Peach salsa update. Never let a man.....

[Faith-manor]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 Mark got involved. He was very excited about this particular food project. So here is the recap of the adventure:

He decided no to the cilantro. He decided that despite the lack of tomatillos, it would taste like verde. He likes verde. He just didn't want peach verde sauce.

And then he got a little too happy going off the rails.

I wanted to only put 2 lbs of tomatoes in because my Amish Paste are super high powered, tasty tomatoes and super, duper dense and meaty so I began to feel instinctively that maybe 4 lbs would overtake the peaches. He thought I was crazy and wanted them all. Okay then. I felt we needed only 4 jalapenos, and no seeds from them, then just one at most two chili peppers. He decided we needed 8 jalapenos and one with all the seeds, and four chili peppers, and two or three individual seeds in there. Of course the entire huge candy onion went in it. He put two bell peppers from the garden in it.

I added 1.5 tbps of cumin, some kosher salt, and the whole head of garlic minced plus a cup of lime juice. The recipe, now not really being followed in any way shape or form, called for sugar. I decided that it should be honey because I figured there was going to be some serious heat in the salsa at this point.

The outcome you ask????? A very slightly sweet just barely peachy at all pepper extravaganza salsa that to Mark's pallet is medium heat, and to mine, is hot. 12 jelly jar/ half pints, and 1 full pint.

It is delicious! I am not going to lie. It is not what I expected, and frankly, I do think that is because my mad scientist foodie husband got involved. BUT, we actually had a lot of fun making it together, and with another pair of adept hands helping, it took me half the time to do it compared to working alone. He is a big kitchen helper, and if one could control his mad alchemy personality, would be a wonderful Saucier. I just don't think most chefs would be able to exercise any successful management of his crazy food escapades. "I have an idea" is pretty much him all over again no matter what project he touches.

I would like a batch that is less pepper/tomato, and more peach on the palette. So I am watching the garden to see if I can get two lbs of tomatoes to ripen before all the Michigan red haven peaches are sold out.  Peppers and onions are not an issue. Plenty of those.

We have decided that we might take one of the jars, run it through the blender (it is pretty chunky, much like fresh salsa), and use it as a taco sauce on crab meat, shrimp, or pulled pork. I am not a fan of shrimp, so we might go halfsies, and do some shrimp, some crab meat or Lake Superior whitefish.

I can't fault him. Seriously, when we got done, he made homemade pizza for us (I made the sauce; he did everything else), and we had so much fun, that after lunch, it felt like we'd been on a date. I am going to spend the afternoon fussing in the garden, playing the piano, and reading. He is going to repair an electric train for our grandsons (an extensive set of repairs because poor C, the 3 year old, dropped the engine on the tile floor in the Bama house and it took a pretty hard hit), and then we are going to take a walk on the beach this evening. So maybe the salsa is also infused with a lot of love and affection which makes me think more highly of the weird results than I should! 😂

[Harriet Vane]

Big food adventures are a staple in my marriage, too. My husband and yours are kindred spirits. The kids and the nieces and nephews refer to the various making-stuff projects as " another exciting episode of [Husband's Name] Plus!" Like Disney Plus, but in this case it's JoePlus*! (*Not his real name.)

He has also been compared to the Swedish Chef. 😉

Our most recent was when dh got really excited when he realized we had a few birthdays stacked up to celebrate. Assuming every birthday person brings a cake, it would have been 8 cakes for 10 people. SO EXCITED. Dh's sister put the brakes on. There is no need for 8 cakes. The ruling was for one cake per family (2 cakes total). So dh decided to make all the favorite cakes from his childhood, plus homemade caramel, and just stack them up. Then it would be one large cake. 🤣 Then somewhere along the way he thought, while we're at it let's make it a checkerboard cake. If you've never done one before, I'll just say it's essential that the cakes be of similar heft for a checkerboard to work. Ours were . . . not. Dh baked a nice sturdy chocolate chip cake, a spongy soft tender mocha cake, and a from-scratch airy angel food cake. He cut the concentric circles. He slathered on jam and caramel and buttercream frosting as the spirit led him to do. And then, horror of horrors, as he bravely stacked, those mismatched layers succumbed to the laws of physics and cracked and splayed outward. Many hands were needed. Then it was determined that many bamboo shish ka bab skewers were needed to skewer the whole thing together into a cohesive whole. It was a glorious mess, but it was a hit.

 

So back to your salsa. It sounds magnificent and tons of fun. Do you need tomatoes for peach salsa? I kinda wonder about peaches and peppers and sweet onion. I've only ever made fresh salsa an hour or two before dinner, so I'm no expert. But I'm rooting for you in your salsa journey. 😃

[Faith-manor]

On 8/19/2023 at 2:34 PM, Harriet Vane said:

 

😉

 🤣

Love it! 😂😂😂

I have no idea if tomatoes are needed. I looked at five recipes and they all called for tomatoes. But, they might not be necessary. 

