1. Canning Salsa Safely
Welcome to our series of Wisline programs on home food preservation. Today we will talk about the basics of canning salsa safely.
Thanks to everyone for joining us today. Let’s get started.

2. Resources for Today Canning Salsa Safely (B3570)
How Do I…..Can Salsa (NCHFP)
Peppers: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve and Enjoy (UC-Davis)
Many of the points in today’s discussion come from our UWEX publication:
B3570 Canning Salsa Safely. Available online:
Other resources are available through the National Center for Home Food Preservation: How Do I…. Can Salsa
Chile Salsa
Mango Salsa
Mexican Tomato Sauce
Peach Apple Salsa
Spicy Cranberry Salsa
Peppers: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve and Enjoy

3. Main Ingredients Ripe, undamaged tomatoes (paste or slicing varieties)
Tomatillos – Mexican husk tomatoes
Peppers – fiery to mild
Salsa can be a fun way to preserve peak-of-season tomatoes. Salsa recipes combine low-acid ingredients like peppers and onions with a more acid food (tomatoes or fruit). Salsa recipes abound, but for a safe product, you must follow a research-tested recipe.
Tomatoes – Tomatoes are the main ingredient in most salsas. Choose ripe, undamaged tomatoes. Avoid over-ripe tomatoes, or late season tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines. Paste or Italian tomatoes produce thicker salsas than large slicing tomatoes.
Tomatillos – Also known as Mexican husk tomatoes. Remove the dry outer husk before using them in your recipe. These small fruits have a relatively low pH (~3.8) and a distinct flavor. They are popular in green salsas.
Peppers – Use only high quality peppers. Do not increase the overall amount of peppers in any recipe; but you may substitute one type of pepper for another.

4. Peppers A rainbow of colors
Flavor varies from almost sweet to fiery hot
A small size can carry a big ‘punch’
Peppers come in a wide variety of colors. Almost all varieties turn from green to yellow, orange, red or purple when they are fully ripe. Green peppers are often harvested before they are ripe and they are often less expensive in the store because they can better withstand transport and last longer once in storage.
Peppers vary in flavor from ripe red bell peppers that are almost sweet, to fiery hot Thai or habanero varieties. The heat of peppers is not tied to acidity; both sweet and hot peppers are low in acid. The heat of peppers is measured in Scoville units. In the early 1900’s Mr. Wilbur Scoville extracted capsaicin from different types of peppers. He recruited volunteers to taste the capsaicin samples and assigned a rating to each based on the amount of water required to neutralize the hotness. The common bell pepper has a Scoville unit of 0; while tiny Thai peppers have Scoville units of 50,000 or 100,000. In comparison, jalapeno peppers popular in salsa have a Scoville heat of 2,500 to 5,000 units. The heat of peppers is now measured in the laboratory, but the tradition lives on.

5. Question time??
Let me take a minute to ask is there are any questions that you have at this point.

6. Caution when Handling Hot Peppers
The volatile oils in hot peppers can cause burns. Wear rubber gloves when you cut or chop hot peppers. Do not touch you face, especially near your eyes. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water, even if you wear gloves.
Seeds are often removed from hot peppers that remain whole. Wear gloves, and be careful where you touch. The oils in hot peppers can cause burning of skin.
Other than seeding peppers, you may also wish to broil peppers to remove the tough outer skin. Leaving the skin on will help preserve some of the integrity of the tissue.

7. Other Ingredients Onions and garlic Acid – vinegar or lemon juice
Spices and herbs
Other popular ingredients in traditional salsas as onions and garlic, acid and spices.
In addition to peppers, onions and garlic are primary low-acid ingredients that are added to salsas. Never add more low-acid ingredients than is specified in the recipe.
Adding acid is necessary to safely preserve salsa because the natural acidity may not be high enough to prevent growth of Clostridium botulinum. Follow recipe directions for adding vinegar (5% acetic acid) or bottled lemon juice to home canned salsa. Do not use homemade vinegar, or substitute vinegar for lemon juice, unless this substitution is given in the recipe. Lemon juice is more acidic than vinegar, so lemon or lime juice CAN be substituted for vinegar in recipes.
Spices and herbs add characteristic flavor to salsas. You may decrease the amount of spices and herbs, but do not significantly increase the amounts before canning. Remember that powdered spices will slightly cloud the liquid, but this is rarely a problem with salsas. For best flavor, consider omitting herbs such as cilantro and parsley in salsa that will be canned; and then add these herbs fresh to salsa before serving.
An easy way to preserve spices is to freeze them in ice cube trays.

