While there are plenty of delightful salsa options at the grocery store or farmers market, there's something special about a homemade batch. While making tomato salsa may seem intimidating for some, it’s actually a simple process, but one of the biggest questions beginners have is whether the tomatoes should be peeled or not.

It’s actually alright to make salsa either way, and it all depends on personal taste. The advantage of leaving the skins on your tomatoes is that you save time and can make salsa quicker, but for a thinner, smoother, less rustic salsa, you should peel the tomatoes so the skin won't interrupt the final texture of the sauce.

A popular way to remove tomato skins is to fire-roast the fruits and steam the skins off, which will require a barbecue grill, grated gas-stove on your range, or cast iron pan. Another option is to blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute and then shock them in an ice bath to loosen the skins, which creates a more neutral flavor.