Sauce/Salsa Tomatoes

[Old chef]

Christinajo
That's very similar to my recipe. Fresh is best. Now we need a recipe for fresh corn tortillas
Old chef

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

For my sauce and salsa, I just grow a variety of tomatoes I enjoy. I want good flavored tomatoes, little seed and gel. What grows and is successful in your area might not be the same as in mine.

I like Stump of the World, Kosovo, Carbon. Stump and Carbon have been pumping out fruit for weeks. Haven't seen a ripe Kosovo yet, but the plant is loaded from about a foot off the ground with tons of huge, like 2 lb, beautiful hearts.

I love Orange Minsk, but not sure my love of the taste will bring it back again - just not as productive as others, but a tasty tomato! I gave a second year try to Olive Hill, wonderful tomato but doesn't produce enough for me to come back for a 3rd try. The jury is still out on Dr. Lyle although I am thinking it knows it may not make it back and has started producing more. New this year are Pruden's Purple and Fish Lake Oxheart. Read wonderful things, but still haven't had a ripened tomato from either. Pruden's Purple took some time to set fruit; in my small garden where I am limited to 14 plants, I want everything; production, flavor, early fruit set.

Read up on varieties, try out a few. You will love some and not repeat some. Keep doing this year after year. Some folks here have been growing for years and years and are still experimenting on new varieties.

The only requirement, in my opinion, of a 'good' sauce/salsa tomato is that YOU like it! Enjoy the journey!

[AKmark]

We use a mix of our favorite eating tomatoes, if they are juicy, we just cook them down longer. I am pretty convinced that longer time to cook down juicy varieties that are for eating, is well worth it, the intense taste is really nice in January. I seen Stump mentioned above and agree, ever had Stump & Brandywine spaghetti sauce? yummmmmmmmmmm

[ChristinaJo]

Originally Posted by Old chef

Christinajo
That's very similar to my recipe. Fresh is best. Now we need a recipe for fresh corn tortillas
Old chef

I usually use the dry Masa Harina (white,yellow, or blue) and add the wet ingredients.....
@cups Masa Harina, 1 tsp salt, and boiling water....

I have wanted to learn how to do it "old school" from scratch, just to know and actually do it. I even bought green corn (Oaxacan)to grow and process.... I did my research on the internet and it's involved!


I have a WONDERFUL book by: Jane Butel's TEX-MEX Cookbook. It's out of print, but you might be able to buy a used one on the internet.

Also, Checkout BROKENBAR's post in the recipe forum. I love her stuff...

This is random, but I want one of those big rectangle grinding troughs(?)....
I can't remember what they're called. I can never have enough kitchen gadgets...

[ChristinaJo]

I have let friends borrow this book and EVERY time I have trouble getting it back!

Last time I lent it, it got awkward. She really didn't want to give it up!

I don't lend it anymore. It's one of my treasures, and my family really loves it when I cook out of it.

[Worth1]

Christina as you already know the dried corn needs to be soaked in an alkali first.

We did this growing up not as a hobby but for food.
we never made the masa flour but we could have.

The Europeans never did this step that allowed the nutrients to released.
This lack of processing is what caused pellagra in people eating corn as a diet.
Pellagra is a niacin deficiency.

You can look at the ingredients to the masa flour and it will have lime in it.

The stone is a metate I had one on the front porch and someone stole it.
I found it west of Crane Texas and had carried it about 3 miles in the desert.
My wifes cousin had about 30 in her back yard she found around Hobbs New Mexico.
The stone you use in your hand is a mano.

The bridge between San Saba and Lampasas Texas on the south east side has an area where there are holes in the rocks along a cliff.
These holes are where the Indians used poles to grind corn and other grains.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by AKmark

We use a mix of our favorite eating tomatoes, if they are juicy, we just cook them down longer. I am pretty convinced that longer time to cook down juicy varieties that are for eating, is well worth it, the intense taste is really nice in January. I seen Stump mentioned above and agree, ever had Stump & Brandywine spaghetti sauce? yummmmmmmmmmm

I much prefer to drain off some of the extra water instead of cooking them down so long. The longer they cook the less fresh they taste. After I drain the freshly cooked tomatoes I run them through a processor to remove skins and seeds and am left with a nice thick puree of very concentrated tasting tomatoes. This is great for making salsa, spaghetti or soups without having to cook them down or add a thickener.

I like to make cooked and raw salsa depending on what kind of flavor I'm looking for. As to tomatoes if I am making raw salsa I prefer using a meaty yet full flavored tomato like Donskoi or Red Barn. Any good tomato will do but the ones with full flavor lessen the need for as much lime juice and sugar to get the right balance. I love making a fresh salsa of just black tomatoes but it does look a bit different and the tomatoes usually need some draining so the salsa if poured over something doesn't make everything too soggy.

