Cayenne Salsa
Cayenne Salsa
My friend Jana gave me a pint of cayenne salsa that she had canned a few weeks ago. We aren’t exactly salsa afficianados here, but we do love a good salsa. I haven’t found a canning salsa recipe that is “the one”, but this might be it. I was disappointed that it called for canned, stewed tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, but the resulting salsa is so thick and delicious that those will have to be overlooked for now and perhaps tinkered with in the future. This salsa has a decent heat to it, but it’s not too hot for my girls and it’s really wonderful with tortilla chips and since it’s thick, it coats them nicely. A local farm sells fresh cayenne peppers at our farmers market (and I would assume at their farmstand) for just under $2.00/lb. I’m going to pick up more today to do another batch. I found one batch to yield approximately six half pints.
Cayenne Salsa
1 2/3 cups vinegar
1 cup fresh cayenne peppers washed, de-stemmed
1 large white onion chopped
6 medium garlic cloves
1 large carrot peeled, chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes – (16 oz)
1 can tomato puree – (16 oz)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly-ground black pepper
juice of 3 limes
Puree ingredients in a blender (it will probably take several sessions, as the volume of ingredients is more than most blenders will hold).
Put ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 45 to 60 minutes to reduce salsa to a thick ketchup-like consistency.
Divide salsa into clean mason jars, but leave about 1/2-inch between top of salsa and top of jar. Put on new lids and tighten the bands, but leave them slightly loose.
Set jars in a large pot of boiling water (water should be several inches above the top of the jars). Boil for 15 to 20 minutes, remove jars, tighten bands completely and allow to cool.
This is a moderately hot recipe. You can add more peppers to make it hotter. It keeps for quite a long time on the shelf before being opened.
Tardy Homemaker 
Nothing wrong with using your own canned tomatoes. 🙂 I tweak it in several ways but I hold true to measurements for safety reasons.
wow–I don’t know if I could handle all the heat of the cayenne peppers. Would like to try a bite and see though! I’ve been enjoying making salsa verde all summer long with fresh tomatillos and plenty of cilantro.
http://michaelbeyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/salsa-verde/
It’s actually not nearly as hot as you would think. The tomatoes and carrot really cut the heat.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. Wondering if I can leave the pepper seeds in since the salsa is for my hubby who likes spicy salsa. Thanks!
m c – I do leave the seeds in and it is fairly spicy. I find it tedious to seed those little cayennes!
This is a delicious recipe but according to the Oregon state extension agent I showed it to, the directions will lead to an under processed product (meaning possibility of botulism). All tomato products should have a couple inches of water above the tops of the jars while in the boiling water bath, not just up to the top of the salsa as stated in this recipe.
Kate~Thank you for pointing this out. I always process with several inches of water over the tops of the jars and I was typing the recipe instructions as I received them from my friend. Knowing her, she does the same as me. I don’t know how both of us missed this in the recipe!
how many servings