This uncomplicated home-canned salsa adds some fresh coriander / cilantro for a fresh taste.
You can take it as hot or as mild as you wish.
The recipe comes from the Ball / Bernardin Complete book. The authors note, “In addition to making a great dip for corn chips, this salsa works well as a condiment for fajitas, burritos and quesadillas.”
The salsa has a bit of liquid that you can drain off if you want when you open a jar, and a mild heat that slowly builds, if you use a milder chile such as jalapeno.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) OR half-litre (US pint / 500 ml / 16 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 4 x quarter-litre (½ US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 15 minutes for quarter-litres (half-pints), 20 minutes for half-litres (US pints)
Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 900 g tomatillos (chopped. 5.5 cups / 2 lbs, measured after prep)
- 175 g onion (chopped . 1 cup / 6 oz, measured after prep)
- 150 g chile peppers (chopped fresh hot green. 1 cup / 5 oz, measured after prep)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons coriander (aka cilantro. Fresh. Finely chopped (measured after prep)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt (OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
- ½ teaspoon chile flakes
- 125 ml white vinegar (5% or higher. 1.2 cup / 4 oz. See NOTE about vinegar below.)
- 4 tablespoons lime juice (50 ml / 2 oz)
Instructions
- Husk tomatillos, wash stickiness off them, chop, add to a large pot.
- Wash onion, peel, chop, add to pot.
- Wash pepper, remove seeds, chop, add to pot.
- Peel and mince garlic, add to pot.
- Wash and chop the fresh coriander (cilantro), add to pot.
- Add all remaining ingredients to pot.
- Bring to a boil, stirring often.
- Lower to a strong simmer, and let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Ladle hot salsa into hot jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Processed 15 minutes for quarter-litre (half-pint) jars; 20 minutes for half-litres (pints).
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.
For salt substitute, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used as it is non-bitter and non-clouding.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
What is the shelf life of home canned goods?
Recipe notes
- The pulse button on a food processor makes quick work of the chopping.
- For the hot pepper, we used 2 fresh green poblanos and one fresh green jalapeno for a somewhat hot taste. For hotter, you could use all jalapeno. By fresh, we mean as opposed to dried.
- If you don’t care about keeping the salsa all green, you may use any colour of fresh chile peppers.
- Instead of 4 cloves of garlic, you can use 2 teaspoons of minced garlic from an oil-free bottle of minced garlic.
Recipe source
- Tomatillo Salsa. In: Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 212.
- Tomatillo Salsa. In: Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Page 37.
- Tomatillo Salsa. In: Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving. Toronto, Canada: Bernardin Ltd. 2013. Page 58.
Modifications:
- None
Vinegar note
The Ball / Bernardin Complete recipe and the Ball Blue Book recipe, identical in all other ways to the Bernardin Guide recipe, calls for only 125 ml (½ cup) of vinegar. Bernardin calls for 250 ml (1 cup).
Safety Check
A pH of 3.68, tested a month after canning.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 2 tablespoons
- 26 calories, 38 mg sodium
Salt-free
Per 2 tablespoons
- 26 calories, 3 mg sodium
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
Katherine
I have the newest 2024 edition of the Bernardin Complete book and the recipe still calls for 1/2 cup of vinegar, as does the same recipe on Ball’s website. I noticed that in the errata for the Ball/Bernardin Complete book Emerine Brine says that it should be 1 cup of vinegar and the 1/2 cup is a typo. If it’s been updated this year can we assume that the 1/2 cup vinegar is indeed safe?
Helene
I’m so disappointed that I only saw the notes on the 125ml vinegar option AFTER I made it with 250ml. It tastes like a pickle, not a salsa, and I’m unlikely to use this as salsa. Disappointing as I only grow a limited amount of tomatillos, too (they’re not a common crop here in Scotland), and I’m not sure I will have enough tomatillos to make a batch of a less vinegary tomatillo salsa recipe.
Healthy Canning
Sorry about that. We go to a lot of work to make thorough notes and hope that people will consult them before starting a recipe. We cannot put the notes before recipes or people would complain about having to scroll down for days. Try adding sugar to cancel out the vinegar taste.
Bella
The Ball Blue Book guide to preserving calls for only 1/2 cup. 1 cup of vinegar is WAY too much vinegar for this recipe. I’ve been making Salsa Verde for 25 years, it’s a half cup of vinegar.
Healthy Canning
We agree with you about the confusion. We’ve written to Bernardin again, to see if they still feel the same about the 1 cup: is it an old legacy hangover, or, do they know something the others don’t?