Fresh Salsa

This post, like the last one, has to do with food. However, this food is much less controversial!

This time of year, our garden is overrun with tomatillos. These unique fruits look like small, green tomatoes, and grow in papery husks. They readily self-seed all over the garden, wherever they drop and don’t get picked up. In Michigan, I had a lot of trouble with worms getting inside them and ruining them, but that doesn’t happen here. I really like food that grows itself without my input! This spring, I wanted them in a particular area, so I dug up seedlings where they grew by themselves, potted them, and when they had roots established, planted them in the section designated for them. Then, I thinned the ones that were growing in other parts of the garden, so there would be only one in a space instead of two dozen. Now, I harvest them while I harvest zucchini or cucumbers or green beans. They often fall off the plant when they are ripe; I also harvest them green sometimes when they are big enough to burst their husk.

The problem is, what to do with all this bounty? We put them in the salsa we make to can every year, using about half tomatillos and half tomatoes. We were done with that a month ago, however, and now the main crop of tomatillos is ready! I made salsa verde last year, but most of it is still on the shelf. Our favorite way to use them is by making fresh salsa. I made a batch a couple of days ago and took a picture to show you this deliciousness.

I have no idea how much of most ingredients I used. That’s a two-quart bowl, and I filled it over half full with chopped tomatillos. Then, I added three or four chopped tomatoes. The proportions really don’t matter; we’re short on tomatoes now, so I used extra tomatillos. I don’t have a lot of bell peppers, either, so I used one, I think, but you can use two or three. I also put in half an onion (red is best, but I don’t have them this year), and about four minced cloves of garlic. Also, add maybe half a teaspoon of salt, several shakes of pepper, and a quarter cup or so of cider vinegar. The tricky part is the amount of chili. My chili peppers didn’t do well this year, but my neighbor, who moved away and let me take over her garden, has two plants that are loaded. One of them is consistently very very spicy, and the other is sometimes spicy and sometimes mild! I put in one finely diced chili from that second plant, then gingerly tasted the result. It wasn’t very spicy, so I added another. Wow! That took the heat level way up. So, use your own judgment as far as the amount of chilis or jalapenos you use. Dig in with corn chips and enjoy.