This is a sweet, spicy salsa.
In the “old days”, this might have just been called a chutney or a “fruit relish.”
If you are a heat lover, you may actually find this quite mild and want to take the heat up a notch (see Recipe notes.)
The largest jar size on this recipe from Ball is ½ pint (quarter-litre / 250 ml / 8 oz). If you want a peach salsa recipe that has been tested for pint jars (half-litre / 16 oz) , then use the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning’s recipe for Peach Salsa. (Chapter 2, page 24, 2015 edition.)
The recipe
Jar size choices: 125 ml ( 4 oz) jars OR ¼ litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 8 x ¼ litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: Either size jar 15 minutes
Peach Salsa
Ingredients
- 125 ml white vinegar (5 % or stronger. ½ cup / 4 oz)
- 1 kg peaches (About 6 cups chopped in largish pieces / 2 lbs. Measured after being peeled and pitted; 6 medium before prep.)
- 200 g onion (finely chopped. 1 ¼ cups / 7 oz )
- 4 jalapeno peppers (about 100 g /3 oz whole before seeding and chopping)
- 1 red bell pepper (about 200 g / 7 oz whole before seeding and chopping. About 150 g / 5 oz after seeding and chopping )
- 40 g coriander (aka cilantro. Fresh, finely chopped. About ½ cup, loosely packed, 1.5 oz.)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin (ground)
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (bottled or fresh. Optional, for flavour)
Instructions
- Put vinegar in large pot.
- Prep peaches, stirring pieces into vinegar in pot as you go to prevent browning.
- Prep and add remaining ingredients to pot.
- Mix ingredients in pot, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens to your liking, bearing in mind that it will thicken more once cold so don't try to boil it solid. Stir frequently to prevent burning.
- Spoon into your choice of the following (heated) jar sizes: 125 ml ( 4 oz) jars or ¼ litre (½ US pint / 8 oz / 250 ml) jars.
- Leave 2 cm ( ½ inch) headspace regardless of jar size.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- To peel the peaches: wash the peaches, and dip them in a pot of boiling water for about a minute, until the skins loosen. Then dip in cold water, peel the skin off, and remove pit. Chop peach into pieces about 2 to 3 cm (1 inch) for a chunky salsa; a bit smaller is also fine if you wish. Stir into vinegar in pot as you go to prevent browning.
- If you want to make this out of season, you can use instead 1 litre (4 cups) of drained canned peach slices or pieces. You’ll need to buy about 2 x 800 ml / 28 oz tins. Measure them out, then chop them as required by recipe. Or, you could use frozen. Measure out frozen, then thaw. Include in the recipe any juice from them as they thaw.
- You can chop the peach in a food processor for nice even pieces, but just give it a brief whiz: you are making salsa here, not baby pablum, and a second too long and you could end up with moosh.
- Instead of white vinegar, you could use apple cider vinegar (5% or stronger)
- The honey is just there to round out the flavour, you can omit if desired.
- The lime juice is just an addition for flavour. Instead of lime juice, you could use bottled lemon juice, or omit.
- You can safely increase the heat by leaving some of the jalapeno seed in, or by using an equal amount of hotter peppers, or with a few pinches of dried chile flake, or, with a few splashes of a hot sauce.
- How many minutes of simmering it needs exactly to thicken will depend on how juicy the peaches were.
- Just before bottling, you may wish to take a small spoonful, set aside for a minute, and taste (you can’t really taste the flavours when it is boiling hot.) And then, if desired, season with a bit of salt or salt sub.
Recipe Source
Peach-Chili Salsa. In: Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Page 126.
Modifications made:
- Added lime juice to brighten flavour;
- Added option of smaller 125 ml / 4 oz jar.
Nutrition information
Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:
- 11 calories, 27 mg sodium.
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 1 to 3 tablespoons, 0 points. 4 to 9 tablespoons, 1 point.
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
Cooking from canning recipes
Laura Turner
Excellent salsa!! I’m normally not a salsa person, but absolutely loved this on and in so many different dishes. I made a double batch last fall and included 1/2 pint jars in our Christmas baskets, to which we received rave reviews and requests for the recipe. Will be sure to make even more this coming fall!
My husband is asking if we can add pineapple and tomatoes without issue since both are acidic. I did see that ball has an approved mango pineapple salsa, but we love this one and are not keen on mango.
Thanks so much!
Ilya Picca
Can you make this with pears?
Healthy Canning
That sounds interesting! Reach out to Ball (via their FB page or another method) and ask if that is a swap they would support in this recipe.
Bonnie
Can I double this recipe?
Healthy Canning
Yes, you may.
Karin Fisscher
HI this sounds like a super recipe
How long can I keep the finished product?
Should I freeze the jarred finished product ?
Healthy Canning
The finished product is shelf stable. See Shelf life: https://www.healthycanning.com/the-shelf-life-of-home-canned-goods/
Karin Fisscher
Thanks so much.
Corinne
Could I substitute one hot Hungarian pepper for the jalapenos? I have one from the garden to use up. Does the amount of peppers/weight matter for the safety of the recipe? Thanks
Healthy Canning
It is fine to substitute one pepper type for another, just keep to the same amounts. See Tweaking canning recipes: https://www.healthycanning.com/safe-tweaking-of-home-canning-recipes/
Todd
Isn’t the use of vinegar AND citrus juice (lime or lemon) redundant for the preserving process? If one were to use just the citrus for flavour, then could the vinegar be omitted? Thanks
Healthy Canning
The vinegar is the critical control factor envisaged in the Ball recipe. You don’t want to fiddle with that. If you look under recipe modifications, you’ll see that the 2 tbsp lime juice for flavour was a seasoning suggestion we added.
Marcia Boeck
Do you refrigerate after canning in water bath
Healthy Canning
No.
Sue Hoover
tHIS SOUNDS GOOD. Instead of Jalapeno peppers could I use dried Chile Flakes or hot sauce? I want it a little spicey but would like it more sweet. Thank you
Healthy Canning
Yes, you could.
Meagan
Can I leave out the cayenne powder and just use a spicier fresh pepper?
Healthy Canning
Absolutely. It is always safe to leave out dry seasonings in home canning recipes. They are not safety factors, just “taste” factors.
Marcie B.
Could I add some sugar to this to sweeten it up, if so how much?
Healthy Canning
Yes you could add sugar to taste. It would be a seasoning here and would not impact safety.
Mia
made this with the peaches from my peach tree. first time canning anything ever. came out so goood, not overly sweet which I like. next time going to leave some seeds in to give it a kick but thank you for a dope recipe!
Healthy Canning
Yes, it’s not overly sweet, which is good. And I agree, I too am going to kick it up a notch the next time!