How jarred salsa is made

Factory salsa cooks either 45 minutes at 71 °C or just 30 seconds at 121 °C under pressure.

stations: 9
things upstream: 70
raw sources: 25
steps from the ground: 10

The short version

Tomatoes are inspected and peeled with lye, chilies are roasted or blanched, and machines dice the rest of the vegetables. A batch kettle cooks everything with vinegar and spices, either slowly at low heat or in seconds under pressure. Warm salsa is filled by volume into jars, sealed and cooled, and the shrinking contents pull a partial vacuum under the lid.

Peel the tomatoes

Plants buy produce fresh, frozen or dehydrated. Tomatoes are inspected and peeled with lye, then stems, seeds and leftover skin come off.

Goes in
Tomatoes
Roast and blanch peppers

Some makers roast green chilies before washing them. Stems, seeds and calyx are pulled, the peppers are blanched, and citric acid adjusts their pH.

Goes in
Chili pepper
Wash and dice

Onions, garlic and other vegetables pass through water tanks or high-pressure sprays, and machines remove skins and stems. Preset cutters dice them for a chunky jar or take them down to tomato consistency for a smooth one.

Goes in
Onions
Fill the premix kettle

Tomato paste or processed tomatoes, water, vinegar, salt and spices go into a kettle big enough for several batches. Acid sets the rest of the process, since food below pH 4.6 can be safely processed at boiling temperature.

pH below 4.6

Goes in
Vinegar Water Table salt
Cook in the batch kettle

Premix joins the onions and chilies in a batch kettle. The slow method holds 71 °C for 45 minutes, and the fast one hits 121 °C under pressure for 30 seconds.

71 °C for 45 minutes or 121 °C for 30 seconds
Fill by volume

A filler measures still-warm salsa by volume into glass jars or heat-resistant plastic. Fresh salsa takes the reverse order, going in cold and getting steam heated in the container.

Goes in
Glass jar
Seal and cool

Lids go on, and cold water or air cools the jars. The hot salsa contracts as it cools and draws a partial vacuum under each seal.
Taste and swab

Experienced tasters check flavor and heat against the label. Kettles are swabbed and the swabs incubated for a day or two, and samples of finished salsa get the same lab treatment.
Label and box

Containers without preprinted information get labels, then go into corrugated cartons for shipping.

Goes in
Cardboard box

End of the lineJarred salsa

Worth repeating

By 1992, the dollar value of salsa sold in the United States was higher than the value of tomato ketchup.
The word salsa simply means sauce in Spanish, but in English it refers to Mexican table sauces.
Tortilla chips with salsa are a routine starter at Mexican-American restaurants, yet not south of the border.