Salsa Verde

I have never had good luck cooking with tomatillos. I love salsa verde and get tired of buying it. So, I bought about 10 lbs of tomatillos, 3 different types of chiles and spent the morning making salsa verde.

It's just coming out of the canner now, but I have to say...it's pretty good.

Not sure how to post photos here, so I'll post a few later. Right now, I have to pull them out of the canner and wait for my favorite canning sound....PING!!

Canning is such a rewarding process. I just wish we still ate all the pickles and relish we did in years past. There's nothing like going to the pantry, seeing a home-canned item and being inspired to make a family favorite.

For some reason we didn't eat the dill pickles from last year. I don't can them, I do refrigerated ones. They had to be tossed. But the bread and butter pickles I made are long gone and I've made more this year. I even have a friend who eats a jar or two every time he visits. You know what he's getting for his birthday? You guessed it. Now I just have to get more of the Kirby cucumbers which are hard to find in Phx.

For me, with all my crazy food allergies, I want to eat wholesome food without chemicals or additives. I don't can a lot since we don't get reasonably-priced produce here. Next year I hope to have a garden and we'll see what gets canned then.

Yellow summer squash added in with cucumbers make bread and butter pickles pretty and colorful. They make really good pickles too.

And if you wasn't something different IF you do a small batch of dill pickles, make some dilled hot green beans....just a couple hot peppers in with the brine, dill and beans. I love those with cocktails (Bloody Mary's).

And if you want a different taste with bread & butter pickles, try cutting the cucumbers and yellow squash into strips. I don't know why they taste so different just from the cut, but, to me, they have a unique taste just from not slicing into rounds. Maybe it's because I eliminate most do the seeds...I don't know, but that could be it.

NormM wrote:Yellow summer squash added in with cucumbers make bread and butter pickles pretty and colorful.  They make really good pickles too.

Oooh, that's a good idea, Norm. We have one more jar of my first batch of Crisp Lime Pickles (they taste like tart bread and butter pickles) and Brian is bugging me to make more. They would indeed be really pretty!

Bethk wrote:And if you wasn't something different IF you do a small batch of dill pickles, make some dilled hot green beans....just a couple hot peppers in with the brine, dill and beans. I love those with cocktails (Bloody Mary's).

Pickled okra tastes great in Bloody Marys, too, Beth.

NormM wrote:Yellow summer squash added in with cucumbers make bread and butter pickles pretty and colorful.  They make really good pickles too.

Norm, I grow the yellow zucchinis as they are more uniform in size and have little to no seeds. Next year, I'll try mixed zucchini pickles as my yellows are pretty much done. Thanks for the idea and with some red peppers included, they will be so pretty.

Many years ago I told my -then- brother-in-law that yellow squash made good pickles. He was sure I was mistaken. I asked him how he liked the yellow pickles I gave them. He said they were the best ones. I told him they were squash.

NormM wrote:Many years ago I told my -then- brother-in-law that yellow squash made good pickles.  He was sure I was mistaken. I asked him how he liked the yellow pickles I gave them. He said they were the best ones.  I told him they were squash.

Don't you just love when that happens?  

Yes, but I wasn't sure he believed me even after I said that.