Salsa Verde

5 cups chopped tomatillos


1 ½ cups seeded, chopped long green chiles


½ cup seeded finely chopped jalapenos


4 cups chopped onions


1 cup bottled lemon juice


6 cloves garlic, finely chopped


1 tablespoon ground cumin, optional


3 tablespoon oregano leaves, optional


1 tablespoon salt


1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

I searched high and low for a recipe that I could can and process so that I could leave it on the shelf for food storage.  This seems to be the basic recipe recommended by various Univeristy Extension Services.  I think I have made about 8 batches this fall.  Each time I get less and less particular about getting all of the pepper seeds out of the peppers.  therefore, each batch keeps getting hotter and hotter on the Scoville Scale used for measuring the hotness of peppers (more info here)

If anyone has another good recipe for bottled green salsa, send it my way.  Or just stop by with a bag of chips.