My tomato plants are up with lovely green tomatoes, yet there is at least a month to go before I even see a hint of red blush on them. But I’m tired of the greens & carrots in my garden.
So what can you do with all of those green tomatoes?
The classic use for green tomatoes is Fried Green Tomatoes. I simply slice a big beefsteak tomato fairly thin (less than 1/4 inch), dip them in flour, then in egg, then in cornmeal, and fry them in a little oil in a skillet. Try not to move them too much at first or the “crust” can break off. Also, don’t slice them too thick they won’t cook all the way through fast enough. Experiment!
I also have a recipe for Green Tomato Bread. It know it sounds disgusting, but it really is a fantastic sweet quickbread. More along the lines of zucchini bread. This is not a low calorie recipe but it sure is yummy.
Green Tomato Bread
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 TBS Cinnamon
2 Large Eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped green tomatoes (approx 2) Don’t peel or seed.Preheat oven to 350, and grease and flour 2 bread pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center.
In a small bowl lightly beat eggs, add vegetable oil and vanilla.
Pour liquid ingredients into well in the center of dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Gently mix in green tomatoes.
Divide evenly into the two loaf pans, and bake for 1 hour-until a toothpick come out of the center clean. Cool well before storing.
Do you have a ton of green cherry tomatoes? Try “Fireballs” – spicy green pickled cherry tomatoes. I really like these, but my husband isn’t so fond, so try a small batch & see what you think before you go wholesale.
Fireballs
enough small green cherry tomatoes to fill 4 qt. jars
4 garlic cloves
4 celery stalks
4 hot red peppers
4 heads dill
1 qt water
1/2 c pickling salt
2 qt white vinegarAs in any canning recipe, start by preheating your jars and your canning water.
Prick each green cherry tomato with a clean (sterilized) needle several times. This prevents them from splitting in cooking, and I think it helps the flavor to soak in. I did this the night before and stored them in the fridge in a large zippered bag.
Fill 4 hot quart jars with green cherry tomatoes.
To each jar add a stalk of celery, a hot pepper, a clove of garlic and a head of dill. (I used 4 pint jars, added one of each, substitution a sprig of lovage for celery, 2 slices of jalepeno for the red chili, and a 1/2 tsp of frozen dillweed for the head of dill*)
Make a brine by combining water, pickling salt and vinegar in a pot and bringing it to a boil. Fill jars with brine to 1/2″ from top. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
I have also found that green tomatoes can be chopped and added to many stir fries and curries. Last year I chopped them and froze them in 1 cup portions, and added them with no problem to those dishes.
So what are some of your ways to use green tomatoes?
*Note-canning books are constantly pointing out that you shouldn’t change recipes for water bath canning (doesn’t matter for pressure canning) as it can cause them to be unsafe if you change the balance of non acidic food to acidic food. I personally felt comfortable doing this as the tomatoes are all acidic, and they are being canned in a brine that is highly acidic. You have to make your decisions based on your comfort level.
TJ says
I have a recipe on my blog for my grandma’s green tomato relish. I personally have not had enough green tomatoes to make it, and this year it appears that only one of my 10 plants even began producing, and I’m not sure it’s going to do anything other than wilt. But I have eaten the relish and as a child loved it, as an adult I really want it again, especially now that I’m pregnant and everything sounds good!
The link:
http://dtkmkihn.blogspot.com/2008/03/being-prepared.html
Susan says
Fried green tomatoes are the best! The only thing I would add is that you don’t have to use only beefsteak tomatoes. This is actually a great use for any of those ugly tomatoes from your garden, because you won’t notice they aren’t perfect once they are fried! 🙂
Laura says
They make a great pie, and taste similar to apple pie! Just use the same type of seasonings etc you would use in making apple pie.
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