Darlene

Actually, I don't have anything on the bottom of my pot. For my 1/2 pint jam jars, I use my turkey roaster to waterbath can them and I don't use a rack or anything on the bottom of there either. I've never had a jar crack either so I dunno. I wonder if putting a dish towel down in the water on the bottom would work if someone is concerned about it. But me? I just put those jars in and let 'em rip. Maybe cause it's not being done under pressure and not for long periods of time is why I haven't run into a problem. Then again, I put the jars in an appropriate sized stock pot...I don't know but that's how I do it.

Oh how KEWL jewlzm! You ended up with the same amount that I did! lol That was really neat to see your pictures too...thanks for taking them and sharing them... ((((jewlzm)))) All we gotta do is get some more ladies to share theirs and we'll be stylin!

Oh kewl jewlz! I can't wait to see you pictures... Can ya tell I'm having alot of fun with this? lol

The recipe calls for 8 cups of chopped tomatoes...if it were me, I'd use any kinda tomatoes I wanted, and make enough for 8 cups, so your yellow ones would really be pretty in your salsa!

lol you are too cute jewlzm... lol

Genoa, none of your questions are trivial, they're very valid questions and I'm glad you're asking them. Sometimes I'm not the best at explaining things cause I leave out important details lol... Yes, I used 1 cup of lemon juice instead of 1 cup of vinegar. When I make fresh salsa, I always use lime or lemon juice instead of vinegar...I just like the natural taste better. Yes I usually water bath salsa...although I have pressure canned it. The pressure canned salsa vs the water bath salsa is more cooked, if that makes sense. I prefer a less cooked salsa. jewlz, I like spicy things, so on a scale of 1-10 for me, it would probably be about a 5 or 6...to others that don't like spicy things, my 5 or 6 would be a 10 for them...yanno what I mean? Yes, I seeded the jalapenos, it was a pleasant enough heat without them, and as I'm sure you know, you can have 2 identical jalapenos and one will be alot hotter than the other one...flukes in Mother Nature I guess.

TA DA! I now have homemade salsa and a decent amount that didn't really take that much time (to my mind) and is better than anything I could buy out there... This is so much fun!!!!! lol 106748-HomeCanning035.jpg

I put them into my hot water bath canner, which is also a huge stock pot. I don't have an *official water bath canner*...I don't feel I need one because I can accomplish the same objective with things I already have here, and save the money I would have spent on that. Right now, they are in there processing for 15 minutes. (see attached) 106737-HomeCanning034.jpg

I filled the jars up (I came out with 7 3/4 pints of salsa), wiped the rims, placed the lids on, screwed the bands on and they were ready to go into the hot water bath canner. (see attached) 106736-HomeCanning033.jpg

I bring the pot ot a boil and then let it simmer for 10 minutes. (see attached) 106734-HomeCanning032.jpg

I then put all the ingredients listed into a pot, with a few minor variations (I just can't ever leave recipes alone lol)...I don't put the sugar in, as I don't like a sweet salsa. I use lemon juice in place of the vinegar, and I also add a small can of chopped green chilis. I halved the amount of salt in the recipe from 1/8 cup to 1/16 cup (which translates into 1 tablespoon)...it was plenty salty enough for me at that measurement. Here's a picture of everything in the pot. (see attached) 106733-HomeCanning031.jpg

After the tomatoes cool in the cool water, I peel them and then dice them, placing in a collander over a bowl to drain out the juice in the tomatoes. (see attachment) 106726-HomeCanning030.jpg

First I place the tomatoes into a pot of water I had brought to the boiling point, to loosen the skins. Once the skins start to begin to split, I remove them from the hot water and place in a bowl or sink full of cold water to stop the heat from cooking the tomatoes. (see attachment) 106725-HomeCanning028.jpg

Well, today is salsa day! I'm going to take pictures as I make a batch of salsa to home can. I'm going to use Annie's Salsa from the Garden Web because it is one of the best salsa's that can be home canned. Here's the recipe: Note that it is pressure canned, because I cut the acid ingredients down by half. The original directions were to use 2/3 cup of vinegar and waterbath, but I wanted less of the acidic flavor and so cut the vinegar in half and process according to the Blue Book instructions for non-acidic vegetables. If you want to waterbath it, add that extra vinegar. If you want it mild, use the smaller amount of jalapenos. ANNIE’S SALSA 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained 2 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper 3 – 5 chopped jalapenos 6 cloves minced garlic 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp pepper 1/8 cup canning salt ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro 1/3 cup sugar 1 cup vinegar (for BWB or 1/3 cup vinegar for PC) 16 oz. tomato sauce 16 oz tomato paste Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints. Or BWB 15 minutes. Makes 6 pints NOTE: I cut the sugar out when I make this because I do not care for a sweeter salsa.

lol I don't think it's stealing at all...take all ya want!

I posted these pictures to just give you an idea of how at the beginning of any emergency, things fly off the shelves and there is very little to go around when you have EVERYone waiting to the last minute to stock up. Ernesto ended up being a non-event thank goodness but if things had turned out differently, the abundance you still see on the shelves would have been totally stripped away. I cannot stress enough the importance of being prepared AHEAD of time. You may not have hurricanes in your area, but unfortunately there are too many disasters that could hit any one of us at any given time. Taking the time to do NOW what you may want to put off till later will afford you the security of being able to walk around like I did, not needing a thing and watching others trying to scarf up limited supplies. Just something to think about. *shrug*

And of course, ice very quickly becomes short in supply. 105308-Ernesto8-28-06032.jpg

Peanut butter is pretty popular too. 105307-Ernesto8-28-06031.jpg

Bread is a staple. 105306-Ernesto8-28-06030.jpg

How about a box of cereal to feed your babies? 105305-Ernesto8-28-06024.jpg

Or perhaps canned tuna? 105304-Ernesto8-28-06022.jpg

Canned ravioli anyone? 105303-Ernesto8-28-06021.jpg

Ya gotta love Campbells. 105302-Ernesto8-28-06019.jpg

Commercially prepared soups were hot commodities. 105301-Ernesto8-28-06018.jpg

Baby food was going quickly too. 105300-Ernesto8-28-06016.jpg