Actually, you can peel the cherries the same way you peel any tomatoes before canning them. Just dump the cherry tomatoes into a pot of boiling water, leave them in a few seonds to allow the skin to split, and then pour them into a bowl or pot of ice water. Then, pick them up and their skins will slide right off.

I've never tried canning cherry tomatoes in salsa, but I dehydrate tons of them to use in the winter as sun-dried tomatoes to toss into salads.

You might want to ask this question over at the GardenWeb Harvest Forum. The real canning experts are there and it is a very active forum at this time of year.

Good luck,

Dawn

Invariably, I have tomatoes out of my garden that has developed a bad spot, or a bird has pecked, or something, and since the rest of the tomato is still good, I hate to waste it. So I cut out the bad parts and save the good parts in a bag in the freezer. When I have enough, I cook them in a crock pot, along with extra cherry tomatoes, then when mushy run them through a sieve and can the juice. I just don't want to be standing in the kitchen peeling little tomatoes. Even blanched the loose skin wants to hang up on the top where the stem was. If you have a lot of them it can get kind of time consuming.

I think salsa made from cherry tomatoes would be kind of pretty, though. Here are a few websites that have a recipe:

http://www.911cheferic.com/main/drecipe.asp?recipe=230

http://www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/recipes/njtomatoes.htm

http://www.reneesgarden.com/recipes/salsa.html

In parts of the sierra (hill country) in Mexico little tiny currant tomatoes are used in salsa. It's kind of a regional specialty. They don't even skin them. They simply cook them with some chiles and salt and grind them, with a mortar and pestle. Sometimes they add some cilantro. It's very basic, but always good.

George

George, I was liking that idea until I got down to the cilantro. LOL

I made salsa once without peeling the tomatoes and my children complained. They didn't like those little rolled up skins in their salsa.

I haven't made salsa this year and doubt that I will have enough tomatoes to make any. Of course, with no kids at home we don't use as much. I always thought it was funny that my children would take home canned salsa to college with them. They always said it tasted better, but it could have been just because it was free and the other wasn't. LOL

There are so many ways to make salsa! One variation which really makes a difference is to add a chicken bouillon cube to the mix. Another variation is to used dried and/or smoked chiles. I LOVE my home made salsa and hot sauce. My favorite is to simply cook some habaneros in vinegar and blend them down with some salt. This makes a nice hot sauce which can be used to spice up bland salsas, and it keeps a long time.

Our son is the biggest hot sauce eater in the family. Yet, for some reason, he prefers the red stuff in a shaker bottle, which one gets in the store. I can't figure why.

George

One day after I said I wouldn't be canning tomatoes or making salsa, I took a look at my kitchen and decided I had to do something with the tomatoes that were building up. I make 5 pints of salsa. One of my daughters has already taken 2 of them home however. LOL