. The third step was to measure the tomatoes into a pan, add the chopped onion mixture along with vinegar, sugar and salt. The fourth step was to bring it to a boil for 10 minutes and then to simmer until it mounded on the spoon. The fifth step was to jar it and water bath it for 10 minutes. Step six was removing each jar to cool on the counter.

We visited, we worked and JoJo prepared an awesome lunch. We worked some more and I got to play with her almost 12 week old puppy Bowdee.  In the end, we made more than 40 jars of salsa. . .mostly pints. I took some green tomatoes home to make fried green tomatoes. Over the years, I've heard about fried green tomatoes; but had not eaten any. There were still a few green tomatoes left. I'd not made fried green tomatoes; but, JoJo gave me a recipe so I tried it.

Fried green tomatoes with Wow sauce.

Miss J and I cooked them for breakfast. She decided the sauce we made was too spicy and that the tomatoes were okay; but, she wouldn't go out of her way to eat them! I thought they were best eaten hot and the Wow sauce added a lot.

JoJo made green tomato cake and gave us a sample. It was delicious! I thought it was a lot like fresh apple cake. Before our salsa day, I had eaten green tomato jam; but that was it. I didn't realize that green tomatoes were so versatile! As for the salsa, I'd say that there are a lot of corn tortilla chips ahead of the three of us. Hm m m . . .I wonder if the Juanita's brand of chip will be on sale this week?