I like savory. I love peppers. Just love them. So for me, I don't mind these results though maybe slightly less heat would be nice. I can imagine making a truly sweet salsa and enjoying that. But, the small amount of honey and the mild peach flavor works well for me with the tangy, zesty, savory elements. That said, I am pretty certain that this doesn't meet the expectations of most people who like peach or mango style salsa. We definitely would be slapped about on a Bobby Flay show if we produced this. 😁 Alton Brown would probably insult us up one side and right down the other.

So if things work out, I will probably make it again, but on a definitely more peach forward flavor profile. 😉pan widget

Edited August 21, 2023 by Faith-manor
Typo

[Lady Marmalade]

Here is the recipe I use for Peach Salsa from the Ball Blue Book. There are no tomatoes involved. 

from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

makes about eight 8-ounce jars

1/2 cup white vinegar

6 cups chopped pitted peeled peaches

1 1/4 cups chopped red onion

4 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

2 TBS liquid honey

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Prepare canner, jars and lids.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine the vinegar and peaches.  Add onion, jalapeno peppers, red pepper, cilantro, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne.   Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace, if necessary, by adding hot salsa.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes.  Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

 

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

And then Mark's brain went where Mark's brain goes which is often somewhere between Indiana Jones and The Wizard of Oz, so the results are epic with the potential of disaster. My youngest is the zaniest of my children, and I blame that on being alone here without siblings his last two years of high school, and his dad having far too much influence over him. 😅

Oh my goodness, YES! 🤣

[Ali in OR]

You can just make a dinner-sized batch of fresh peach salsa your way (or try a few ways over the next couple of weeks) just to try something different. Then you don't need to have so many tomatoes available.

[Faith-manor]

54 minutes ago, Lady Marmalade said:

Here is the recipe I use for Peach Salsa from the Ball Blue Book. There are no tomatoes involved. 

from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

makes about eight 8-ounce jars

1/2 cup white vinegar

6 cups chopped pitted peeled peaches

1 1/4 cups chopped red onion

4 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

2 TBS liquid honey

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Prepare canner, jars and lids.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine the vinegar and peaches.  Add onion, jalapeno peppers, red pepper, cilantro, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne.   Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace, if necessary, by adding hot salsa.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes.  Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

 

This sounds nice. No tomatoes. But, I do like using lime juice instead of vinegar. I feel like it is less pungent and more authentic. But I like the ratios in this recipe.

[Lady Marmalade]

You can definitely use lime juice instead of the vinegar and it will still be safe to can.  🙂

[itsheresomewhere]

You should check out peach pineapple salsa.  It is such an addictive salsa.  
 

For the record-  I have never used tomatoes in my peach salsa and neither do my Mennonite friends.   Save the tomatoes for other things.  Although a handful of ground cherries in peach salsa isn’t bad. 

[Dianthus]

I saw your original post and am disappointed you didn't use cilantro. 

But, the thing you should do now is go review the recipe. 😉

[GoVanGogh]

That sounds so good. And seriously makes me want some peach salsa. And it reminds me that I have a small salsa cookbook that I have long wanted to pull out and cook my way through. My DH is so not a foodie and is so not even remotely a good helper in the kitchen. 

 

 

 

[MercyA]

Y'all can come live with me, please. 🙂  

[vonfirmath]

4 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

You should check out peach pineapple salsa.  It is such an addictive salsa.  
 

For the record-  I have never used tomatoes in my peach salsa and neither do my Mennonite friends.   Save the tomatoes for other things.  Although a handful of ground cherries in peach salsa isn’t bad. 

OOh We get Peach Pineapple Salsa from Safeway/Randall's to use in one of the casseroles we make

[KungFuPanda]

13 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

You should check out peach pineapple salsa.  It is such an addictive salsa.  
 

For the record-  I have never used tomatoes in my peach salsa and neither do my Mennonite friends.   Save the tomatoes for other things.  Although a handful of ground cherries in peach salsa isn’t bad. 

Ohhhhh, if you’re doing peach-pineapple salsa, I’ll bet you can do peach-squash salsa. I’ve canned zucchini in pineapple juice before and it really does taste like pineapples. It stands to reason that you could sub it into a peach-pineapple salsa. 

[Halftime Hope]

Everything the Mad Hatter Chef in my family makes is great, but sadly, he is the only one with that trait.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Halftime Hope

[Faith-manor]

11 hours ago, Halftime Hope said:

 😄

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Faith-manor

[Halftime Hope]

@Faith-manor Thanks.

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Halftime Hope

[Faith-manor]

I was unable to delete the emojis from my kindle. Don't know why, it just won't do it.

[Faith-manor]

11 hours ago, Halftime Hope said:

 

 

[Indigo Blue]

@Faith-manorI’m glad your salsa turned out so well!!

 

Also, I just wanted to pop in to say that one of my sons can do a very good and hilarious impression of The Swedish Chef……🙂