Description
A healthy zucchini and tomato salsa that’s smoked for extra depth of flavor.
Ingredients
Scale
- 12 cups zucchini, coarsely grated
- 3 medium onions, finely diced
- 2 red sweet peppers, finely diced
- 1 green sweet pepper, finely diced
- ¼ cup sea salt (non-iodized)
- 12 cups chopped fresh roma tomatoes
- 6 smoked poblano peppers, diced
- 2 smoked jalapeno peppers, diced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely diced
- ½ cup honey
- 2 cups cider vinegar
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini with the skin on using the coarse side of a box grater or food processor.
- Add the grated zucchini to a large bowl. Add onions and sweet peppers to the bowl along with the salt.
- Stir briefly to distribute the salt. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 4 hours.
- Meanwhile, wearing gloves, slice the poblano and jalapeno peppers in half. Remove the seeds and membrane.
- Place the prepared peppers in a grill pan. Using a pellet grill or smoker, smoke the peppers
at 225°F for 3 hours, turning halfway through the smoking time. Allow the peppers to cool until they are cool enough to handle. - Wearing gloves, cut the peppers into fine slices.
- Prepare the tomatoes, by dipping the tomatoes for 1 minute in boiling water to loosen the skins. Plunge the tomatoes in cold water. Slip the skins and remove the core end of the tomatoes.
- Coarsely dice the tomatoes and place them in a large pot. Add the cilantro, cumin, pepper, and garlic cloves to the pot with the tomatoes.
- Drain the zucchini mixture in a colander. Rinse with cold water to remove excess salt. Squeeze out excess liquid and add the zucchini to the tomatoes in the pot.
- Stir well to evenly distribute the zucchini and tomatoes in the pot. Simmer the pot over medium heat to reduce the liquid, about 2 hours.
- Add the smoked hot peppers to the tomato – zucchini mixture. Stir well. Add the date syrup and vinegar.
- Continue simmering over medium heat until the mixture is thickened, about 30 more minutes.
- Ladle into clean pint jars, leaving a ½ inch head space. Wipe the jar rims, and add lids and rings to the jars. Place the jars in a water bath canner.
- Water bath can the salsa for 15 minutes, plus your altitude adjustment. (I’m at 2700 feet and processed my jars for 20 minutes).
