I don't have Annie's recipe, but I just put up 12 jars of this Peach Salsa from the Bernardin cookbook. I made it last year as well, and it's delicious.

Peach Salsa (7-8 half pint jars)

6 cups prepared peaches (12 medium/3lb)
1 1/4 cup chopped red onion
4 jalapeno peppers diced
1 red pepper chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 TB honey
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Blanch, peel, pit, and chope peaches. Combine all prepared ingredients in a large non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 5 minutes.

Ladle salsa into sterile jars, leaving 1/4" headroom. Remove air bubbles, add lids and screw on bands. Process for 10 minutes.

Any salsa recipes with Tomatoes and Peaches?

Michelle

I think what you're referring to is one Forum member (I'm sorry, I can't remember who.) who said she subbed a measure of peaches for tomatoes in Annie's salsa and liked the results.

You could sub peaches or part peaches for tomatoes in any red tomato salsa recipe. Peaches are higher acidity, so there aren't any safety issues.

Carol

Hi All, and Michelle especially,

Yes, Carol has it exactly correct. I call it Annie's Peach Twist Salsa, because it is Annie's recipe, just a twist with peaches. Annie hasn't "approved" this name, but we did discuss it when I was noodling with her recipe. :)

The history of this is a couple of years ago I was traveling in Georgia and we stopped at a peach stand to bring back a bushel for canning. They had a peach salsa on the stand that was a peach tomato mix, so I bought a jar out of curiosity. It was so good, I tried to find a recipe but all the peach recipes I found were like the one above, all peaches, and I couldn't safely substitute in the tomatoes and know the acid level was correct. Along came Annie with her newly tested recipe, and I realized I could substitute peaches for tomatoes, because just as Carol said, peaches are more acidic than tomatoes. The density issue is pretty much irrelevant in water bathing, peaches take less time than tomatoes, and the salsa is hot packed. I also leave out the tomato sauce and paste. These are thickeners, and I fear the paste especially will overwhelm the peach flavor. I also leave out the cilantro and double the cumin (I dislike cilantro, but love cumin).

So for those who want an actual recipe, written out:

AnnieÂs Peach Twist Salsa

1 quart tomatoes, skinned, chopped, drained
1 quart peaches, skinned, pitted and diced, including juice
2 1/2 cups onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups green peppers, chopped
3 to 5 jalapenos, chopped fine
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons cumin, ground
2 teaspoons pepper
2 tablespoons canning salt
1 cup cider vinegar
brown sugar to taste

For boiling water bath, process 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts.

Petro

that sounds great ... wish I had found this a few weeks ago ... when local peaches were in season. Maybe I can find some good ones from PA .. but the drought has affected just about everything ... and we're not even in the most severe drought area ...

The Bernardin is the same one as I use. Love it. Mixing tomatoes with peaches sounds...different. I am game but my husband is a culinary chicken. I will print save it anyway. Thanks for the reply folks!

triple b ... no one else is my family eats a lot of the pickles and relishes and salsa I make. So I make them for me, myself and I.

(although, Annie's regular salsa is a big hit with my picky daughter)

Thanks Petro! I found your reference to your Peach Twist Salsa but could not find the recipe! Thanks so much for posting it, I did think the tomato paste and sauce would be a bit heavy for the peaches.

I think the Peach Twist Salsa would be fabulous as a dipping sauce for pork chops.

Michelle

Well, the simple solution for any "undecided" voters is to make up a little batch. A cup of peaches, a cup of tomatoes, a 1/2 cup onion, a 1/2 cup peppers, 1 jalapeno, 1 clove garlic, and reduce the spices accordingly by 4. Annie's recipe divides down so nicely and you haven't invested a lot into potentially wasted produce, prep time, or canning, only to end up with jars and jars of product you don't like. When I first started, I made a half batch and canned it into jam jars, just so I could see what happened after it sat on the shelf for a while.

I too make the salsa for me, or so I thought. The rest of the family seems to have inherited reflux disease and ulcers. If I was pressed for a description, I would call this a tomato salsa, but mellower, with fruity overtones (or some such silliness). I should have added that I use sweet onions, and like Zabby, I like ripe sweet peppers. If you start with less than wonderful peaches (tree-picked orchard quality), the peach flavor easily gets overwhelmed as it's subtle. I agree mixing tomatoes with peaches sounds different, even distasteful. But then to me, mixing peaches with peppers sounds different too. Yet I see lots of posters investigating the habanero gold and pepper jelly recipes, as well as straight peach salsa. I actually bought that first jar as a present for my brother who inherited the adventuresome palate in the gene pool. But he never actually received it. Now he's discovered the home-made version, and I guess I have to share, regardless of reflux... ;)

And yes, Michelle, it does sound interesting as a side for pork, dipping or even grilling. In fact, that idea makes me wonder what would happen with apples or apricots. Apple season is here, even if peach season is over for you Kay. Good golly, there are more experiments to be performed!