For cooked salsa I use all varieties of ripe tomatoes in my garden and try to make enough to put up a couple of quarts in the freezer. Nothing like thawing that stuff out in January of February for a real summer treat. I like to add more fresh cilantro when I thaw it out because I just love the stuff but can't grow it in the summer here. I must confess I use more fresh garlic in my salsa than I have seen in any of the recipes but then I love the combination. I'm sure there are tomato dishes that don't need garlic; I just can't think of any.

Bill

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by beeman

I grew Costoluto Genevese for the first time in grow bags this year, waste of time. They are really too big to be grown that way, plus they were the worst I've ever grown for BER. Won't grow them again.

I agree that Costoluto Genovese is not the tomato you want to grow in a grow bag. Mine are now about 10 ft tall. Costoluto is a tremendously productive tomato. From my two plants, I processed 2 gallons of sauce on Tuesday, and I could go out now and pick enough ripe tomatoes for another two gallons. With just these two plants and a couple of Opalka, I will freeze enough sauce to last the entire year.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by ChristinaJo

I usually use the dry Masa Harina (white,yellow, or blue) and add the wet ingredients.....
@cups Masa Harina, 1 tsp salt, and boiling water....

I have wanted to learn how to do it "old school" from scratch, just to know and actually do it. I even bought green corn (Oaxacan)to grow and process.... I did my research on the internet and it's involved!


I have a WONDERFUL book by: Jane Butel's TEX-MEX Cookbook. It's out of print, but you might be able to buy a used one on the internet.

Also, Checkout BROKENBAR's post in the recipe forum. I love her stuff...

This is random, but I want one of those big rectangle grinding troughs(?)....
I can't remember what they're called. I can never have enough kitchen gadgets...

I have a Wonder Mill and it makes the finest corn flour from popcorn or dried corn.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I have a Wonder Mill and it makes the finest corn flour from popcorn or dried corn.

I've never thought about grinding my own corn flour. There are some really great smelling dried corn varieties out there. Here in Texas, out in unincorporated areas, we have to build fences around the garden to keep the deer out. I put some deer corn out away from our garden in hopes it would keep the deer away from the garden. I remember thinking the deer corn smelled good enough to eat.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I've never thought about grinding my own corn flour. There are some really great smelling dried corn varieties out there. Here in Texas, out in unincorporated areas, we have to build fences around the garden to keep the deer out. I put some deer corn out away from our garden in hopes it would keep the deer away from the garden. I remember thinking the deer corn smelled good enough to eat.

Fatten the deer with corn and make deer tamales.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Worth, that made me hungry.

Hmm, Deer stuffed tomatoes might be pretty good too, and it's way better than deers stuffed with my tomato plants.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Worth, that made me hungry.

Hmm, Deer stuffed tomatoes might be pretty good too, and it's way better than deers stuffed with my tomato plants.

I here that one of the rascals ate some of my green tomatoes last week and some ripe ones too.
Maybe it was a crow I have both in abundance.
Both hang out in my yard around the bird bath.
I wont begrudge them though, I still get my share.
Worth

[Riceloft]

Originally Posted by beeman

I grew Costoluto Genevese for the first time in grow bags this year, waste of time. They are really too big to be grown that way, plus they were the worst I've ever grown for BER. Won't grow them again.

Definitely too big for grow bags, but CG is one of the few in my garden that doesn't start off with a little BER. As VC Scott said, its huge and tremendously productive.

I made a batch of salsa (cooked) on Friday night using about 75% CG, and the rest a mix of Cherokee Purple and Tasmanian Chocolate. I used Annie's Salsa recipe.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by beeman

I grew Costoluto Genevese for the first time in grow bags this year, waste of time. They are really too big to be grown that way, plus they were the worst I've ever grown for BER. Won't grow them again.

Maybe you need another try. Mine are beautiful and this is the first year I have grown them. I bought the seeds from ohio heirlooms last year and didn't have anyplace to start them and they didn't get in then, so I did them this year. They are beautiful plants and loaded with fluted/scalloped tomatoes. I have picked about 3 quarts so far and am expecting them to explode with ripening as soon as it gets warmer...waiting any day for that. It has been in the 40's at night time this past week.. I love these emoticons. they express exactly how I have felt about the weather this year...again. I feel sorry for any one who is a first second no, even a seasoned gardener. The weather for the last 5 years has been a challenge here. Cold, wet, drought, but hardly ever warm/hot for an extended period of time. and the disease pressure. Good night! now there is another blight resistant to all the sprays available for early/late blight.