Pickled Green Tomatoes

[karstopography]

Anyone done these? I have an abundance of tomatoes and just wondering what experience you all might have with these.

[Nan6b]

DH fermented some green cherry tomatoes last year. There isn't much tomato taste there, in my opinion. Pickling may be different.

[pepperhead212]

I have picked greens in the fall, when a freeze was eminent, and I picked everything. I have never been a fan of the tomatoes that develop from putting green tomatoes in paper bags - some ripen, but the flavor is more like a store-bought variety. I prefer to make some picalilli relish, or some chutney. If I knock off a green tomato or two by accident (happens to all of us), I dice them up, and put them in a Thai curry - the sour flavor is good in combination with the sweet flavors; this works well with some Indian curries, too, but I like it best in the Thai curries.

[worth1]

I like fermented ripe or close to ripe tomatoes.
Mixed in with habanero peppers and other odds and ends.
Like garlic and onions.

[karstopography]

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[mention]pepperhead212[/mention]
Yes, The genesis of this was the accidently knocked off tomato. Wondered about using green tomatoes in a relish, but the curry idea is appealing. No frost to worry about now for our first season, heat is the enemy here. I just picked a few green, almost ready to color break ones, to have enough for a couple of flavors of pickles.

I did two types of pickled, about 2 1/2 or 3 pounds of various green tomatoes, enough to fill two quart jars around lunchtime today. One, a spicy type, the other a garlicky, dill version. I think it was super fantastic, celebrity, top gun and carmello, plus a few grape and cherry types to fill in the gaps. Recipes from gardenbetty.com

[GoDawgs]

I'm still looking for a recipe I like. Until then, I'm frying them!

[Nan6b]

Love fried green tomatoes.

[Whwoz]

I do a relish with end of season green tomatoes, never tried pickling or frying them

[karstopography]

I’m not sure why we must wait for the end of the season or accidental knock offs to do anything with green tomatoes. Many people that grow tomatoes get slammed with too many ripe tomatoes at once and struggle with ways to use them or find a home for. Intentionally harvest a few green ones along the way for whatever, then less ripe ones coming all at once. A green tomato harvest pressure relief valve. Seems logical to me.

Sacrilege, but I’m already ready for it, the current season, to wind down. I’ve pretty much overdosed on tomatoes at this point.

[Nan6b]

I plant Dotson's Lebanese Heart partly for the purpose of fried green tomatoes. (DLH was discovered by a TJ member, Spartanburg123) Who can resist?

[MissS]

I adore pickled tomatoes along with pickled beans and brussel sprouts. I use several different recipes but I do agree that garlic and peppers are mandatory. I make mine as refrigerator pickles because they have a nice crispy crunch to them then and the garlic cloves are amazing. I just do not care for my pickles cooked.

[Shule]

How about dried green tomatoes?

[Nan6b]

How about dried green tomatoes?

I have dried green and partly-ripe tomatoes. I didn't find much flavor in the green ones.

[karstopography]

Opened up the garlicky, dill ones. Very good. Firm, but not hard. Not anything I’m going to make or eat a ton of, but could see having a few with a ham sandwich or on a BLT.

[worth1]

Opened up the garlicky, dill ones. Very good. Firm, but not hard. Not anything I’m going to make or eat a ton of, but could see having a few with a ham sandwich or on a BLT.

One might consider making a vinegar or lime juice solution with habanero peppers (not many) pickling spice sugar and so on like a hot sweet gherkin.
Did this with fermented sweet potato and they were very good.

[MissS]

I like to add some type of hot peppers and garlic cloves to my pickled tomatoes. I have a small student refrigerator that I use to make my pickles in. I do not cook them at all. Make a brine add the ingredients and store in the fridge for at least 6 weeks. They come out nice and crispy with bright flavors. When I was younger, I enjoyed them in martini's.

[Tracydr]

I’ve had pickled green tomatoes and liked them but I’ve never made any my self. I used about 10 gallons last fall when the stink bugs army worms got impossible to control. I used them with and a bunch or peppers or all sorts to make a faux- batch of green Chile pork stew fashioned after a Hatch chili. Not as good as traditional but having grown up in the west and now living on the east coast, it was nice to have a little taste of home.

[EdieJ]

I have a cherry "patio" tomato that got overwatered (something plugged up the drain holes which I discovered too late) and isn't going to make it, darn it. And it is loaded with greenies. I think I might try making a jar of pickles with them... Better than just tossing them! Thanks for the idea!

[pepperhead212]

I pickled a bunch of green tomatoes today - all those determinate tomatoes that I grew, harvested all of the tomatoes from, and pulled the plants out, and a bunch of the tiger tomatoes I picked green. I ended up with 4½ qts of green tomatoes, after cutting them all up! Originally, I was going to make more pints, but since I had so much, I used 4 qts., and one pint jar. I packed the jars, to see how much I would get, checked one, to see how much liquid it would need (just under 2 c/qt jar) then emptied the jars, cleaned them out, and sterilized them in the MW.

The brine for the recipe I settled on was just 1 c each water and white vinegar, plus 1 tb kosher salt, per quart jar, so I had 4½ of each. The seasonings I measured out into spice cups, and here is what I had, per quart:

1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp black mustard seed
1 tsp Szechwan peppercorns
3/4 tsp Indian coriander seeds
3/4 tsp crushed Thai peppers
1 large bay leaf
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp calcium chloride (not sure if this makes these crispy, but I always use it for cukes)

I just dumped these into each jar, then packed the tomatoes in them, poured the hot brine into the jars, "debubbled" them with a chopstick (there were a lot of bubbles in these!), then filled again to 1/4" from top, wiped the rims, and put the warmed lids on. The quarts I processed in the boiling water bath for 15 minutes, the pint I removed in 10 minutes.

They will sit at least 2 weeks, before first sample.
A bunch of green tomatoes, for pickling. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Green tomato pickles, ready to go into water bath. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Pickled green tomatoes, after 15 minutes of processing. At least 2 weeks before tasting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr