[phoebe]

Right now, when I can stand to cook (or even eat) in this heat, I'm craving salsa. I'll put it on anything (anything savory ).
So here are my questions:
1. How long can an uncooked salsa be kept in the fridge?
2. How long can a salsa with roasted tomatoes or tomatillos be kept in the fridge? In other words, does the cooking of the fruit make it more or less susceptible to going wonky?
3. What are your favorite and/or most interesting salsas?

[chrose]

Without researching scientific answers I can only offer my own experiences.
Processed salsas can last 3 weeks or so after opening sometimes longer if it's cold and they don't get opened too much.

Homemade salsas I give 3-4 days tops before the texture starts to go and everything starts to go acidic. Few things are nastier than dipiing a chip and getting an acid burn and a fizz on your tongue

Lastly I'm pretty run of the mill for salsa. I do like pineapple salsa on grilled tuna and a nice roasted pepper or tomatilla salsa. Otherwise just make it fresh with lots of onions, garlic and jalapenos and I'm good.

[Suzanne]

Phil makes a good point -- even if the taste doesn't go and the stuff doesn't start to ferment, the texture will suffer after a couple of days.

The answer is probably to just make small batches -- one tomato, a small onion or shallot (or part of an onion; wrapped in foil, the rest will keep okay for a few days), small chiles, etc. Then think of it as a vegetable instead of a condiment and pile it on to use up in one meal!

I also agree with him about pineapple. I'm not particularly fond of the fruit, but it works really well as the base of a salsa to be served with fish. Even, dare I say it, canned crushed pineapple.

[phatch]

I made a good point and I haven't even posted? Wow I'm good.

[Free Rider]

I'm hunting for a mango salsa recipe. One that would come close to what they serve at La Diferencia in Tijuana. Boy, that was yummy.

[oldschool1982]

Salsa one of my favoites to eat and make. Since traveling to New Mexico the last couple years have adapted most of my salsa recipes to utilize the chilies we buy in Hatch.

Suzanne and CH hit on a major point. Don't get to far ahead. Fresh or day old is best in my book although during an unfortunate circumstance involving the misunderstood Scovile scale of the Mild vs the hotter'n'**** version... Believe me when I say 6 of these things will remove the roof of your mouth or the rust off a 66 mustang and cause you to make two gallons when 1 quart was needed. I found that if kept very cold you could get 5 days without any signifcant change in acid or any fermentation. If I remember correctly the hotter the salsa the longer the shelf life.

My favoite salsa to make is a green tomatillo and red chili.

3 ea Mild NM Chili pods or Ancho Chili pods
1 Tbsp fresh ground toasted cumin seed
2 tsp fresh ground toasted oregano
10ea fresh tomatillos washed and outer skin removed.
1 ea Vidalia onion rough chop
1 ea Carrot peeled and rough chopped
2 ea cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp fresh ground toasted cumin seed.
2 tsp fresh ground toasted oregano
3 cups chicken stock
2 oz wt fresh cilatro leaves chopped fine
juice of 3 limes fresh squeezed
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak chili pods in water for 3 hours. remove from water dry well split and remove seeds and inside seed veins. chop and set aside for use later.

In a small non stick saute pan toast cumin seed and oregano over high flame until you smell the aroma or approx 20 seconds. Remove immediately from pan and place in spice (coffee grinder) Pulsed grind until fine.

In a sauce pan combine spices, tomatillos, onion, carrot, garlic and chicken stock. Heat over medioum flame to a boil and reduce to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in refrigerator.

When cooled completely use a hand held wand mixer set on low settng to grind ingredients. Do not puree. Should be slightly chunky Add chopped chili pods, fresh lime juice, fresh chopped cilantro and S&P to taste.

Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy.

This also can be used hot for enchiladas or Burritos.

[phoebe]

You are good, Phil! And clearly you're never far from Susanne's thoughts

Yes, fizzy is definitely what I want to avoid. That's an experience I'd rather not repeat (especially with a dish made for company ). My problem is that I find it difficult to make anything in small batches. I think I must have been an army cook in another life.

Thanks so much for the recipe OldSchool! It looks great. And I wondered if the heat of the chilis did anything for shelf life. Glad to know it wasn't just in my head (or is it that if you make something hot enough you won't be able to tell or care if something has gone bad?)

Chrose, what's your pineapple salsa recipe?

[dano1]

yeah-the "hotter" the salsa the better it holds.I'm a chile de arbol fan-dry roast and soak chiles, roast a tom or 2 with a couple of garlic cloves and a halved oignon. process or blend with plent of salt and finish with cilantro. lasts at least 2 weeks in the cooler.

[phoebe]

Originally Posted by dano1

yeah-the "hotter" the salsa the better it holds.I'm a chile de arbol fan-dry roast and soak chiles, roast a tom or 2 with a couple of garlic cloves and a halved oignon. process or blend with plent of salt and finish with cilantro. lasts at least 2 weeks in the cooler.

