Getting started always looks sorta like this. Sorting by color helps me to choose ingredient variations. Note the habenero's divided into green and orange; they have different flavors. Time to start chopping and processing. More to come.



Today we're making a Green Habenero Onion Garlic Tomatillos Bell Pepper Pineapple Yellow Tomatoes Rum and Apple Moonspeed Salsa. Here you see most of the elements ready for chopping in the processor. A proper combining of juicier items like tomatoes and pineapple along with peppers and onions, etc., ensures a smooth blend. It's critical to keep a close eye on this. Twenty second too much processing and you lose the chunky look, feel, and taste of the mix. No soupy salsa comes out of Moonspeed's kitchen. (Of course, I wore heavy kitchen gloves while preparing all this. Habeneros are dangerously hot, not only to taste, but if transferred from your fingers to more sensitive areas of your body. Or someone else's body. Are we clear?) Good, now moving right along.



My working tools. A small Hamilton Beach food processor, 2 good knives, and an easy-to-clean chopping surface. Perhaps there is a beer, or glass of wine nearby.



First, we process the green habenero pieces with some onion, fresh garlic, yellow tomato, a small amount of bell peppers, a few small tomatillos, and about 4 pineapple slices. We end up with this super hot bowl of salsa. It is important, at first, to keep the super hot bowl apart from what comes next. My son tasted this batch, and liked it fine. Hot is different for different palates. This is much hotter than 75% of your guests will like. The other 25% will pronounce it the best damned salsa they've ever tasted. Isn't this lovely with the fresh juices glistening in the sun? I told you this is fun.



Next we process a whole bunch of bell peppers, onions, garlic, apple, pineapple and yellow tomatoes. No hot peppers this time around. We are essentially making a base, although this tastes really good by itself, and makes a fine sauce for some dishes, like maybe grilled halibut, according to one's taste. We end up with a bowl like this. You probably won't have an apple sitting in your bowl; I left it out of previous photos and wanted you to see its beauty. The next step is to decide what kind of blends you want. I will keep half of the super hot just as it is, and use the rest to mix with base for a salsa that most folks will simply love. Fresh makes all the difference. Do not skimp on chips. I personally like blue corn chips. This has taken about 3 hours. Enjoy.