The Great Green Tomato Thread

Cafe Society
1

I don’t know about all y’all, but I was forced to harvest my remaining and still-green tomatoes last night, because it’s going to frost tonight (or so they tell me). With my new abundance of green tomatoes, I am seeking green tomato recipes. I love cooking and eating, so very few things are too weird for me. Bring it on.

To start, I’ll offer the recipe I made last night.

Green Tomato Mincemeat
6 Cups chopped green tomatoes
6 Cups chopped apples
2 Cups raisins (I used dried cranberries)
4 Cups brown sugar
1 1/2 Cups cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon, or 3 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace

Throw all ingredients into a pot and bring very slowly to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 3 hours, or until desired consistency.

Bake into pie or freeze. Yum!

2

Green tomatoes? Hell, slice those babies into fat slices, dredge them in cornmeal, and fry them up.

Yummmmmmm

3

I know a lot of people do a pickled green tomato, although I’ve never put any up myself. We don’t have any left after all that fryin’!

My tomatoes were a huge disappointment this year, so I ripped them out last weekend.

4

My grandmother used to saute green tomatoes with onions and garlic. Yum!

5

Another vote for fried. Try tempura.

6

Ooo, tempura. I wouldn’t have thought of that.

I’ll definitely be frying some up, but I have a seriously huge harvest of them, and there’s only so many fried that I can eat, you know? Still, they sure are yummy.

7

There is another Southern dish, a relish or chutney made from green tomatoes, but I have no recipe.

8

I have a recipe for canning green tomato relish, if you are interested

12 Large green tomatoes
4 large onions
1 sweet red pepper
1 sweet green pepper
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 cup dark honey
1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 tablespoon celery seeds

Chop tomatoes, peppers and onions, add salt and let drain. Add remaining ingredients and cook slowly until tender, about 20 minutes.Pack in hot pint jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Sometimes I’ll add a Tbsp of horseradish to this to give it a little more kick.

9

If any have white stars at the bottom of the fruit, they might yet ripen.

10

Really? Cool. I had no idea about that one.

11

Thanks, August.
My green tomatoes are limited to those given me by the neighbor, but I;ll try that when next I have some.

12

You can do a really great basic Green Tomato Salsa. Just use the same ingredients you’d do for regular salsa. I tend to use a red wine vinegar in my red salsas, but for green tomato salsa I use white wine vinegar or a plain white vinegar. Some chopped cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, pepper, a touch of olive oil and you have a great fall salsa.

13

Fried green tomatoes perfected:

Slice thick, dip in whole buttermilk, dredge in stone ground cornmeal, and fry in very, very, VERY hot oil (I use peanut oil for its astronomical smoke point.) Fry a few at a time, since they get done in just a few seconds. They should come out crisp and brown on the outside, and still juicy on the outside. They should NOT be greasy.