Post your favorite fermented salsa recipes

[menomena]

I've been making fresh homemade salsa for awhile but only recently did I realize that if you let it ferment for a couple of days that it is PERFECT and chock full of the good enzymes and what not. And the kids and DH will eat it. Bonus!

I checked NT for the amount of time she suggests letting it ferment. I usually wing it, so this last time I tried to follow her recipe to see how it compared to mine. We're dairy-free, though, so I had to sub an extra TBSP of sea salt for the whey powder, but it came out extra-crazy salty, totally inedible. Today, I added a bunch of peeled & diced tomatoes to the previous batch and I'm going to let it sit. I'm hoping to use it with dinner. Anyway, I saw that she had a recipe for salsa and for something else that I would consider "salsa" but she had another name, that is of course totally escaping my brain right now... That got me thinking: there must be a million or more ways to make salsa.

What's your favorite salsa recipe?

Here's mine:
6-8 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded & diced
1 med vidala onion, very finely diced
1 med green pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 med jalapeno, mostly seeded (gotta have a few for spice) and finely diced
roughly 1 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
roughly 1/2- 1 tsp dried oregano
1 TBSP sea salt
1-2 lemons' worth of juice
enough water to cover top of veggies after smooshed down in jar

let sit 48hrs or so before moving to cold storage.

if we could do beans and/or corn (avoiding for allergy-figuring-out purposes), we'd make black bean & corn salsa. oh how I love black beans and corn... oh and garlic - we're also garlic-free due to allergy concerns. otherwise there'd be several cloves of garlic in there too.

[Attached Mama]

Sounds yummy! I'd love to hear more. I have about 40 tomato plants in the garden!!

[Lymeade Lady]

Ooo! I just found this thread! I've been wondering how to make salsa, but I think Sally Fallon doesn't know her Mexican food very well...I tried her "salsa" recipe, but it was Pico de Gallo (sp?). I want salsa like you dip chips in with more of a tomato sauce taste, not raw tomatoes. I don't like raw tomatos normally.

So, here's my friends recipe for salsa that I love! Can anyone tell me how to make this cultured?

28 oz whole tomatoes drained (I guess I would use fresh-maybe cooked?)
1/2 med. onion sliced
1-2 fresh jalapenos or 3 T. slicped jalapenos from a jar (seeds removed for mild)
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 t salt
½ t garlic powder
½ t cumin
1 t sugar (I guess I’d try honey, here)
small handful fresh cilantro torn into pieces
juice of 2 lemons

Blend this in a blender until desired consistency.

[menomena]

hmm. mine DOES taste like "real" salsa from the recipe I posted... The raw tomatoes once fermented/cultured don't taste raw anymore. If you take your recipe and use fresh tomatoes and maybe some more salt, it should culture just fine once you put it in mason jars - make sure the water covers the veggies - and let it sit somewhere for 48 or so hours before transferring to your fridge.

[Lymeade Lady]

Cool! I'll have to try it! I just didn't like the one in the NT cookbook.

So, what makes your recipe cultured??? The salt? And obviously sitting on the counter 2 days....

Don't the NT recipes usually use whey?

[Koalamom]

I am defiantly going to try this! I will keep you posted! Thanks for the recipes!

[menomena]

it's the sitting for two days at room temperature that ferments it. bacteria are naturally present in/on everything and they feed on the sugars from the veggies. the salt is a natural preservative. whey feeds the bacteria, too, I think. We're dairy allergic/intolerant so we don't mess with it and our fermented foods turn out great. Don't follow the NT recommendation of doubling the salt if you omit the whey. That is just entirely too salty. Blech.

[Lymeade Lady]

Do you think I would get more good bacteria if I added something to it? Like the liquid from the fermented veggies we bought at the health food store (Veggie Delight) OR a little bit of Kombucha? That may sound weird, but I just want to get the max benefits as I really need a health boost. I still haven't tried this, but I'm making a grocery list!

[Lymeade Lady]

Menomena--how big of a mason jar do you use for your recipe?

Thanks!

[WuWei]

Anyone have a recipe for fermented fruit salsa? I know dh loves salsa, and ds loves some fruit salsa. This would be a win-win all around!


Thanks, Pat

[Koalamom]

So I finally made the salsa. It was delicious. It was a bit salty with the 1 tablespoon, so I can;t imagine an extra one. It was weird that it was fizzy, but I will definitely make it again.

