Green Taco Sauce

Photo: flickr user norwichnuts

Ingredients

3 1/2 pounds Green tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 1/2 pounds Tomatillos, roughly chopped

1/2 pound White or yellow onions, roughly chopped

1 1/2 pounds Mild green chiles, seeded and deveined, roughly chopped

3 Jalapeno or serrano chiles-adjust to your, heat level, up to 4

1/4 cup White vinegar

3 tablespoons Corn starch

2 tablespoons Salt

2 teaspoons Garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Cumin, ground

Preparation

Wash and prepare tomatoes, tomatillos, onions and chiles as you would for canning, cutting out any bad spots. Keep the above ingredients separate for now.

Run each ingredient through the blender separately, in the following order, mild green chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, with the onion being last. Blend on 'liquefy' or 'puree'. As the materials are pureed, add them to a large non-aluminum pot. Save some of the tomatillo liquid in the blender jar and add the onion to it to give it some liquid for blending. Last take the number of hot chiles you wish to add and blend them also. Set the hot pureed chiles aside.

Add the salt, garlic and cumin and mix well. Over medium heat bring to a boil while stirring to prevent burning on the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat and simmer for two hours, again stirring occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom.

At the one hour mark, begin adding your pureed hot chiles and mix well.

Taste with a clean spoon to determine the desired heat level. Add more pureed hot chiles if needed. Continue cooking for the second hour, stirring occasionally.

While the mixture was cooking for the last hour, sterilize the canning jars for 30 minutes in boiling water.

Let the cooked mixture cool to a heat level you are comfortable working with (cooler for plastic blender jars). Run the sauce through the blender a second time on the highest speed. The sauce will now become very smooth, almost like ketchup, as it has cooked and the materials are soft.

Return the sauce to the pot and put over medium-high heat. It is now necessary to stir almost continually to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan.

Mix the cornstarch in the vinegar and add it to the pot. Continue to stir while mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat but do not allow to cool.

Fill the sterilized jars with the hot sauce, leaving 1/8th inch headspace.

Put on new lids and screw on rings medium tight. Process in water canner for 15 minutes, with more time for higher elevations. See the 'Ball Blue Book' or similar publication for complete canning instructions. You can follow instructions for canning tomatoes.

Makes three quarts.