My wife made and canned salsa this morning. The recipe called for jalapenos but we only have Tabascos in the garden. She used less peppers but the salsa is still pretty darn hot. It'll be good though on some enchiladas or other Mexican fare.
In addition to hot, in Mexico there are tons of chili varieties in recipes for a reason; each of them have different taste, and some of these can be replace with others for a similar taste. Tabasco peppers are closer in taste to "habaneros" and both of these are more commonly used in Southeast-Mexico cuisine. In fresh salsa, when not jalapeños, the substitute peppers are either "serrano" or "chile de arbol" (tree pepper) this latter is hotter though. Enchiladas, chilaquiles and other tortilla-mounted recipes are usually made with serrano or jalapeño salsa, while tabascos are more commonly used for topping tostadas and deep-fried foods.
I know there are tons of varieties but you can only grow a few in a garden. Besides the limited space, peppers have to be kept apart because they cross so easily. I grow only a couple of varieties each year. This year was supposed to be Tabasco (hot) and Red Marconi (mild) but the Marconi didn't survive.
I planted a few peppers, and we have only 1-2 that made it. Even the tomatoes have been slow to produce this year, although the little cherry tomatoes are doing fine. The squash has all sorts of blossoms, but none of them has set any fruit so far. I guess the blossoms must be rotting from the rain before they caan become a baby squash. Now that we are into the hot season, annd not pouring rain so much, maybe we will actually get some squash starting to grow on the plants.
The salsa we make has only a few herbs and spices such as cumin, cilantro and turmeric. If by spicy you are referring to how hot it is that depends on the variety and amount of peppers added. Ours usually is pretty darn hot.
Oh, I don't really like very spicy (hot) dishes, so I wouldn't add that amount of spices and peppers into my salsa, but it's good that you have enjoyed it.
I've never made nor ate any homemade salsa yet. Sounds delicious and spicy! I buy jarred salsa on sale only. We love salsa with our taco chips. I recently went to our Don Quiote supermarket and they had some nice healthier sea salt taco chips on in-store special so I got some. We're going to have taco salad and we like taco salad with taco chips. Homemade is definitely the best. Guess I'm too lazy to make mine and get them from the store in a jar.
Yesterday , I made some salsa with black beans and corn in it. I have never had anything except plain, basic salsa before, but thought I want to try this. I made a super-simple, throw together version of it, let it sit overnight for the flavors to come together , and today I tried some with tortilla chips. It was delicious, and I am definitely going to be making this more often. Here is what I used. This is not an actual recipe, just kind of a salsa experiment. 1 can of rotel tomatoes , drained 1 can whole kernel corn, drained 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can tomato sauce 1 can 4 oz green chilies , not drained 1 11oz jar of chunky salsa (could have been larger) Chopped green onions (2), could use regular onion. Tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp paprika 1/2 lemon juiced. Mix everything together. Put into containers, and refrigerate overnight. Makes not quite 2 quarts of salsa.
Yvonne Smith, my husband makes something similar to what you make. But his has a bit of "heat" to it. As he likes "hot-tasting/spicy salsa. I do like the corn and black beans in it as well.