Tomato/Tomato Paste Salsa

By CreativeJBean

This is my families absolute favorite Salsa! My 14 years old was pretty sure it had come from the store!! :)
Recipe taken from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Only adaptations were type of pepper to adjusted personal heat.

Ingredients

• 3 3 3 quarts slicing tomatoes, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 3 3 3 cups of onions, chopped (3 medium whole)
• 2 2 2 large green pepper (cored and seeded)
• 4 4 4 cayenne (one batch I used eight for a little extra heat)
• 8 8 8 hot chili peppers
• 10 10 10 jalapeno pepper
• 4 4 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 12 2 12 2 - 12 ounce cans of tomato paste
• 2 2 2 cups bottled lemon or lime juice
• 1 1 1 tbsp. of salt
• 1 1 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1 1 1 tsp. black pepper

Preparation

Step 1

Peppers: - This is the combo I used - makes a medium/hot salsa
(I left the seeds in all except the green/bell peppers)
This should total total slightly more than 4 cups of peppers when finely chopped in the food processor.

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and heat, stirring frequently, until mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. ( I often simmer for a couple of hours to reduce some liquid.) Ladle hot salsa into clean, hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe jar rims and cap with properly pre-treated lids. Process in boiling water canner.
0 - 1000 ft - 15 min. ; 1,001 - 6000 20 min.