It's getting closer to home grown tomato time every day. I'm already looking forward to fresh tomato salsa with both tomatoes and jalapenos from my garden. The first couple of times I made salsa I cooked it, but I wasn't too crazy about the results. I find that I much prefer it made raw in small batches so that it can be made fresh often. It's the favorite summer condiment around here. I do make it during the winter with tomatoes that I've canned and find that it works very well; but still, there's nothing like when the tomatoes come fresh from the garden. Made from your own canned tomatoes is just the next best thing.
Have you ever tried making your tomato salsa with sun dried tomatoes? The taste is much richer and creamier, depending on what other ingredients you use. When I use fresh tomatoes, I always try to get the fleshiest and sweetest that I can find. That is often easier said than done. But the less water they contain, the stronger the flavor will be in a sauce.
I used to buy instant salsa in bottles in grocery stores. Then I found out the many preservatives they have so I just cook it at home. It's way cheaper and safer and definitely, a lot healthier.
I never cook my salsa. Never. I like the freshness I worked so hard to incorporate into it I leave well enough alone. If I'm looking for different textures of tastes I alter the ingredients. I've cooked salsa before WAY back when I first started cooking. Never again.
I think making your own salsa is a great way to cut down on expenses because tomatoes aren't very expensive and salsa is actually not that difficult to make in the first place. Those jars with ready made salsa cost a lot especially if you eat it regularly enough or are going to be serving a lot of people. I prefer to leave my salsa uncooked but honestly I've never actually tried the cooked version and I have a feeling it might last a bit longer that way so I suppose I'll experiment with it eventually.
I don't cook the salsa when I make it myself, but I do often used canned crushed tomatoes, which may have been cooked a bit when being processed. However, I add in a bunch of fresh ingredients as well, such as fresh peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro, along with fresh lime juice, so as a whole it still tastes like a fresh salsa. I have seen some recipes though which call for slow roasting tomatoes in your oven - not to the point of "sun dried tomato" chewiness, but enough that they are really rich and concentrated. I suppose it would be fun to try and make a salsa out of these, if I ever get around to it. I'm curious to see if that method can really transform out of season plain boring Roma tomatoes into something more flavorful and intense.
No, I don't cook my salsa. I don't usually eat salads but I do like the taste of uncooked tomatoes and it makes me feel like I am eating healthier being a raw vegetable and all that. I don't like the sun dried tomatoes either as I find the salt content is a bit too high for my taste.
I've never cooked salsa and I didn't realize you could. I always make fresh salsa because it is usually something I want to make and eat quickly.
I have never made salsa strictly from dried tomatoes but have added dried tomatoes to salsa made with fresh home grown. I usually dry a fair amount every year but have never sun dried them. I use a dehydrator. Anyway, the dried tomatoes do add something to the flavor and they thicken the salsa a bit as well. Yep. Cooking just seems to totally destroy the whole effort to me as well. And I never can it because you can't do it without adding vinegar, which just really goes against the flavor as far as I'm concerned. Fresh is always the way to go with salsa.
