Homemade salsa

I've been a little busy & a little sick over the last couple weeks. I think I'm finally in full control of my sinuses. One of the things I've been up to has been bottling homemade salsa from farmer's market vegetables.  I didn't get much in the way from the peppers or tomatoes I planted this year.

Here's this is based on my mother's recipe she used for decades:

Chop, dice, or blend (your choice of consistency) the following vegetables:
40 tomatoes (I used 20 Romas & 20 regular)
6 Serrano peppers
2 Poblano peppers
3 Anaheim peppers
3 Jalapeño peppers
1 large onion (2 cups)
5 cloves garlic
* my mom adds 2 cups bell peppers, my wife is allergic to them.
** this yields a mild-medium salsa. More peppers = hotter. Fewer peppers = milder. I personally prefer salsa much hotter than this, but I wanted it to be enjoyable for younger taste buds. My mom recommends 9 - 12 Jalapeños for hot salsa. I'm guessing that would translate to "pleasantly medium-hot" level.  (My mom has less robust tastebuds than I do)

Put vegetables in a very large stockpot. Add:
1/4 cup sugar (I'm investigating the potential to use less))
1 Tbsp non-iodized salt (I use kosher salt)
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp cilantro
Juice 4 limes
1 cup vinegar


Slowly heat to a boil. Almost all the liquid for the salsa is coming from the tomatoes. If you heat it too fast, it will scotch.

I turned the knob to simmer and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I turned it up 1/2 of a number on the dial every 5 minutes until it boiled. Then I turned it down 1/2 a number every 5 minutes until I found a nice simmer.

Boil/simmer for 60 minutes.

Ladle from stock pot to bottling jars. Leave about a 1/2 inch space in the jar. Jars need to be clean but not sterile. Lids should be sterile. Put lids on.

Bottle per your bottling device instructions. I have an old steamer they no longer recommend using because its impossible to know the internal temperature of what is in the bottle and thusly if all pathogens are destroyed. However, since salsa cooks an hour, I'm pretty sure it's sterile after.

This recipe yielded 16 pints.

Imperial / Double Hefeweizen Homebrew

This beer is a good example of the iterations I go through when formulating a new recipe.  Originally, the plan was to make a California Common out of a Pilsner grain bill.  I quickly came to the decision that my brew areas were too warm.

So I thought, "maybe an estery Hefeweizen?"   So I took half Pilsen malt and half wheat malt started fooling around.  So I thought "make it big, use weird hops, and dry hop."   In short: everything you're not supposed to do.   I debated for a while on whether to call it an Imperial or a Double.  Eventually, I decided on "Double" because my goal was "twice what you typically find in a hefeweizen."

Here's what I came up with for my Double Hefeweizen:

Chimay - White Label Cinq Cents

I discovered in my cellar today that I had purchased a bottle of Chimay White and forgot about it.

One of the things I like about drinking Trappist beers is the history.  The monastery started brewing in 1862.  When you open a Trappist beer, you are opening up history.

You may have noticed in all my beer pictures, I use the same pint glass but tonight I'm using a snifter glass. There are very few beers and wines that I believe the shape of the glass actually has an effect on the beer drinking experience.   Belgian and Trappist beers are among the few exceptions.   This is because so much of the experience of these bees takes place in the smell.

Chimay corks all of their bottles.  Again, I don't much like corked beer because cork is susceptible to cork-rot.  I did not have that in this beer but I did once on a Chimay Blue.  The cork on this beer was amazingly easy to remove by hand.

Sierra Nevada - Southern Hemisphere Harvest

Today is the first day of real Autumn temperatures at my house. My outdoor thermometer is sheltered and always seems to read a little high. This morning it read 40F (4.5C). The house dropped down to 64F (18C).

So I spent this morning getting the house ready for winter. Mainly this means covering the evaporative cooler and making sure the boiler still works.

After all that work, I decided to crack open something refreshing: Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2012.

This beer uses only freash hops from New Zealand: Pacific Hallertau, Motueka and Southern Cross.

I had it with some left over spinach, chicken, & parmesan pizza from last night.  Mmmm... nothing better than spinach pizza.

Squatters - Hell's Keep Belgian Style Golden Ale

This is probably my last Squatters review for a while.  I'll have to check my cellar, but I'm pretty sure this is the last of the beers I purchased at the brewery on my last stop.  It's kind of sad.

But Untapped just informed me that I've had 10 different Squatters beers in less than 30 days.  So, maybe it is time to move on.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with the Belgian Golden Ale style. I'm more of a Trappist & Lambic Belgain beer drinker.

A couple things to get out of the way:   1) Not a fan of the label art.  Be cartoonish or be realistic.  Don't be vague.  2) Foil wrapped.  Again, I ask "Why foil wrap a beer?"  This is not wine.   But if you want it to be like wine, make it easier to remove, like wine.   Besides, if prettiness is the goal, bottle caps can be pretty too.

Aesthetics rants aside, this is a great beer.

This beer is smooth with a bit of fruitiness with musty/earthiness thrown in.  The head on the beer is stiff and thick.  It reminds me of egg whites beaten stiff for a meringue.

Epic Brewing - Hop Syndrome Lager (Release #7)

Hop Syndrome is one of my favorites from Epic Brewing. It's an American Lager. It's also just about the lowest ABV beer that Epic brews.

Stats from the website:
Malts: Pilsner, Light Munich Malt, Carapils

Boil Hops: Calypso, Crystal
Hopback: whole leaf Aramis
Dry Hops: Crystal, Calypso

ABV: 4.8%

I think of this beer as essentially being a dry hopped American Pilsner. The body is thinner than a true pilsner without the corn flavors you would associate with a macrobrew.

The hop flavors are what this beer is about. Don't let the name mislead you, it's not a "hop bomb". It's a hoppy pilsner. And it doesn't take much dry hopping to hop-up a crisp Pilsner / American Lager.