Raw Tomato Salsa

This has to be the top hit in our family especially during the summer months when the tomatoes are the tastiest. If you want to stay away from tortilla chips, use sliced veggies such as cucumber, white radish, zucchini, yellow squash, or raw corn crackers. The last time I made this, our one year old daughter ate almost 1/2 cup with her fingers because she did not have the patience to use her spoon or dipping veggies :o). Enjoy!


5 medium tomatoes
1 small red onion
2-4 cloves garlic (to taste)
hand full of fresh cilantro
raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime
celtic sea salt
black pepper (optional)
jalapenos (optional)


The way this salsa tastes best is if you chop everything by hand. You can use a food processor and pulse chop, but the tomatoes get mushy and the salsa loses a great deal of it's flair.

Dice the tomatoes as big or small as you fancy them and place them in a medium sized bowl. Then dice the onions as fine as you like and add them to the tomatoes. Press only two cloves of fresh garlic into the tomatoes (you can add more later if needed). De-stem and chop the cilantro and add to bowl. Pour enough apple cider vinegar so that the liquid is level with the amount of tomatoes. Juice one lime and add to salsa. Mix thoroughly. Taste and add salt, pepper and more garlic or jalapenos if desired.

The apple cider vinegar amplifies the kick of the onions and garlic. The finer you dice the onions and the more garlic you add, the hotter the salsa becomes without jalapenos. I fixed this salsa with my mom once, and she was convinced that we needed jalapenos; I told her to try a little first. After trying a few bites, we both started to tear and sweat because she had diced the onions so fine. I've never tried this with the jalapenos, but beware it could get pretty spicy!