Prep time        2 hours

Serves              10-15

Ingredients

10-12 pounds of fresh garden tomatoes

2 cups chopped red onions

4 cups chopped sweet, or Vidalia onions

6-8 jalapeños de-seeded and chopped

Zest and juice of 6 limes

1/8 cup granulated sugar

3-4 tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons Kosher, or sea salt

1 cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Prepare the jars.  I place them in the dishwasher, and run them through a regular cycle.  You can also boil them is desired.  Set aside.

Rinse the garden tomatoes thoroughly, and chop them into small pieces, approximately ¼ to ½ inch thick and place in a bowl.

Chopped Garden Tomatoes

Line a large bowl with a cotton towel, and set aside.

Remove 2-3 cups of the chopped tomatoes and place them in a salad-spinner.  Spin the tomatoes for 20-30 seconds- this will remove the excess water.  (I also use the salad spinner when blanching veggies.)  Put all of the chopped tomatoes in the large bowl lined with a cotton towel, and let sit for 30 minutes.

Tomatoes and Salad Spinner

Chopped Tomatoes in Cloth Lined Bowl

Chop all of the vegetables into small chunks.  Don’t worry about uniformity- you want the salsa to have an organic look.  Do NOT chop the parsley and cilantro yet- that comes later in the recipe

Salsa Veggies

Place a large non-reactive (NEVER use aluminum pans) on the stove.  Put the tomatoes, and chopped vegetables in.  Next, add the lime zest, lime juice, sugar, salt, and fresh-cracked black pepper.  Turn the heat on high, and to stir ever 2 minutes.

Tomato and Veggie Mixture

Cooking Salsa Mixture

The sauce will come to a boil in 10 minutes on high-heat.  When a boil is achieved, continue to cook for another 10 minutes.  *Many salsa recipes require cooking times of up to, and over an hour.  I cut the cooking time considerably to keep the sauce fresh, and young.

Turn the heat off, and add the fresh chopped parsley and cilantro.

Taste the salsa, and adjust the seasonings of required.

Line all of the sanitized jars on a clean working surface.  Fill the jars, leaving ¼ of an inch at the top.  Once the jars are filled place the sealers on top securing the lids making sure they are screwed on tightly.

Jarred Salsa

As the salsa begins to cool, and a vacuum is created, you will hear the jars begin to ping.

At this point the salsa is ready to serve.