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.

Canning -- well, re-canning -- salsa

I have no talent (or so my kids tell me) for making either pizza sauce or salsa. However our family enjoys both these sauces in appreciable quantities. So what's an avid canner to do?

My solution may not be for everyone, but it works for us: I buy large commercial quantities of these items, and re-can them into smaller packages.

Recently I purchased a case of salsa in #10 cans.

By nesting my two largest pots double-boiler style (so the salsa wouldn't burn at the bottom), I was able to fit three cans in at a time. I like to hot-pack the salsa, which means I need to heat it up to near-boiling before packing the jars.

I washed and saved the cans, of course. Large cans are always useful around here.

I always pressure-can my re-canned salsa. I'd rather play it safe than sorry. My canner holds 18 pints at a time, so that's how many jars I filled. I had some leftover salsa, which I canned in the next batch.

Scalding my Tattler lids and rings.

Into the canner.

My pressure canner is an All American, which has a metal-to-metal seal between the lid and the body. This means that about every five uses or so, I need to lubricate the metal on the lid by applying a thin coat of petroleum jelly. This keeps the metal lid from "sticking" to the body of the canner after processing something. I keep the tub of Vaseline inside the canner when I store it away so I never have to go searching for it.

I re-canned the salsa at 12 lbs. pressure (adjusted for our higher elevation) for 25 minutes for the pints.

While the first batch processed, I heated the other three cans of salsa and packed the jars.

This left me with six clean empty large cans, which I stashed in the barn for the time being.

First batch, out of the canner.

While the second batch processed, I washed the large pots and other accouterments. Sheesh, it seems my stove has been FULL of large pots lately, since I've been canning so much.

I ended up with four extra pints above what the canner would hold during the second batch. I toyed with just putting them in the fridge for immediate use, but I was afraid that much salsa would go bad before it could be eaten. In the end I processed a third batch in the pressure canner -- four lonely pints in a canner that holds 18.

The case of salsa cost me about $42 at a wholesale grocery. I got 40 pints canned up out of that case, so that comes to a hair over $1/pint (not counting the cost of the propane to re-can everything). What does a pint of salsa go for these days? Did I save money doing this?

Canning and re-canning

More canning stuff.

Our daughter's elderly piano teacher was given a box of peaches off someone's tree. The peaches were small and sour and not really good for eating. She asked if I wanted them, and I said heck yes. Peach purree added to fresh-made yogurt is unsurpassed. I took the box home and made them into purree.

I have no particular skill (or so my kids tell me) in making either salsa or pizza sauce, something we use in appreciable quantities. So what I do is buy giganto-sized quantities of both, then re-can them in smaller jars.

Here's four gallons each of salsa and pizza sauce, as well as the box of peaches:


This is the output after everything was canned and re-canned:


Ooooh, and looky what we just found at a thrift store! A food dehydrator! This is nearly identical to the model we used to own, and which we foolishly gave away (during a massive purging of possessions) before we moved to Idaho. I've been looking for one ever since. This dehydrator set us back a grand total of six bucks. Gotta love thrift stores...