Fresh Habañero Salsa!

Michael and I both have a spicy tooth! Or many spicy teeth for that matter. Yes, you read that right, we love most things spicy! You should have seen our container garden in 2011 when we grew 8 different kinds of peppers from seeds! We had a whole set up complete with grow lights. 

We ordered the seeds from The Chili Pepper Institute and they varied in heat from mild to hot: Jalapeño, Tabasco, Cayenne, Cajamarca, Chiltepin, Datil, Habañero, and Bhut Jolokia (aka the Ghost Pepper, the hottest pepper at the time) because why not? Ahem... *cough,* Michael.

We learned that we LOVE peppers, but that growing many different kinds from seed is kind of hard work. I think we'll stick to growing maybe a few different kinds, instead of eight. 

We made lots of different foods from spices, to sauces, to recipes with the peppers we grew. One of those recipes that we have perfected over the past few years, is our fresh habañero salsa! Our recipe has been adapted from this one.

Fresh Habañero Salsa
*For the true spicy lovers*
-makes about 15 cups, so start with a huge bowl*
-prep time: ~10 min.

5 small jalapeños (3 for a half batch)
2 large white onions, roughly chopped
one head garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper 
2- 4oz. cans green chile peppers 
2 bunches cilantro, chopped
2 limes, juiced
4- 1 lb. 12 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes (strain 2 cans for a less runny salsa)
2 habañeros (seed them if you'd like less heat and/or reduce to 1 habañero)
gloves (use for the habañero at least for the first time)

1. Chop jalapeños, garlic and habañeros until finely chopped. (We like to use a simple chopper like this one instead of our food processor.) Add to large bowl.
2. Combine remaining ingredients to large bowl and stir!
3. Let the salsa marinate for a few hours, and it'll be at it's peak! 
Serve with chips, or even crackers!

This amount of salsa is great for sharing. Otherwise it'll last you a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks? Yes, we still eat ours since it still tastes fresh! Enjoy!