What to do with green tomatoes???
 

Frost is coming soon and I have a bunch of very large, very funny colored but very green tomatoes. They do not look like regular unripe green tomatoes, it's a lighter paler color. Volunteer seed and I have no idea where it came from. For all I know these might be ripe already. (not striped green, I know what green zebras look like)

So having had very bad luck at trying to ripen tomatoes indoors and not knowing if these are supposed to be green I am begging for some help. What should I do with these? Are there any decent recipes out there for green tomatoes like green tomato salsa or green katsup or something like that? I've heard of green tomato relish but has anyone tried it? How does it taste?

Thanks so much. I know someone will read this and know just what to do.

Danaus!!! Shame on you! Cut the tomatoes thick, toss them in a bread coating, and fry those suckers up! Lol. Get a little dipping sauce. Nothing like a fried green tomato. :)

I agree with frying.this I have done and reminds me of egg plant. I use a egg wash and half flour and corn meal with salt pepper and a bit of garlic and onion powder.

always envisioned a few other ideas but never tried them but chutney and jam and possible in my mind.

never tried these but pursued the list a few sound promising,

http://southernfood.about.com/od/gre...to_Recipes.htm

other then that a sunny spot with low air circulation they will ripen.

You can pick them green, wrap in newspaper, store them in a basket. They will ripen over time. You might even have a ripe tomato for Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas from your garden.

What problems do you have with trying to ripen them inside?
Because of our short growing season up here we usually end up ripening almost 100% of our tomatos inside, most of them ripening within a month of picking. Just put them in a box and keep in a cool place and they will ripen. Keep checking them and take them out as they ripen and throw out any bad ones before they rot and mold. You can also wrap them individually in newspaper but that's a lot of wrapping and unwrapping to check their progress

I tried this years back but stored them in the back of a cupboard. It turned out to be a soggy mess. Where do you put the basket? Cool dark place like I did or out in the open?

This uses up a lot of end of the garden veggies.

Green Tomato Relish

Ingredients:

1 quart ground onions
1 quart ground cabbage, about 1 large head
1 quart ground green tomatoes
18 bell peppers, a combination of green, red, and other colors, ground
1/2 cup salt
6 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons celery seed
1 teaspoons turmeric

Preparation:
Combine onions, cabbage, green tomatoes, green and red bell peppers and salt; cover and let stand overnight.
In the morning drain well.
Put vegetables in a large kettle; add sugar, vinegar, water, celery seed and tumeric. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Pack into hot sterilized pint jars.
Seal and process in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes. (1,001 to 6,000 feet, process 10 minutes)
*I know Red bell peppers can be expensive if you have to buy them, but they are sweeter and add color to the relish.
Makes 8 to 10 pints.

I use a food processor instead of grinding everything like the original recipe above says to do. Faster and the results are still great.

Wrap in a twist of newspaper, put in a cool dark but airy cupboard. Check often, and use as they ripen - don't insist on full ripeness, as they may be infected by fungus in the meantime, as soon as they soften. As always with any fruit, you can force them to ripen by storing apples with them. Apples give off ethylene, which is a gas that acts as a plant hormone that hastens ripening.

Green tomatoes can be used in any chutney recipe.
You can eat them green in salads or sandwiches, maybe sprinkled with sugar, maybe add a touch of lemon juice or vinegar. They are related to bell peppers, and you eat a lot of those green. It's a different taste, but you can re-tune your expectations.

Save a few of the seeds from your volunteers, and plant early next year.

This is a very moist spice type cake, yummy.:D

Green Tomato Cake

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg( I cut the nutmeg down to 1/4 tsp)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts( I use pecans)

Directions:

Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.

Mix together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.

Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

I frost with a cream cheese frosting but even plain, it's delicious!

I originally got the cake recipe from Allrecipes.com

OK, I'll admit to being just a bit "different!" I dearly love fried green tomatoes and miss them when everything ripens and winter comes. So I actually can green tomato slices in order to be able to have them in January. I try to choose tomatoes that are almost the same diameter as the inside of a quart jar, slice about 1/2" thick, layer flat into the jar. Add 2 TBSP vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt, then fill with boiling water leaving 1/2" headspace. Process BWB as for ripe tomatoes. To eat, drain well on paper towels, dip in egg and cracker crumbs and fry.

You can freeze for fried green tomatoes later. Go ahead and bread them and lay them out on wax paper in a single layer for freezing. Once they are frozen put them into zipper baggies and enjoy fried green tomatoes all year long.

In the South pickled green tomatos are a standard side dish for fried catfish. We can them every year due to our friends wanting "just one quart".

I used to have a recipe for green tomatoes Jelly. You added any flavor jello with your cooked tomatoes and it would have the flavor of the jello. Not sure of the recipe now but it was very good.

RenieB

I have eaten fried green tomatoes. IMO, few things taste as vile as that!

Every time I try to ripen even slightly red ones inside (and yes I leave the little blossom cap on) they turn to liquid gross very quickly. I don't know if these will turn red. They've been looking at me all month and not a hint of redness.

wogglebug, I don't like green peppers either.

I ripen green tomatoes in a brown paper bag with a ripe apple, banana or a tomato that is a little further along in the ripening process. I keep a brown paper bag on the kitchen counter for this purpose. Very few of my tomatoes actually ripen on the vine.

I wrap my green tomatoes loosely in newspaper, put them into an open box, and leave them in the cool, dark basement. Typically have red tomatoes right through Christmas. But you need to check them often to make sure you are using the ones that turn red and not letting them rot. Otherwise, you'll have a mess.

Danaus29, you wouldn't happen to have planted Aunt Ruby's German Green tomatoes in the past? They're a tomato that is still green looking when ripe. There are probably other varieties of tomatoes that are green when ripe but that's the only one I know off hand.