[ryleigh'smama]

I made a batch from NT recipe today....so it's sitting on the counter. I used a quart sized jar. I put in 2 extra garlic cloves cause I love garlic. I also didn't chop anything up, I put it all in the food processor, so it was really fine. I only used the one Tablespoon of salt too. I'll let you know how it tastes in another day or two.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by Lymeade Lady

Do you think I would get more good bacteria if I added something to it? Like the liquid from the fermented veggies we bought at the health food store (Veggie Delight) OR a little bit of Kombucha? That may sound weird, but I just want to get the max benefits as I really need a health boost. I still haven't tried this, but I'm making a grocery list!

Well... I don't know if I'd add liquid from anything (commercial) that's been opened and sitting. And probably not kombucha. You can get LF veggie starter from the Body Ecology Diet as well as other places I'm sure. Maybe even opening a probiotic capsule and dumping it in. IMO, the enzymes and bacteria produced from just the veggies is enough... If you're looking to boost and you're not convinced LF veggies will do it, you may just want to take a probiotic pill then.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by Lymeade Lady

Menomena--how big of a mason jar do you use for your recipe?

Thanks!

I use 2 pint jars or one quart jar.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by WuWei

Anyone have a recipe for fermented fruit salsa? I know dh loves salsa, and ds loves some fruit salsa. This would be a win-win all around!

Do you mean salsa as described in the recipe above with fruit added? Or do you mean *just* fruit?

I imagine adding peaches or cherries to the recipe I posted would be pretty good. *shrug* You'll never know till you try. Experiment and post back.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

So I finally made the salsa. It was delicious. It was a bit salty with the 1 tablespoon, so I can;t imagine an extra one. It was weird that it was fizzy, but I will definitely make it again.

The fizz caught me off-guard, too. And then it keeps tingling. I like it though. Commercial salsa tastes flat and gross now.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by ryleigh'smama

I made a batch from NT recipe today....so it's sitting on the counter. I used a quart sized jar. I put in 2 extra garlic cloves cause I love garlic. I also didn't chop anything up, I put it all in the food processor, so it was really fine. I only used the one Tablespoon of salt too. I'll let you know how it tastes in another day or two.

:::

I actually use more water than she calls for. I think she says 1/4 cup. I just mix my veggies with salt & lemon juice and stir for few minutes. Then I smoosh them into a jar or two. THEN I pour water over the top until it covers the veggies (but leaving at least an inch at the top).

I've thought about using my food processor. Maybe toss everything in and do a couple pulses so it's chopped but not pulverized.

[Koalamom]

I used more water too!

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by menomena

Do you mean salsa as described in the recipe above with fruit added? Or do you mean *just* fruit?

I imagine adding peaches or cherries to the recipe I posted would be pretty good. *shrug* You'll never know till you try. Experiment and post back.

We enjoy commercial, organic peach salsa from a jar. It has tomatoes and peaches, peppers, spices. My concern is that the acidity has to be a certain ph, in order to kill off the bad bacteria. And salt or vinegar helps that process. However, when leaving it on the counter, those ratios of vinegar or salt to liquid have to be fairly precise to be safe. Also, the duration fermenting and temperature of the room affect the different organisms which grow.

Apparently, fermenting fruits is a whole 'nuther variable, due to the sweetness altering the ph. And the desire to avoid too much saltiness in the flavor.

I don't currently have raw milk whey to off balance these safety concerns. Although, I think I need to get an appropriate cloth to collect whey. And that would address my issue.

As an FYI, being certain that there are no mini air pockets in the liquid (around the fruit, thus pounding it down) helps to prevent botulism. So, I prefer a specific recipe which defines the amount of salt, vinegar to make a sweet salsa.

Are you all placing a weight to keep the vegetables below the liquid? What is the easiest way to do that? From what I've read this is necessary for room temperature fermenting. I'm still investigating this, so I'm certainly no expert! (just a paranoid nurse) LOL


Pat

[menomena]

Can you elaborate on the necessity of raw milk whey for the fermentation process ot be safe? We can't do dairy so we don't include whey.

Am I am playing botulism-roulette over here?

ETA: I use the outer leaves from cabbage or lettuce or whatever to push down over the top to keep the veggies below the water-line. Just like in sauerkraut.