8. Safe Canning Boiling water processing is a must!
Open kettle canning is not recommended
Commercial processing is different
In order for salsa to be shelf stable, it must be processed in a boiling water bath. A 15 minute process is sufficient to ensure a good seal and to stabilize the product.
Open kettle canning, with this and any other product, is not recommended.
Recipes have been developed for pint jars ONLY. Half-pints may be processed for the time needed to process pint jars; no research tested recipes have been developed for canning salsa in quart jars.
Canning salsa, or making jams and jellies are food products that are commonly processed on a small scale and sold at farm markets. The regulations which govern food that is processed for sale are sometimes at odds with our home canning guidelines. For instance, a commercial processing wishing to sell jams and jellies does not need to water-bath can the product; a commercial processor wishing to sell salsa does not need to water bath can the product after hot filling. So, if you are helping consumers get started in a food business, be aware that the regulations governing their process (DATCP) will be different from our extension recommendations. But you can’t go wrong with our recommendations for a safe/ high quality product.

9. Question time??
Let me take a minute to ask is there are any questions that you have at this point.

10. Common Questions Favorite cookbook recipes Salsa is too thin
Substituting peppers
Adding more onions or garlic
Pressure canning salsa
Invariably there are many interesting salsa recipes in cookbooks that individuals would like to can. Unless clients have access to a pH meter to ensure that the equilibrium pH is less than 4.6, these products can not be safely canned and must be frozen or refrigerated.
If salsa is too thin, try adding tomato paste. Alternately, add flour or cornstarch to salsa before serving; never before canning.
Different varieties of peppers can be freely substituted, ounce for ounce, for one another. So if you prefer a fiery hot salsa, feel free to reduce the amount of bell pepper, and add more jalapeno. Alternately, if you prefer mild salsa, reduce or eliminate hot peppers and use sweet bell peppers instead.
Do not add more onions or garlic than is specified in the recipe. An unsafe product may result.
The Wisconsin recipes for salsa, based on a publication from Washington State University do not have instructions for pressure canning. There is one recipe for pressure canning Mexican Tomato Sauce developed by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. While some people have tried pressure canning, is it not recommended from a safety and a quality standpoint.

11. More Common Questions Canning quarts of salsa Canning ~ tomatoes
Fruit salsas
Mango salsa
Peach apple salsa
Cranberry salsa
Many friends have complained that our recipes for salsa call for canning in pint jars. Unfortunately, few tested recipes have been developed for jars larger than pint-size. Even the new recipes developed by the National Center for Home Food Preservation primarily offer instructions for canning in pint or half-pint jars.
Well then, why can’t we just can salsa like we do stewed tomatoes, or other tomato recipes with added low-acid ingredients. The research has not been done to allow much flexibility in processing of salsas. Unfortunately this situation is unlikely to change.
There are 3 recipes for fruit salsas developed by the National Center for Home Food Preservation:
Mango salsa- using unripe mangoes, bell pepper and onions – canned in ½ pint jars
Peach/Apple salsa- using tomatoes, unripe peaches, bell peppers, and tart apples – canned in pint jars
Spicy Cranberry salsa- onion, hot peppers, honey and cranberries canned in pint or half-pint jars
These are the only research-tested fruit salsas that we can recommend. Other fruit salsa can be frozen or refrigerated after preparation.

12. Question time??
Let me take a minute to ask is there are any questions that you have at this point.

13. Next Time:
Homemade Pickles and Relishes