I made this last year with raspberry jello..everybody was loving it! Took about a half hour to make 6 pints. Delicious!!! I am thinking i got the recipe on here.

Here it is again! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/green-t...am/detail.aspx

I have been making this green salsa for the last two days

7 cups chopped peeled cored green tomatoes
2 cups finely chopped red onion
5-10 finely chopped jalapenos (or hot pepper of your choice)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
half cup lime juice
one teaspoon salt
two teaspoons ground cumin
one teaspoon oregano
one teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Bring tomato, onion, garlic, peppers and lime juice to a boil over med-high heat. Add spices, boil for five minutes. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, boiling water process for 20 minutes. Makes about three pints. Can do it in 8 ounce jars, still 20 minutes processing time. We have been doing double batches. Green tomatoes taste a little different so my hubby isn't sure he likes it as a plain dip, but we think it'll be a good sauce for cooking enchiladas, tacos, stuff like that. We eat tex-mex style once or twice a week.

We tried dilled green tomatoes and the flavor was okay but the texture was not so good.

Also have several trays and boxes of the most perfect looking ones setting out to ripen, will freeze or dehydrate them as they ripen.

That does sound good! Did you process it for ten minutes? The link doesn't specify.

MoonShine, this plant was a volunteer that popped up from the bagged topsoil I mixed into my raised bed. It's hard to tell what kind of tomato it is. I looked at a few pics on google and the color is very very similar. The fruit hasn't grown at all in the past month and any regular tomato would have turned red long before now.

The salsa sounds good. I don't have lime juice but I have lemon. I'll have to get to my jars and buy some lids. Dd doesn't like hot peppers but I have some red bells.

I have seen some really good recipes for pickled green tomatoes.

I second the Green tomato mincemeat..Wonderful!

tomatoes
 

i have had boxes of wrapped gr tomatoes some yrs. They just sat in the kitchen. When red, I'd can. I love to make piccalilli w/green tomatoes.

I picked about 45 pounds of green tomatoes a couple weeks back, when I stripped my greenhouse. I put them in a single layer in large trays, and keep them in my garage which stays about 55 or so, on the floor. Because the lights are off most of the time, I don't bother to wrap them...I just laid a piece of cardboard over the trays.

Yesterday we picked out ripe ones, and put another 10 pounds or so in the freezer for making sauce or cooking with over the winter.

I don't know why you'd have to wrap them?

Yup, green tomatoe mincemeat.

Green tomato pie
4 cups peeled thinly sliced green tomatoes
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 - 5 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Blend together sugar, spices, salt and flour. Toss with tomatoes and lemon juice. Place in a pastry lined 9 inch pie plate. Adjust top crust. Sprinkle lightly with white sugar and poke a few holes with a knife or fork. Bake at 425 degrees until tomatoes are soft and crust is slightly browned, 50-60 minutes.

This is really good. Tastes like apple pie. Really.

Green tomatoes for sale!
I picked a couple and these are the kind that are green when they are ripe. The stem broke with very little pressure. Dd and I washed and cleaned and chopped. Then I cooked them with an acorn type squash and several onions, a red pepper diced, added garlic powder, a bit of lemon peel, parsley and some chicken bullion. Yep, still vile. I even mixed some with duck noodles but still couldn't hide the nastiness. Dd liked it. I'll serve some to dh tomorrow and see what he says but I'll say this now, I will never try cooking green tomatoes again. Vile, that's about all I can say, vile!

I asked a neighbor what he does with green tomatoes. He said he throws them at people. They might be good for that. I'll pick all the ones off this vine and send them to Lucasville with dh. I'm done! Blech!

http://canonchef.blogspot.com/2010/1...for-chile.html

My sister just sent me this link, it's a how to on green tomato chili, sounds really, really good.

Basically, because it doesn't always work, and you get a mouldy tomato or two. If they're wrapped, the fungus stays contained. If not, it's free to spread to all of them, and a mouldy one or two becomes a mouldy one or two dozen.

Bummer, sorry to hear that! I have never prepared green tomatoes and ever had them taste anything but sweet and good. Makes me wonder what was wrong with yours.

I grill Green Tomatoes. Slice thick, drizzle olive oil, season with garlic salt and cracked pepper. Grill quickly over high heat and drizzle balsamic vinegar over. DELISH!

They're green tomatoes. Like green peppers, blech. Nothing wrong with them, they taste just like the ones my uncle used to fry. Absolutely vile!

I asked dd if I should add some chicken to the slop we made and she said that would be good. I guess I'll have to freeze it in single proportions for her.

If they're not ripe green, but green green, what about green tomato marmalade? Goes well with red meat. I think I got the recipe I used years ago from Joy of Cooking--haven't had any green tomatoes for a while. About equal parts lemons and green tomatoes, IIRC.

After trying the slop we ended up with last night I'm soured on green tomatoes. Even curry wouldn't make them any better. Blech!

Dh liked it, or so he said. I should probably just toss the whole mess and chalk it up to a learning experience.

Okay, we've pretty-well got the picture. You've found something that's easy to grow, easy to cook, BUT your husband and daughter love it, so it's going right off the menu.

I just hot pack it...but you could probably water bath them for 10 min.

Not love, like, but said with a kind of grimace on their faces. I've known them long enough to know when they might be lying. Neither offered to eat a big bowl of it for lunch. Dd didn't even touch it today and dh didn't want to take it to work for lunch.

I don't fix okra (even though I love it) because no-one else likes it. I settle for eating it raw from the garden or ordering it from Captain D's when we pass thru Circleville.

Ok, it's going in the trash tomorrow. Dd couldn't stand to finish the small bowl she was eating. I wanted to throw up from smelling it.