Canning Annie's Salsa

I have no idea who Annie is, but her salsa recipe is famous on the internet.  I didn't know this until I posted on Facebook that I was going to can salsa today and my sister Hannah eagerly suggested that I google Annie's Salsa and make that recipe.  This was very helpful information because I was going back and forth between canning books and various internet recipes trying to decide which direction I was going.  With Hannah's hearty recommendation, I stopped looking and started acting.

Working in batches, I washed the tomatoes.  Then I plunged them in some boiling water and then into ice water and slipped their skins off.  I hate this part.  I prefer it when I get to use my food mill, but we were going for chunky and not pureed this time, so I played by the rules.

Here are the tomatoes, all embarrassed by their nakedness.

Then came the part I hated even more: coring and seeding the tomatoes.  Good Night that took forever. And the kitchen sink and counter looked like a murder scene.  Thankfully, Lyndsay came in to help at this point and it went much faster with another pair of hands.  Then the tomatoes were diced up, drained, and put into the pot.

To the tomatoes we added the onion, garlic, bell pepper, jalapenos, cilantro, and spices.

Annie's recipe calls for a can of tomato paste and a can of tomato sauce.  For texture.  I followed those directions, but I'm not sure if I would if I ever make salsa again.  Just sayin'.  We'll see how we like it.

Finally, after hours of chopping, everything is in the pot and it is boiled for 10 minutes.  Then it gets ladled into clean jars and processed in the water bath for 15 minutes.

Annie's recipe says it yields 6 pints.  Other places online that have her recipe say 6-8 pints.  I got 9 (one is in the fridge), so I'm not sure how I got that far off.

Oh, I hope this is good!  And I hope the kids are ready to eat a lot of chips and salsa!

(Sorry I didn't have the good camera for these pictures!)