I just cleaned out the veggie garden, and got about 6 lbs of green tomatos (plums, yellows, etc) plus some jalapenos and cukes. Was wondering what I should do with them? Anybody have any ideas?

Ii could wait a week for them to ripen, make salsa or dry them- any ideas would be gratefully appreciated!

Fried Green tomato BLT!!!!!

yes, fried green tomatoes. All 6 lbs.

Ummm...yeah, I wouldn't be able to fit my fat zombie ass into em!

This is me from last night- I was a Zombiefied Mr Darcy from PP and Zombies-

Awesome costume. What's up with the dot. Are you standing next to some short chick?

Pickled green tomatoes? I have a sweet recipe and a more dill-like recipe that I use every fall (because I only ever get two or three red tomatoes before the frost comes - and yet I always hold out hope).

Thats my wife- she is a shrimp.

If you have a recipe Louise, could you share it with me?

Thanks!

you're reminiscent of a pasty faced Johnny Rotten after a long week of partying.

Sorry for making you wait - I haven't been back on the board 'til now. Here are those recipes.

Green tomato dill pickles:

1/4 cup coarse salt
5 pounds green tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 pound onions, thinly sliced
4 teaspoons snipped fresh dill weed
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 large red pepper, chopped
1-1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 Tablespoon dry mustard
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 flower heads of dill

(Instead of all the spices, if you don't have them handy, you can also use just regular old pickling spice that you get at the store) (and I've used regular vinegar and it has worked just fine)

In a large kettle, add the salt to the tomatoes and onions and mix thoroughly. Let stand in a cool place for 10 hours minimum or overnight. Drain.

Place the dill weed, allspice, cloves, and celery seed in a cheesecloth bag (I sometimes just put it in but then when you're eating your pickles you sometimes end up with a clove in your mouth). Combine the pepper, vinegar, lemon slices, mustard, and sugar with the tomatoes and onions, and heat to a boil. Add the spice-and-herb bag, and boil slowly for a half hour, stirring frequently.

Place one dill flower head in each of 4 clean, dry canning jars.

Remove the spice-and-herb bag, and pour the tomato mixture into the jars. Seal and process in a pressure canner according to canner directions.

Remove jars, check seal a few hours later, and store.



Sweet green tomato pickles:

5 pounds green tomatoes
2 medium onions
1/3 cup pickling salt or kosher salt
3 cups cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 scant teaspoon celery seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
Red bell pepper or hot red pepper, cut in thin strips (if you like the spicy)


Slice tomatoes into 1/4-inch rounds and put into a large pot or bowl. Peel onions then cut in half and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Put into the pot with the sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle the salt over the vegetables and gently toss to coat well. Cover with a few cups of ice cubes; cover and let stand for 4 hours or refrigerate overnight.

Drain the vegetables in a large colander and lightly rinse. In a large pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seeds, and mustard seets; bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and add the drained tomatoes and onions to the pot. Continue cooking, stirring gently occasionally, until the mixture is boiling.

With a slotted spoon, pack the jars with the vegetables. If desired, add a few thin, raw sweet or hot red pepper strips to each jar. Fill with the remaining liquid, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. With a clean damp cloth, wipe the rims of the jars. Place the flat lids on the jars then close caps with screw-on rings tightly, but do not over-tighten. Arrange the filled jars in the canner and add more water, as needed, to be at least 1 inch above the jars. Bring to a full boil. Cover and continue boiling for 10 minutes.

Remove jars to a rack to cool. Check for seals (the middle of the caps should have made a popping sound while cooling and will stay down. Store in a cool, dark, dry place for 2 to 3 weeks before eating.

Thanks Louise!

John has been pickling tomatoes and cherry peppers, he doesn't use a recipe but they are so good.

I plan on making more apricot preserves since the last batch got taken and eaten by relatives. Dang relatives! Go make your own!

I was on my way to work listening to Splendid Table on NPR yesterday and a woman called in with a nearly identical problem. They had some yummy sounding ideas, but I was driving, so couldn't write any of them down. Thanks for posting this, or else I would have forgotten to go back and look it up!


http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/

Scroll down the the Oct 17the show, then if you don't want to listen to the whole thing, the tomato question was sort of towards the end, but it's a great show!

It actually doesn't totally suck

I just made Green Tomato Chutney, an annual favourite* round here. Note that in this recipe the tomatoes must be pronounced tom-ah-toes.

1kg green tomatoes
300g shallots
some ginger
some garlic
500 ml malt vinegar
500g sugar
250g raisins
2 good handfuls garam masala
1 smallish handful cumin
0.5 reasonable handful mustard seeds
2 diced red chillies
1 diced green chilli
Salt
Pepper

Chop all veggies into fairly big pieces. Cherry tomatoes can be kept whole. Ginger, chillies and garlic should probably be cut into teeny pieces.

Put all veggies and raisins into non-aluminium pot. I have a huge old enamelled pot that's great, but you can't borrow it. Sorry.

Add vinegar and sugar. Put on highish heat on stovetop. Stir all the time until a) the sugar has all dissolved, and b) it's boiling hard.

Add spices, mustard seeds and seasoning. Lower the heat. Simmer for around 2 hours.

Add to really, really clean jars. Seal (bit of clingfilm round the top before screwing the lid onto an old jam jar does the trick).

Leave a week.

Mmmm...good with cheese. Keeps about a year.

__________________

Ironically, I think I probably mean a /perennial/ favourite...