TRAVERSE CITY -- It's afternoon on a gray fall Saturday. Every male in the house is glued to a TV watching a big football rivalry play out.
Not Andrea Novarro, Julie McNally and Kari Roberts. They're in the kitchen, slicing, dicing, laughing and tasting. Oh, and having a few Bloody Marys.
It's their annual salsa-making ritual. With farmers' markets reaching the end of the season still ripe with fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and other makings for fresh salsa, the Traverse City women have decided to make it an annual fall activity.
"Everyone loved it when we first did it," said McNally. "It was all gone."
Their children gather around to help. It's a production line that will result in each of them taking home multiple jars of salsa to sustain them through the long months of winter and bring back memories of a convivial fall Saturday with each taste.
"Especially when you open a jar in January, it's great to have that fresh taste at that time of year," said Roberts.
There's a basic recipe: tomatoes, garlic, green peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, Hungarian peppers, fresh corn, cilantro, seasonings and cider vinegar -- the last because one of their grandmothers used to add it when canning tomatoes to reduce the acidity. Still, also like any grandmother worth her salt, they tinker with it each year.
"In the past, we've put artichoke hearts or cucumbers or black beans in it," said McNally. "The more the color, it's pretty."
Sometimes, they put it in the food processor for a pureed-style salsa. Either way, once the ingredients are assembled, they put them in jars and process them according to standard canning instructions.
While most are saved for winter and some become Christmas gifts for family members, a few jars don't make it into the hot water bath. They're kept back instead to eat fresh. With football fans and hungry children at the ready, it goes fast.
They eat it all kinds of ways. Sure, salsa is great for tortilla chip dipping. They also recommend it over cottage cheese, on scrambled eggs, and as a dip for veggies.
"I love it on cream cheese," said Shannon McNally, Julie's daughter, sitting at the kitchen counter eagerly waiting this year's batch. "I'll eat salsa anytime. I'll just eat it plain with a spoon sometimes. It's so good."
A note of warning: If you try their recipe, be careful with the Hungarian peppers. They're very spicy; McNally cuts them with plastic bags over her hands.
Salsa
1/2 bushel tomatoes, chopped
Whole head of garlic, peeled and minced
4 green peppers, chopped fine
2 orange peppers, chopped fine
2 yellow peppers, chopped fine
2 Hungarian hot peppers, chopped fine
4 onions, chopped fine
Garlic pepper
Salt
2 capfuls of cider vinegar
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed, drained, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
1 (15.5-oz.) can crisp sweet corn, drained or equivalent cooked fresh corn on the cob
Mix all ingredients together and follow canning instructions. Sometimes the group purees everything, leaving out the corn and cilantro to mix in afterward.
Kathy Gibbons can be reached at gibbonskath@yahoo.com. For more Everyday Cook columns, log on to record-eagle.com/everydaycook.
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