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GARDENING TIPS HOME
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Salsa Garden
Tips |
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Salsa has become more popular than ketchup,
at least that's what they said on some show
I saw on television. We have been growing
almost everything needed to make our own
salsa for years. Sometimes we don't get a
very good garlic crop but we usually do
quite well growing and supplying enough
ingredients to can up many pints of our own
salsa. It's way better than anything we've
found although lately there have some
companies producing better salsa. Still it's
nothing like the stuff that comes from your
own garden!
The vegetables we grow for our salsa recipe
are:
Tomato's, Jalapeno Peppers, Onions, Cilantro
and Garlic. |
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Now there are lots of different tomato's and
pepper plants. Your choice of tomato is
going to be more limited than pepper if you
don't use a pressure cooker to can your
salsa. Hybrid tomato's are less acidic than
the older heirloom types of tomato's. Acidic
tomato's are important to the canning
process if you chose to use the boil bath
method of canning. You will still find
yourself adding either vinegar, lemon juice
or both to salsa processed using the boil
bath method. Either way I feel it's best to
use a more acidic tomato. This way I don't
have to add so much vinegar or lemon juice
to our salsa. I also like to add cherry
tomato's to our salsa. This is more work but
adding 3 or 4 cherry tomato's per jar is all
it takes to sweeten the salsa enough to
really notice. Figure out how many quarts
your recipe makes, multiply that by 4 and
use that many cherry tomato's mixed in with
your other tomato's when making your recipe.
Don't change the measurement just mix them
in. |
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Peppers are definitely a matter of how much
heat you want or don't want. I have made
salsa with almost every type of pepper
available. In the end I choose jalapeno's
exclusively. I like the robust flavor and
they are the perfect heat for me. I have
tried using habenaro peppers mixed in but I
personally just don't care for the bitter
taste they offer to the recipe. Even just a
couple habanero's in the mix seems to be too
much. As you can see this is a matter of
choice. This will be the biggest factor when
it comes to pleasing everybody in the house.
Of course if you are the only one who loves
hot stuff you won't have to worry about
sharing it haha. |
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It will take a little time figuring out
exactly which peppers to use. If you prefer
hot salsa I recommend starting with pure
jalapeno and go from there. If you like mild
salsa then maybe only add one or 2
jalapeno's and the rest bell or other mild
peppers. You may even want to leave hot
peppers out all together. It's a matter of
choice, just use the amount of peppers
recommended in your recipe and select which
ones you like best.
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Fresh garden onions work great in salsa. We
prefer the white onions but red, yellow or a
mix works fine. Once again it's a matter of
personal taste but it's obviously not as
important as pepper selection. Plant your
onion sets as soon as the ground thaws and
no chance of another freeze. Onions are a
cool weather crop and getting them in early
means you can start making salsa earlier.
You can also make a second planting when you
plant your warm weather crops. Harvest
onions when you notice the greens starting
to turn yellow or brown. If you wait too
long you can get top end rot and that just
ruins them for canning. Remember you need to
use high quality ingredients to make high
quality salsa. We plant our onions in double
rows. This saves garden space and allows us
to weed them from both sides. |
Cilantro is an optional ingredient that we
prefer. A little goes a long way. You can
use the fresh leaves, dried leaves, or fresh
seed (coriander). We like to put a little in
a spice bag and let the flavor seep in and
add just a touch of leaves directly into the
salsa. Some people say it gives salsa a
soapy taste and it actually does if you use
too much. If you do it right it makes salsa
taste more authentic. Using fresh seeds
gives it a nice sweet taste. Adding lemon
juice instead of or with vinegar also ads a
sweet flavor. We sow cilantro directly in
the garden when we plant or warm weather
crop. Make sure you keep it good and moist
until sprouts are about 2 weeks old and thin
as directed. There are hybrid cilantro seeds
and heirloom varieties. We have had luck
with both kind but the hybrid varieties seem
to produce better. The trick is timing the
cilantro harvest out so it s ready and fresh
when the other ingredients come in. If it
starts going to seed you can always harvest
the leaves and dry them out.
Garlic is an ingredient that's a must in
salsa. Growing it has proven to be a little
tough for us here in the northern states. We
still plant it and cross our fingers for a
long warm season. If we don't get to harvest
garlic we just purchase it at the grocery
store. It's just nice to use our own fresh
garden ingredients. Plant garlic like onions
and keep well weeded.
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About The Author:
Written By Steve Snyder
Visit my garden seed website. We offer high
quality fresh flower, vegetable and herb seed
for the home gardener.
Millington Seed Co
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