Petro

We make a salsa very similar to the peach twist described here. One difference is that we usually roast everything possible. Adds an excellent flavor to the salsa. Peppers go over the flames on the gas stove, the garlic, onions, and other stuff gets blackened by being rolled around in a very hot iron frying pan (no oil.) Was also glad to see a quart processing time given, but is that really long enough? We do our quarts for 25-30 minutes.

Marcia

Petro, Funny, you should mention apples and apricots as I thought of them too! I am so tired of cranberry sauce and have not served it in years, but an apple tomato salsa might be very good with a Thanksgiving Turkey. But I am not a very experienced canner, just have done stewed tomatoes for years and years, so would never dare to experiment.

Michelle

I can't say if 20 minutes is long enough or not. I'm sure I got that instruction from Annie. I will say that one instruction is missing here:

Mix together, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

In other words, the salsa is to be hot packed, and I would be surprised if 20 minutes is insufficient. When I do pints for 15 minutes, they seal as I pull the rack out of the boiler. A quick perusal of a variety of other recipes, suggests that an additional five minutes is typical when going from pints to quarts when you hot pack. If you want to do 25 minutes, I doubt it matters.

Petro

Michelle, if you really want to get into some sweet/savory sauces with different fruits, Google up some chutney recipes.

I don't remember Annie ever saying anything about a processing time for quarts. AFIK no tests have been done on processing times for salsa in quarts.

I don't know that it's that high-risk but no assumptions can be made either way as to whether 5 minutes' added processing time is sufficient.

It's kind of like the British system of verdicts: There's "guilty," "not guilty" and "not proven." This falls into the "not proven" category.

Carol

Carol,

You are correct about published salsa recipes, such as USDA. There is no information about quarts. This is what Annie said about her salsa in '05. Here's the quote and the link:

Petro

RE: Annie's salsa mix...big hit

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* Posted by Ben_950 5b West MI (My Page) on
Tue, Aug 9, 05 at 12:00

After increasing the vinegar to 1 cup, how long should you process pints in a BWB?

Ben

o
RE: Annie's salsa mix...big hit

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* Posted by annie1992 Z5 MI (My Page) on
Tue, Aug 9, 05 at 13:41

According to the Extension Service, 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: link to thread

That's what my version of the tomato salsa recipe says too, which I copied from an old post right from Annie.

Mind you, I never make quarts --- there are just the two of us, and if we opened a quart some of it might go bad before we used it, and that would be WRONG!!! I can almost everything in pints and half-pints, and on the rare occasion when we have a big crowd to feed I just open several.

Zabby,
who has been re-enjoying the wonderfulness of the tomato salsa after making the first batch of the year last night --- we had breakfast burritos for brunch and chili (the last of last year's frozen batches) with salsa & corn chips for dinner .... wonder how many meals in a row we can have some with???? ;-)

Zabby, yes, I'm a "cut and paster" too, it's just too easy to screw up and make a bad typo. That's why I knew I didn't imagine it, or add it by mistake.

Nor do I make quarts. Not because I fear it going bad, but because I fear it wouldn't!

And Michelle, I agree with triple b, you should start looking at chutney recipes. You might find all kinds of recipes that intrigue you. Also if you feel like experimenting, but feel unsure about the safety issues, you can always freeze your experiments, or ask for help here. I never seen a question that someone didn't try to answer, although not all answers are in complete agreement. Be kind of boring if they were!

Petro

a recent post from Annie said that she was getting mixed signals on processing quarts ... I can't find the post, but the end result was there was no definitive recommendation for times for quarts ... just for pints

found it ... this is a quote from Annie ... (it was dated just a week or so ago)

"I have gotten some "mixed messages" on canning salsa in quarts. My extension service says there is no "safety rule" against it and the only reason most recipes say to can in pints is because they believe most families would only use pints of salsa. However, some of the other extension services say that it's not safe to waterbath salsa in quarts, but can't tell me why, I'm assuming it's a density issue with thick salsas. As usual, no one agrees. Sigh.

there's also a quote out there from NCHFP that sez ... hasn't been tested in quarts, so don't do it.

