I am not an expert on salsa. Heck, I live in Vermont, where "south of the border" just sort of refers to those flatlanders in Massachusetts. I never even tried salsa, or anything Mexican, I don't think, until I was in my 20s. Things are different now up here in Siberia the Green Mountain State. We actually have a couple of local salsa-making companies, even, and we're all artisanal and multi-cultural and shit. But when I was growing up here we were so isolated from the rest of the world there was no such thing.
I like salsa all right, but I don't love it, except on certain days. I probably wouldn't know truly good salsa if it hit me in the face.
And I don't consume very much of it. It's probably the food I buy that I feel the most guilty about, because it is also the food I probably waste the most of. I buy a jar when I get a hankering for it, which is not very often. I eat a few tablespoons -- or at best, half the container -- and then it gets pushed to the back of the fridge. I remove it several months later when I'm cleaning out the refrigerator and toss out the rest of the moldy mess that is left in the jar.
Of course it follows that I've also never made homemade salsa before (except for my own idea of a salsa fresca on occasion). But today I did.
I used this recipe, and my own garden tomatoes and peppers. Meh, it's all right. Mine came out milder than I'd like it to be. I wish I'd been a little braver with the hot peppers.
I put it up in little half-pint jars, which are more my size.
My hope is that in little jars, it will have a better chance of getting eaten by humans and not become food for the worms.
Somehow I would have figured you for a Salsa Fiend. All that homegrown tomato goodness!
I eat tons of it - in or on quesadillas (my go-to supper when I get home late from work and am too tired to cook), with nachos or chips, in or on omelets, even on salads in place of dressing. When it's the really good stuff (like Pioneer Woman's Pico de Gallo), I could happily just sit with a bowl of it and a spoon...
Posted by: gayle | Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 07:51 AM
Strange, isn't it, Gayle? I love those ingredients, but I tend to use them more in the Mediterranean/Italian direction than the Mexican, for some reason. I do love it on an omelet, and nachos from time to time... but really it's rather rare -- whereas I can't go a half a week without something with marinara on it.
Posted by: Norma | Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 09:13 AM
Salsa has been a part of the food culture in Utah for years. My mother put up jars of salsa in the 1980s, although she didn't like it with any heat(?!). Can you imagine? We gave her a good rib for that. I rarely make it as I also prefer Mediterranean. If I've a hankering or a need there are plenty of freshly made salsas in the better grocery stores.Fresh tomatoes sliced with basil is my go to food in the summer.
Posted by: margene | Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 09:28 AM
The only time I was in Vermont, we went to dinner and the special was Chicken with Salsa. I asked about it, and the very condescending waiter tried to explain to me about the "spicy Mexican tomato based condiment". I ordered it and received Chicken with A Pile Of Cold Chopped Tomatoes. This was 25 years ago and I still remember it clearly.
Posted by: pacalaga | Monday, September 16, 2013 at 12:36 PM
I have to offer up my born and raised California girl mock horror at the addition of bell peppers. They're essentially a cheap filler added to canned salsa instead of jalapeño or serrano peppers and they add an odd bitter note to the sweet/sour tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. You can't go wrong with fresh, homegrown tomatoes, a good amount of chopped onion, minced jalapeño (added to whatever heat level you'd like), cilantro, lime juice, and salt. That's all ya need :-)
Posted by: Kathy | Friday, September 20, 2013 at 02:16 AM
I am a salsa fiend. But you may already know that...
You can still doctor it up when you eat it to heat it up with Tapatia or adding jalapenos.
Another way I use up salsa is in a black bean soup that I make. It's any easy recipe that uses canned black beans, tomatoes, salsa and broth. Since you have abundant harvests there, you can use your own stuff. Immersion blend and eat with sourdough. Yum. I'll look out the recipe if you want it, but it's just from the web so you prob find it there.
xoxo
Posted by: silvia | Friday, September 20, 2013 at 12:34 PM