Well… it was time to get started on using some of our garden bounty! And with all the beautiful sweet peppers that finished up this week, I knew it was time for my slightly famous and much adored Sweet Pepper Salsa!
I’ve made this every year for a good long time. I’m allergic to the spicy peppers and so my salsa is more a fresh chunky sweet garden salsa with a real garlicy kick and goes GREAT with white corn chips. It’s a awesome way to get your veggies every day! And this year is so cool because I had four different types of sweet peppers to play with! Giant Marconi, Green Pepper, Gypsy Peppers and a dark purple pepper that I can’t remember! Still, all really good and all home grown! Our tomatoes are from the Moby farm too! The garlic is from a farmer around here as well as the sweet Candy Onions.
I start by trimming up my tomatoes, pulling the tops off and cutting off any bad spots, etc. I used a mix of Brandywine tomatoes and cherry and grape tomatoes from the garden. The Brandwines have been excellent and really have that great homegrown summer taste!
Then I cut them into chunks for the food processor….
I used about 4 cups of small tomatoes and about 8 good sized tomatoes for this…
A quick spin in the food chopper…. be careful not to pulverize them… you want it a little chunky. You could just chop them by hand… I’ve done that most the time to be honest… I just only got my old food processer on Craig’s List! Only $20! It’s a little hoss and works great. Fun too.
When the maters are all chopped up, I do drain them in a seive. You don’t have to, I suppose, but fresh garden tomatoes seem to be really liquidy. I let them sit and then drain off some of the excess seed liquid. I like my salsa chunky and easy to eat with chips.
I love these Candy Onions… they are very white and very sweet. Come from Michigan and Ohio. Been getting them at the Farmer’s Market. I used 3 medium sized ones. The best part of this salsa is you can use whatever you want and like. I love onions, so I like a lot of fresh sweet onion in there.
I chop them fairly fine so that there is yummy onion in every bit!
Six or seven good sized peppers are ready to be chopped up and the seeds plucked out. I like the different colors… really makes a pretty salsa.
All ready for the food processor… since we just got the thing, we have to play with it! Again, you can do all this chopping without one for sure, but we just have fun using the thing!
Chop it all up and put it all in a big bowl to be mixed up and start draining any excess juice. As you complete each step you get a little more juice. I just keep draining off any that I think it just too much.
Now, here comes the FUN part…. Get a lot of good fresh garlic. I guess you could use garlic powder, but that’s a bad thing if you ask me. Fresh garlic minced is just sooo good in this salsa. I got some at the Farmer’s Market and it’s a hardneck garlic, not super spicey, but with a good strong flavor. It’s here from Ohio, and very fresh. I used about 15 big cloves.
I suppose you could go lightly on it if your garlic is strong, but I think what really makes this good is the strong garlic taste with the sweet peppers and the fresh tomatoes and other spices. It’s a good back and forth taste that makes it really good.
Mix it all up and then it’s spice time! Here’s what I like to add…. it’s a good base! Feel free to add what you like… Of these these spices, I really don’t measure, but more go by shakes of the sprinklers. These are all jar spices but you can always use fresh! I put about four or five shakes from each of these… maybe a little less on the cinnamon. You can always stir it up and test a bit with some handy chips. Remember the flavor will intensify after sitting a bit.
Cumin
Kosher Salt
Cinnamon (just a shake! it really works….)
Celery Salt
Season Salt
And then I add 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Not too much, just enough to counter the acid in the tomatoes. And if I have it, fresh cilantro, if not, dried cilantro.
It’s best if you can leave it alone in the frig for a day or so. But that rarely happens around here! The longer you let it set, the better the flavors all mingle and get yummy. I don’t cook it or can it, because one batch like this does not last. A jar or two goes to friends and then we just eat it over a few days and it’s gone! Writing this out is making me think that I need to go and sample a bit more just to make sure it’s perfect… yeah…
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