I have very bushy tomato plants with lots of green tomatoes. In this cold wet weather we have been having they are not turning red and I fear that frost will come before they do turn red. Does anyone have any recipes using green tomatoes and will you share them please?

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), August 21, 2000

Answers

Here you go, there are some pretty good ones here: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/burris41.html

-- diane (di_wtch@yahoo.com), August 21, 2000.

There are many things you can do with green tomatoes I have recipe for excellent green tomato pie filling. If you'd like it E-mail me and I will pass along. Also the Ball blue book has several recipes for green tomatoes. Such as chow-chow relish, rummage relish, and piccalilli or green tomato relish. Good Luck

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), August 21, 2000.

Nothing better than fried green tomatoes! Just slice, dip in egg and then corn meal and fry til brown. Delicious. If you prefer not to fry, spray with a little Pam and bake till brown.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), August 21, 2000.

green tomatoes make wonderful faux "raspberry jam"! It is easy and if you would like I can post the the recipe!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 21, 2000.

Debbie please post your recipe for tomato jam it sounds interesting and I can always use another recipe for green tomatoes

-- Ronda Johnson (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), August 21, 2000.

I like dilled green tomatoes, which recipe is available in the Ball Canning Bluebook. If you don't have that, e-mail direct and I'll send it to you. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 21, 2000.

I'll second for Brad!!! Dill pickled green tomatoes are a rare treat!!! They are especially nice with bread and butter for a quick lunch -- yumm!!!

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), August 21, 2000.

I read somewhere that you could pull up the 'mater plant and hang it upside down by the roots somewhere frost free and the tomatoes would continue to ripen for a while. Never tried it, so don't know if it works or not. I've got a recipe for green tomatoe mincemeat, but since I don't care for mince, I haven't tried it either, but I'll post it if anyone wants it.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 21, 2000.

Or, you could pull out the entire plant the day before you know you will get a frost, hang the vine down in the basement, and wait for them to ripen.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), August 21, 2000.

Got several requests for this recipe so here goes.

Green tomato pie filling:

4 quarts chopped green tomatoes 3 quarts peeled, chopped tart apples 1 lb Dark seedless raisins 1 lb White raisins 1/4 cup minced citron or lemon or orange peel 2 cups water 2 1/2 cups Brown Sugar 2 1/2 cups White sugar 1/2 cup vinegar (5%) 1 cup bottled lemon juice 2 tb Ground cinnamon 1 ts Ground nutmeg 1 ts Ground cloves

combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Cook slowly stirring often, until tender and slightly thickened (about 35 to 40 min.). Fill jars with hot mixture, leaving 1/2" headspace. Adjust lids and process in BWB for 20 minutes. Makes approximately 7 quarts. or

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), August 21, 2000.

Green tomato "Raspberry jam":

6 cups green tomatoes washed, cored and quartered 1 pkg. Sur-jell 6 cups sugar 2 small pkgs. raspberry jello 1/2 cup water.

Put tomatoes in blender and blend into a pulp. Boil 20 minutes. Add sugar and 1 pkg. Surjel. Boil hard for 10 minutes Remove add both pkg. raspberry jello and 1/2 cup of water Stir well. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Enjoy!!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 21, 2000.

Last year 8 of our tomato bushes loaded with tomatoes started dying. So we pulled them up and I made about 28qts of green tomato pickles. Use the recipe on the back of the Mrs. Wages pickling lime. Just substitute green tomatoes for the cucumbers. They are very very crisp and most delicious. I put hot peppers in several of the jars and they turned out to be our favorite. I thought I'd have them for a couple of years but have to do it again as they are gone. Oh yes I ran out of pickling spice and made a batch with l tablespoon of celery seed and l tablespoon of mustard seed instead. Blessings Peggy

-- Peggy (wclpc@cookeville.com), August 21, 2000.

I've got a green tomato relish recipe that I'd be more than happy to post. From what I recall, it uses 8-10#'s of tomatoes.

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), August 21, 2000.

Green Tomato Relish

4 quarts chopped green tomatos (8-12#) 12 onions (med-large) 8 bell peppers (green) 4 bell peppers (red) 2 stalks celery *****Grind all together and add: 1/2 cup salt *****Let all sit for 2 hours, drain then add: 3 pounds light brown sugar 3 pints apple cider vinegar *****mix together then add (in spicebag or 3x cheesecloth) 3 tsp celery seed 3 tsp whole mustard seed 1 tsp whole cloves 1 tsp ground allspice 1 tsp tumeric powder *****bring all to boil, then simmer for 1/2 hour. Can like other relish

I've used tomalitos with great success and this relish is just great on meat loaf sandwiches (only way I can eat meatloaf that's not mom's- just kidding-) and I like to use this to make a simple chicken salad (chopped chicken, mayo, and relish). Have fun.

