Ever since I started gardening a few years ago, I’ve wanted to grow sungold tomatoes. I’m always hearing how they’re magical and taste like candy.
I planted one last year, but I only got to try a few because squirrels got almost all of them. It was a tomato tease, but at least I figured out what all the hype was about (among humans and squirrels, apparently): they really are amazing.
This year I’m overflowing with them… thanks to the 6 foot tall, 128sqft squirrel-proof cage I built around them in spring. I’m also overflowing in early girls, romas, and sweet 100s thanks to the cage, too!
I had a giant harvest of tomatoes over the weekend, and I wanted to use them up while they were fresh. I wanted to make something where they’d really be the star of the dish instead of hidden in another recipe. And I wanted it to be really easy, because I was tired from gardening!
Enter salsa fresca.
This salsa can be made with any tomato, but I made it with sungolds and a few early girls and it was mind blowing. Sungolds are really sweet, so it had the sweetness of fruity salsa (like the kinds with mango or pineapple), but it was still pure tomato flavor.
This salsa was also perfect for using up my big hot pepper harvest, because it really showed off their flavor!
Ingredients
- ~1lb (500g) tomatoes
- Half large red onion
- 2-3 small jalapeños*
- 2 big garden salsa peppers (or more jalapeños, or 1-2 serranos)
- 1/2 cup whole cilantro leaves
- 1 tsp fresh oregano
- Juice of 1 lime
- Dash cumin
- Salt to taste
*If you have very spicy jalapeños, start with fewer and add more at the end until it’s your desired level of spiciness!
Directions
- Add peppers, cilantro, oregano, and lime to a food processor. Process until everything is minced, but not pureed.
- Add onions to food processor. If you like your salsa with liquid (like in these photos) or prefer not to have to chop the tomatoes, add them to the food processor with the onions. Pulse until they are in small chunks, as large as you like in salsa. Otherwise, if you prefer chunkier salsa with less liquid, then add in hand-chopped tomatoes after chopping/processing the onions on their own.
- Add salt and cumin to taste. You may also want to add in additional minced peppers if you like it spicier!
Enjoy with tortilla chips, on nachos, in burritos & tacos, on salads, etc.! If you make the recipe, tag me @veganmiche on Instagram and I’ll share it 🙂 I’d love to see!
Miche, Ph.D. 