Salsa Picante!

Erin is proudly showing off a batch of just-finished jars of salsa!

Suzanne and Joan (L to R) are busy peeling tomatoes!

It is with no small joy to report the progress of the canning session at the house this past Sunday.

We had hauled out of the garden three boxes of tomatoes, a plethora of green peppers (many donated by my parents), and an assortment of hot peppers. It was time to make SALSA! Melissa came over to instruct a bunch of us how to make homemade salsa and then preserve it in jars for the upcoming months.

We worked hard all afternoon, each person assigned to a different vegetable: Joan and Suzanne cut and peeled tomatoes. Quinn was in charge of garlic. Kye worked on onions until it became tearfully apparent that Erin needed to take over. Alea chopped up green peppers; Pat chopped up cilantro. Melissa coached and mixed. We all taste tested.

Yours truly got assigned to cutting up hot peppers. I did so without gloves and paid the price three hours later when my fingers started to burn painfully (NOTE: Making a paste out of baking soda and water and leaving it on my fingers took the pain away--washing it off and repeating a few times helped as well).

Melissa shows Alea the finer points of chopping peppers.

The flavor was outstanding. All the work was worth it just to be a taste tester! We finished with a couple dozen jars of salsa. Folks took some home but the majority is here at the house. If you visit the house for an event in the months to come, you just might share in this delight.

Food preservation is an important ministry: It is a natural extension of our garden. It is an aspect of environmental sustainability to foster locally grown foods. It builds community. It preserves traditional ways of life that have been so quickly lost in the modern area--neighbors talking the kitchen while canning vegetables is something that would have been common just a generation ago. It is good and natural and right.

Quinn is deep in thought while peeling garlic. No risk of vampires or ghosts today!

Even more apropos is that these classes by themselves are already evidence of the fruit of community building--we met the teacher Melissa as folks from the neighborhood formed friendships in an around the community garden!

Now that we know we "can" preserve vegetables, we will keep that in mind as we select crops to plant in the garden and adjust the timing of their planting so they are ready at appropriate times. Filling our pantry full of jars of homemade salsa, sauerkraut, pickles and just plain ole tomatoes is something to look forward to!

Many thanks to Joan, who worked for several days organizing and cleaning the jars, to Erin, who provided the extra ingredients and helped with organization, and of course, to Melissa, whose unbelievable talent as a teacher as well as her knowledge of food preservation and willingness to share have really astounded us all.

Thanks also to the folks from St. James the Less, the Newman Center and other individuals who donated their old jars and canning supplies!

Now one burning question remains: Will the Latinos think our salsa is hot enough?

Kye asks, "Want an onion?"