The first time I ever tried peach salsa was in 1993. Don’t ask me how I’m able to remember these things. Honestly, on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of daily forgetfulness, I would say I rank upwards of 8 or 9. It’s only because I now faithfully use a to-do app on my phone that I am able to function as a normal person, but my natural state is scatterbrained forgetfulness. I do, however, have this very strange area of my brain that hangs onto details in the distant past: Specific things I wore on dates with Marlboro Man, for instance. Every word of every episode of The Brady Bunch. And exactly when and where I ate certain things for the first time.
The peach salsa I ate in 1993 was part of a gift basket my mom had received from a friend for Christmas. It was stuffed with things like chocolates and vacuum-sealed smoked salmon, and there was a jar of peach salsa with a bag of blue corn chips. The salsa was heavenly and sweet and spicy, and it’s really a shame my mom never got to try it because I think I singlehandedly polished it off myself.
Here’s a version that’s close to the original, though you never really can completely recreate the first time you ever try something delicious, can you?
(But trying sure is fun!)
Lop off the top and bottom of a jalapeno and dice it up very fine. Include some seeds/membranes if you want some brow-sweating heat…leave them out if you’d like to keep things more mild.
Dice up some onion. I used red onion because the color is so beautimous with the orange peaches…but of course, you could just use yellow or white onions, too.
Red bell pepper! Seed and dice it up. I almost used jarred pimentos because I’m open-minded that way…but I had a red bell pepper, so I decided to take a walk on the wild side and live the life I was born to live.
True confession: When I have made this before, I’ve thrown the jalapeno, onion, and bell pepper into the food processor to get them really pulverized before adding them to the peaches, but GUESS WHAT? I think my food processor was struck by lightning during the storms on Saturday because when I tried to use it to make a graham cracker crust yesterday after church, it was unresponsive.
Dead.
Oh, the humanity!
Guess what?
I’m using canned peaches. Please don’t be mad at me. I have two very good reasons:
1. Peaches are not in season yet.
2. Even if peaches were in season, canned peaches are perfectly permissible when making peach salsa! They’re tender and sweet and make for a lovely consistency.
Amen.
Drain the peaches, reserving the juice, and grab a few at a time…
And cut them into small pieces.
Keep going until you have a pile!
Note: I have also made peach salsa where everything goes into the food processor (well, back in the old days when I had a food processor), but I wouldn’t recommend this method because the peaches are so soft and break up so easily, you lose the beauty of those sweet, juicy bites. I mean bits. I mean bites.
Throw the peaches in a bowl…
Then toss in the lovely trio of jalapeno, onion, and bell pepper.
Squeeze in some lime juice (it balances the sweet)…
Then, just for kicks (and for a kick), sprinkle in some chili powder! Not much—a little dab will do ya.
Or a sprinkle, in this case.
Cilantro makes everything perfect! Grab a handful and chop it up…
Then sprinkle it in…
And (this is totally optional) drizzle in a little bit of the reserved juice.
Stir it to combine, give it a taste…
And add a little salt if you think it needs it.
So lovely! Now, the salsa is actually better if you refrigerate it for a bit, so give your kids the bag of tortilla chips and tell them to keep them from you for at least two hours, no matter how hard you beg.
Actually, never mind. That would never work in my house. They’d take the chips and eat them all.
(Boys, I’m talking to you…)
This is so delicious. A sweet and delightful treat, and so delicious with tortilla chips of any kind.
It’s also a great topper for grilled chicken or fish.
It’s also yummy on a big, honkin’ quesadilla.
Grab the recipe from the sidebar, or follow the link below to the printable recipe on Tasty Kitchen. Enjoy!
