I've got all these organically grown vegetables and I'm adding preservatives. We found that the salsa wasn't very spicy and when I took the time to look at the ingredients of bottled lemon juice (it must be bottled - fresh lemon juice doesn't have the consistent acid level for canning) I saw that it's full of preservatives! Sadly, my search for the best recipe wasn't at an end, though. It called for two 12-oz cans of tomato paste and 2 cups bottled lemon juice instead of vinegar, which produced a thick sauce and minus the overly vinegar taste. I think others felt the same way, because a recipe soon appeared on the USDA website for a Tomato-Tomato Paste Salsa. While they all had good flavor (I was using wonderful produce, after all!), they were usually really watery and/or vinegary. So I started testing recipes from a Kerr canning book, the Ball Blue Book, the Oregonian newspaper, and some preserving books from the library that all used safe guidelines. This is because there are so many low-acid ingredients in salsa (peppers, onions, and garlic) that it creates a delicate balance between the acid (tomatoes and usually another ingredient like vinegar or lemon juice) and the low-acid ingredients.

The one thing I learned when teaching myself to can salsa was that in order to use a water-bath canner to make salsa shelf stable, it's important to use a recipe from a trusted source that uses USDA guidelines. Store-bought canned salsa can't hold a candle to this! Finding a Safe Salsa Recipe to Can

When I finally did find my favorite salsa for canning, there was no going back - every August and September I make enough batches to see us through to the next season.

It took a number of years, though, to find a safe salsa recipe that was 'the one.' So of course I would want to make our own salsa for canning from the garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions we grow. Our family LOVES salsa - if we don't eat it everyday, at least I think it's safe to say we eat it every other day. It's our family's favorite and I know it will become yours, too! Learn how to make an easy and flavorful salsa for canning that's safe, uses all-natural ingredients, and is thicker than typical canned salsas.

Canning salsa