The Key To Great Home-Canned Salsa Is Peeling Your Tomatoes First

If you find yourself with too many ripe garden tomatoes this summer or just get a good deal on tomatoes at the farmer's market, making canned salsa is a fun way to make sure your hard-earned tomatoes don't go to waste over the winter. But if you've ever canned tomatoes before, you probably have heard of one major dilemma: whether you should leave the skins on or peel them off. 

Though it's an extra step, you should peel those skins. The first reason has to do with taste and texture. Canned tomatoes are smoother and taste better without the skins, meaning you will end up with a more flavorful salsa if you go to the trouble of peeling the fruits first. The second reason is that, according to the USDA, removing tomato skin before canning is safer, as it cuts down on the risk of foodborne illness. So, even though removing the skin of your tomatoes will take more time, it is key to making tasty and safe homemade canned salsa.

The main reason you should peel your tomatoes before making canned salsa is that, as the salsa is put in jars and processed in boiling water, the skin will come off anyway and scatter throughout the salsa. While this isn't harmful, it can give your salsa an unpleasant texture. Furthermore, tomato skin has a bitter taste that may also affect the flavor of the final product. If you want a sweet and fresh-tasting salsa with a pleasant texture, then removing the tomato skins before canning is a good idea.

Another reason to remove the skins before canning comes down to safety. According to the USDA, tomato skin is where a lot of bacteria and yeast tends to hang out. Removing the skin therefore helps to remove unwanted organisms that can cause illness like botulism, which is why this step is recommended for all home-canned tomato products, from salsa to ketchup.

If you've ever tried to peel a tomato by taking a vegetable peeler to the fruit's skin, then you know that doing this cleanly is practically impossible. Luckily, two methods make this normally annoying task much easier, and both involve adding a little heat. For a quick time-saving method, you can easily peel tomatoes using the microwave. To do this, remove the tomato stems and cut an X into the bottom of each fruit. Pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then drop them into an ice bath. When the tomatoes are cool, peel each by pulling at the corners of the X on the bottom.

The second method is recommended by the USDA because it involves dropping the tomatoes in boiling water which helps to kill bacteria. To peel tomatoes with boiling water, simply place the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds or until the skin starts to come off. Then, remove them from the hot water and lower them into an ice bath. When cool, pick up the tomatoes and remove the skin with your hands. Now you're ready to start assembling your tasty homemade salsa.