I never seen a question that someone didn't try to answer, although not all answers are in complete agreement. Be kind of boring if they were!
* * *
I am loving this forum for that reason. I was looking for information in the Aquarium forum once because I keep tropical fish also. Threads will sit on the first page for weeks, sometimes with no reply either. That forum is pretty dead.
On this one, the tomato forum, the rose forums and I think even the dahlia forum some threads just catch fire and it is so fun.

triple_b,

Of course, you've found us at our peak time of year, too --- where the majority of posters live, it's a major harvest season in the summer to early fall! Things can get a bit quiet here in the winter, but there's always some chat, and yes, it's always fun! (As I recall, there have been some winter threads that developed into extreme silliness, presumably due to the influence of too little sunshine and canning-withdrawal syndrome....)

The spirit of helpfuness, generosity, inquisitiveness, and love of a good harvest on this forum is a joy.

Zabby

Hi! I am fairly new to this forum, but have been reading and learning a lot from it. There is such a wealth of knowledge and great recipes too. I was also looking for a recipe for peach salsa that included tomatoes and not being as confident about switching out ingredients I found this recipe on Recipezaar (www.recipezaar.com) I haven't tried it yet, but there were several good reviews.

Peach Salsa
Recipe #30555
10 ratings
An excellent salsa that goes well with fish dishes, or just as a snack with crackers.
by William (Uncle Bill) Anatooskin

8 1/2 pints
time to make 45 min 30 min prep

6 cups chopped peaches (about 3 pounds)
3 large fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions
4 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid honey
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Sterilize 8, 1/2 pint jars, then place upside down in a 325 F oven for about 15 minutes.
2. Blanch peaches, cool in cold water, peel, pit and chop to measure 6 cups.
3. Blanch tomatoes and cool with cold water, peel, remove seeds and cut into chunks.
4. In a large stainless or enamel cooking pot, combine peaches, tomatoes, onion, Jalapeno peppers, sweet red pepper, cilantro, vinegar, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper.
5. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Adjust seasonings to taste.
7. Add more cayenne pepper if you desire a spicier taste.
8. Ladle salsa into hot jars to within 1/4 inch of top for headspace.
9. Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the glass and salsa.
10. Re-adjust the headspace to 1/4 inch.
11. Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness.
12. Center lid on top of jar; apply screw band just until finger tight.
13. Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and process for 10 minutes.
14. Remove jars and place on a towel, then cover with another towel to cool slowly.
15. Jars are sealed when the lids pop and are curved down, (concave).
16. Label jars and store in a cool, dark place.
17. NOTE: You can substitute and use 6 cups of fresh, chopped pineapple for a different flavor.

Hi Knitting,

If you compare this recipe to the one posted by susy from the Bernadin book, you'll see that they are nearly identical. Your Uncle Bill has increased the onion by a 1/4 cup, upped the garlic and thrown in the three tomatoes. Depending on what he thinks large tomatoes are, that could be quite a bit in recipe that size.

One of the tricky things about salsa is in fact knowing how to adjust the recipes, and there are things you are not allowed to do. You are not allowed to increase the low acid ingredients, onions and peppers, relative to the vinegar. You also should not increase the tomatoes or add tomatoes. Uncle Bill has done both here. When you go cruising the internet for recipes, it gets very confusing because most people don't post what recipe they started with and where it was tested. I trust recipes from Ball/Bernadin, the USDA and the extension services because I know they are tested. I don't trust anything else, particularly with salsa. I make adjustments, because I know what will happen if I do. To my mind it is easier and smarter to start with a tomato salsa recipe and substitute the fruit in, rather than start with a fruit recipe and add tomatoes. When you substitute fruit you are making the product more acidic and generally decreasing the processing time. So you end up with a safer product. When you do the reverse, you can end up beyond the margin of safety in the recipe, and that's where you end up with problems. This is really where Carol's not proven is important. My guess is that Uncle Bill's recipe is good, but it's not proven, and it is on the margin.

Petro

Hey Zabby,
You have to wonder when 'peak aquarium season' is. Maybe after Christmas when all the newbies are filling their Christmas present tanks with fish without cycling the water first and can't figure out why their fish keep dying.

triple_b,
If you're looking for a forum that's really hoppin'.....check out the Cooking forum on That Home Site (links from GardenWeb)!! I can't keep up over there! I try, but I'm not very good at it!
Lot's of great people (some from here even!), recipes, advice, etc. IF you can imagine it, they can cook it! :+)

Deanna

triple_b,

LOL! Maybe to talk to fish people you need to do live chat at 5:00 a.m.???

Zabby