Thursday, December 9, 2021

Peach salsa

It's been two years already since Older Daughter and I embarked on our grand cross-country adventure.

For those who may not remember, Older Daughter worked for four years as a nanny in New Jersey. It was tough having her so far away. While she liked her job very much, it was difficult for her to live in the city after growing up rural. After four years, she decided it was time to come back west. She shipped ahead many of her personal effects, but was stymied about what to do with her car.

So I flew out to meet her and we had a mother-daughter road trip back across the country. We had a blast! (You can follow our adventures for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, and Day 8).

Anyway, before embarking on our road trip, Older Daughter wanted to take me to Amish Country. She well knows my fascination for the Plain People, and it's unlikely I'll ever be nearby the Pennsylvania settlements ever again.

She took me to a tourist destination she'd been to before with her family (that she nannied for) called Kitchen Kettle Village, where we poked around to various shops. One of our stops was a place called the Jam and Relish Kitchen, where they made a huge variety of canned goods.

Since every jar had a sample available, I tried a bit of peach salsa. To me salsa is okay, but it's not my favorite condiment. But since peaches are my (hands down, bar none) favorite fruit, peach salsa sounded good. I tried a sample and just about flipped. It was fabulous!

Being on a budget, I purchased the tiniest jar they had, tucked it into our luggage, and brought it home. I savored every last drop of that salsa, then kept the jar.

My thought was to try and recreate the recipe one day. Then things got busy with our move, and it never happened. Meanwhile Older Daughter treated me to a couple of jars she'd ordered online for special holidays (Christmas, Mother's Day), which I knew was very expensive. I looked online for peach salsa recipes, and none of them had the secret ingredient that made this version so delicious: puréed peaches.

Finally I hauled out the little jar I'd kept and looked at the list of ingredients.

Time to give it a go.

I started by pulling together what ingredients I knew I had. (I added more later.)

I diced the bell pepper and onions...

...and sautéed them in a bit of olive oil.

I had some dehydrated red bell pepper left over from our old garden...

...which I set to soaking.

I later added the rehydrated red bell peppers to the sautéing veggies.

Then I added the following: A pint of diced canned peaches...

A can of diced tomatoes...

Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar...

...and a pint of unflavored tomato sauce from our old garden (no photo, sorry).

Here's the gloop so far:

The sautéed veggies were done by then, so I added them to the mix.

Next, two pints of peach purée from our old orchard.

A quarter-cup of sugar.

A can of diced jalapenos.

I tasted it so far, and kept tweaking. A bit of cut-up cilantro...

(I later hung the rest to dry. Waste not want not.)

I tasted it again, then added one teaspoon of salt...

...and an extra tablespoon of sugar.

After that it was time to try the fruits of my labors.

The result was pretty darned good! It didn't taste quiiite the same as the original, but it wasn't a bad replica. And it cost pennies on the dollar to make, so who's arguing?

I figure peach anything is good. Now I have a decent batch of peach salsa in small containers in the freezer for a nice winter snack.

8 comments:

  1. This Cherry Peach Salsa from American Spoon in Northern Michigan is the best salsa I've ever had. No tomatoes.

    Seriously. It is so good.

    https://spoon.com/collections/salsas-condiments-drink-mixes/products/cherry-peach-salsa

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  2. Your post reminds me of this charming song by gardening blogger, David the Good, Pears in Her Salsa (you can substitute peaches!)

    https://youtu.be/AEaiT9FVwXk

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  3. You might try adding a bit of the yeast extract. It adds a depth of umami flavor.

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    Replies
    1. Be careful adding yeast extract if you're sensitive to MSG. Though yeast extract doesn't seem to bother all people who have a sensitivity to MSG, it can cause similar reactions in some.

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  4. I share your love of peach salsa! Once you taste it there's no going back to plain salsa.

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  5. I love fresh peaches ! But to me they're ruined in salsa. However, hot chow chow with black eyed peas and corn bread is sweet, hot, and perfect together. So I may try the peach salsa again with the peas and cornbread. A friend made some chow chow with some of our pears long ago and it was a tie with what we usually liked. So peaches might work too. Some of the ingredients are the same.

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  6. Patrice, Love your stories..
    FYI, you are not too far away from a large Amish community from where you are. Lewistown Montana.
    West of Lewistown is a grocery Bigsky grocery.. Amish owned.. they npt only have local products but have alot of items from east colonies as well. Also invite you to visit Hutterite colonies as well. Good simple people.Lewistown is also home to the chokecherry festival, its huge..

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  7. I skipped reading your blog recently to being busy with the holidays. Oh funny, you were at Kitchen Kettle Village, which is only 20 minutes away from where I live. I haven't been there for awhile. Our area is a touristy area with lots to offer. Glad you had a nice time visiting!

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