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), August 22, 2000.

To the lady that e-mailed me asking me to post the mincemeat recipe - Sorry!! I accidentally delated your message - Ooops! Anyway, my recipe is almost exactly the same as the one following my original post on this thread, so no sense in posting another one. Thanks for asking, though!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 22, 2000.

Polly, pulling the plant and hanging it does work. It works for peppers, too.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 23, 2000.

My mother used to make the green tomato mincemeat, and I like it better than the real stuff. I probably have the recipe around here somewhere, so if Polly's doesn't turn up, let me know, and I will see if I can find mine.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 23, 2000.

Pulling the plants can get messy as the leaves dry up and everyonce in a while a ripe tomato goes plop on the floor. I just pick all the tomatoes when frost threatens, spread them out on an old shower curtain on the floor of the spare bedroom, and cover them with sheets of newspaper. It's easy to lift up the paper to see which are ripe. The newspsper helps to trap the ethelene [sic] gas, so almost all will eventually ripen, stretching your tomato season into the fall.

-- Sadge (firesignfarm@hotmail.com), August 23, 2000.

I would like to see the green tomato mincemeat recipe.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), August 23, 2000.

Lots of ideas here, but nobody has mentioned an idea I forgot to tell you in my previous post. If you strip all the leaves off the tomato plant, it will stress the plant mightily, and the tomatoes will ripen very quickly. This is something I only do when frost is imminent (as in a few days). Of course, once they begin to show the slightest flush of ripening, you can pick them just past really green, wrap each in a little newspaper, and they will ripen in a few weeks. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 23, 2000.

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Tomatoes, green, 2 quarts chopped (15 or so)

Apples, tart, 2 1/2 quarts, chopped

Suet, 1 1/2 cup, chopped

Orange, 1 medium, peeled, seeded and chopped

Orange peel, grated, 3 Tablespoons

Brown sugar, 3 1/2 cups

Seedless raisins, 1 lb

Vinegar - 1/2 cup

Salt, 1 Tablespoon

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 23, 2000.

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Tomatoes, green, 2 quarts chopped (15 or so)

Apples, tart, 2 1/2 quarts, chopped

Suet, 1 1/2 cup, chopped

Orange, 1 medium, peeled, seeded and chopped

Orange peel, grated, 3 Tablespoons

Brown sugar, 3 1/2 cups

Seedless raisins, 1 lb

Vinegar - 1/2 cup

Salt, 1 Tablespoon

Cinnamon, 2 teaspoons

Nutmeg, 1 teaspoon

Cloves, 1 teaspoon

Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon

Sprinkle salt over tomatoes, let stand one hour. Drain. Cover with boiling water, let stand 10 minutes. Drain well. Combine all ingrdients in a large pot, mixing well. Bring to a boil, boil slowly 5 minutes. Ladle into hot jars. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and cap. Process at 10# pressure for 30 minutes, both pints and quarts.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 23, 2000.

All the recipes here look and sound good. Actually about all I can add is that green tomatoes make for some real good eating. I made a green tomato pie once and it came out simply scrumptious(sp). Relishes and piccalilly are super with green tomatoes in them and I've made jams of different flavors using only green tomatoes (chopped fine in a blender), sugar and different flavor jellos. My Mom has the recipes, I'll see if I can get the jam recipe and post it if anyone wants it!

-- Bob Johnson (backwoods_bob_2000@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

Bob: I would love to have the jam recipies if you are able to get them. Not that I will probably have any green tomatoes this year, or any other type, as my garden is the pits this year, but we usually have loads! Thanks! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), August 27, 2000.

Every year I pull my green tomatoes befor the frost, wrap each in a sheet of clean newspaper and layer them in a cardboard box with lid. Banana boxes or copier paper boxes do nicely. One box can easily hold 30 to 40 , Place it in a cool dark place in your house. They ripen in the wrapper. I was still eating garden maters in February this year. Some of them did taste kind of "store bought", but that is because the storage method is similar to commercial winter crop harvesting for cross country shipment. By the way, city folk go crazy over a packed box of tomatoes at Christmas (I guess they dont realize most of their "fresh" produce can be 30 to 45 days old)

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.