How do you know you are getting serious about making salsa? In the blazing August heat you’re willing to stand over a grill full of… no, not brats or burgers or any other meat… but tomatoes.

Grilled Tomatoes and Onions

Since we’ve moved here, we’ve always ended the summer by picking tomatoes by the bucket… literally. Some times by plan – like when I planted 25 plants. And other times by luck of a strong crop – like the summer Peanut was born and we abandoned the garden only to come home and find a pile of tomatoes my parents picked, processed, and put in our freezer. They never go to waste as most get blanched, peeled, quartered, and frozen, to be used later as is, or in various homemade sauces.

This year was different. With plenty of frozen tomatoes still in the freezer, I only had one goal: salsa. Previous years we’ve had plenty of fresh salsa during the late summer and fall, and were able to use frozen tomatoes to make “fresh” salsa during the winter. My goal was to can salsa using what was coming out of the garden and have it taste good enough that we’d actually eat it later.

I started hunting the internet for a salsa recipe based on what was in the garden… tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, garlic, and cilantro. After a couple of failed auditions, I finally came up with two things: 1) a recipe from www.simplyrecipes.com for Canned Tomato Salsa; and 2) a realization that grilling the tomatoes is well worth the effort.

With a new salsa recipe in hand, I grilled tomatoes by the bucketful – and while I was at it, a few onions. “Fire-roasted” tomato salsa… after canning a few batches of this, we should be set until next year.

Ready To Be Canned

So, the lesson here: when you run across a grill full of blackened tomatoes, don’t ask questions. Find the corn chips.