I have been canning tomato salsa for many years. In the beginning my salsa was really thin like most of the store bought varieties. A few years back I tried a method that I thought I'd share with the readers on this site.
During the cooking stage of making salsa I gently press a sieve into the top of the salsa making sure not to let any of the salsa run into the sieve from the top. I ladle out captured juice into another kettle on the stove until the cooking salsa is the thickness I desire. I probably end up removing 1/4 of the cooking mass to get the desired consistency. The actual amount is up to the person doing the canning. I keep both containers simmering during this process.
When the salsa has simmered long enough, I pressure cook both the juice and the salsa. The juice is spicy hot as is the salsa and makes excellent soup stock.
A note: I don't put cilantro or garlic into my salsa for canning. The cilantro gets black and I don't like garlic marinating for months in the jars. We add both of these ingredients when we open the jars for eating. Fresh is always better and both garlic and cilantro are available year round.
Enjoy....
During the cooking stage of making salsa I gently press a sieve into the top of the salsa making sure not to let any of the salsa run into the sieve from the top. I ladle out captured juice into another kettle on the stove until the cooking salsa is the thickness I desire. I probably end up removing 1/4 of the cooking mass to get the desired consistency. The actual amount is up to the person doing the canning. I keep both containers simmering during this process.
When the salsa has simmered long enough, I pressure cook both the juice and the salsa. The juice is spicy hot as is the salsa and makes excellent soup stock.
A note: I don't put cilantro or garlic into my salsa for canning. The cilantro gets black and I don't like garlic marinating for months in the jars. We add both of these ingredients when we open the jars for eating. Fresh is always better and both garlic and cilantro are available year round.
Enjoy....