Does it lose some of the heat over time? For those of us with adventurous hearts but reticient stomachs, that might be a solution?

[chrose]

Originally Posted by phatch

I made a good point and I haven't even posted? Wow I'm good.

I agree!

[cford]

Phoebe,

This is my favorite salsa -- and there's no roasting of anything. You could easily half it if you're concerned about it's longevity. We moved to the East Coast last year, and this is my attempt to come close to a salsa I used to buy at our grocery store in San Diego, CA. It's not quite as good as theirs, but it's close.

Seafood Ranchero
===========

3 Big Tomatoes
1/2 - 1 onion
1/4 C. chopped cilantro
3 Serano peppers (jalapenos are OK if you can't find serranos.)
1/2 - 1 clove of garlic (chopped)
juice from 1 Lime
1/2 lb tiny shrimp. (bay shrimp or salad shrimp)
1/2 lb imitation crab meat
Dice your tomatoes
Dice the onion
chop the peppers
Take 2/3 of the diced tomatoes and chop them further in a chopper or food processor. Put the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, peppers, lime juice and garlic in a bowl and stir it all together.
If the shrimp are small enough, (about the size of your thumb nail) put them in whole. Otherwise, cut them in half or thirds, then put them in the bowl.
Put the imitation crab meat in a chopper or food processor and chop it up. Put it in the bowl.
Stir everything up again.
Cover and put it in the fridge. The longer it cools, the better it gets.


Some notes:
1. I run two of the three tomatoes through a chopper to get a better texture.
2. Chop the onion by hand. DON'T run it through the chopper. Don't chop it too fine, either. A food processor or mechanical chopper will cause a lot more cellular breakdown in the onion, releasing more onion juice, resulting in a bland salsa.
3. the serrano peppers should be chopped really fine. Use the chopper for them if you like.
4. I can't remember the count for the shrimp, but they should be really small.
5. You can add other seafood to it if you like. Fish, scallops, whatever.
6. It may seem blasphemous for a native Marylander to use imitation crab meat for anything. BUT -- the flavor is going to be overpowered by the other ingredients, and it doesn't make sense to spend 15-20 dollars on the real stuff, when the fake stuff gives a very similar texture.

[dano1]

Originally Posted by phoebe

Does it lose some of the heat over time? For those of us with adventurous hearts but reticient stomachs, that might be a solution?

yes it will-but not much . forgot to add, use your soaking liquid as needed to loosen up when blending. I've used many kinds of dried chile, tames the heat instead of going straight chile de arbole-toast em, soak em and have at it. This is a classic dried chile salsa.

[JonK]

Commercial salsas are often made with vinegar, which helps to preserve them longer in the fridge. Plus they have been heat-treated which reduces enzyme action (the cause of homemade salsa going mushy before it goes "bad") as well as kills off some of the natural bacteria, yeast and mold spores that may be lurking on the fresh produce used to make the homemade stuff. Like some of the earlier posts, we find that homemade uncooked salsa without vinegar is good for about four days before it starts to become unattractive.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by phoebe

Chrose, what's your pineapple salsa recipe?

Emily here ya go. I cut it back to more home size portions.

• 1/2 fresh cored pineapple cut into a 3/8" dice or so (Save the juice)
• 1 small red bell pepper small dice
• 2 green onions sliced (chopped)
• 1 small Jalapeno half seeded and brunoised (Chef Kaiser did you hear that? )
• 1/2" knob of peeled fresh ginger minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons Lime juice

(Oh and if you like you can add a little Cilantro.)

Mix everything together and add pineapple juice, seasoings etc to suit your taste. Chill and serve on fresh grilled fish!

[cliveb]

To address the original question:
Fresh salsas are grotty after a day, as far as I'm concerned. The simplest ones I makes are just tomato, onion, lemon juice salt, fresh chile - and after 24 hrs, they turn soft and bitter. However, I can rumble up a salsa in five minutes so I'm sure you can too!
Roast the tomatoes and you get a longer shelf life, but again, I wouldn't want to keep the stuff more than 3-4 days. I make a roasted vegetable salsa sometimes, with a slightly more Mediterranean flavour, but it keeps about a week.
Mango salsa? Here's my version:
500 gms fresh mango, slightly underripe, diced
1 small red onion, diced fine
juice 2 limes
1 Guajillo chile, toasted, seeds removed, crumbled
2 fresh green serrano chiles, chopped fine
1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 tbsp coriander leaf (cilantro)

Mix all the ingredients together and allow to stand for an hour before serving.

Another favourite is to grill tomatoes, red peppers and onions until slightly blackened. Allow to cool then chop fine. Mix with lime juice, a little oregano and some chilpotle chile.