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| Prepping Late Summer Green Tomatoes |
In reality we have already eaten lots and lots of tomatoes
making fresh salads, adding them to many other dishes or simply roasting them
for dinner. I’ve even developed chili recipes with fresh tomatoes. All are
delicious ways to eat home grown tomatoes. With the final harvest, it is time
to face preserving the remaining tomatoes—green and red.
Many people are not sure what to do with green tomatoes.
There is the well-known way of “Fried Green Tomatoes” but you can only eat so
many of those. With two buckets of tomatoes, many of them green, I decided it
was worth it to try making Green Tomato Sauce and see if it was tasty enough to
can and save for later, when we all dream of sunny warm days in the dead of
winter.
Classically you peel the tomatoes you use for tomato sauce.
I discovered this is particularly important with green tomatoes. Their skin is
thick and tough. The way you skin tomatoes is to place them in boiling water for
about 60 seconds. For green tomatoes you need to leave them in the water for
about three minutes in order to get the skin softened enough to peel. After
boiling you need to place the tomatoes in ice-cold water. The process is time
consuming but when you are cooking and canning your own home grown tomatoes it
seems to be worth it. Just make sure you start early in the day and leave open
the remainder of the day so you have the time you need to get the whole process
completed. Having someone help you also makes it a lot more fun.
The recipe for Green Tomato Sauce is very similar to what I prepare
for a strictly red tomato sauce. The difference is that I added much more
garlic and a strong ⅛ teaspoon of red pepper flakes. I think this helped balance
the tartness of the unripe tomatoes. Below is the recipe:
Fresh Green Tomato Sauce for Canning
Ingredients~
Olive oil cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, diced
2 small onions
12 cups green and red tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
2 bay leaves
Directions~
1. Spray olive oil cooking spray in a Dutch oven and add the olive
oil. Put on medium-high. Put the garlic in first, browning for 1 minute. Then
add the onion and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Place all the tomatoes in the pot, stirring to mix it with the
onion mixture. Add all spices.
3. Place the Dutch oven, covered, in a 300 degree oven for 1 hour.
4. Cook for an additional hour uncovered. Thickening the sauce.
5. Remove bay leaves before canning.
Makes 5 pint-sized jars per recipe.
Helpful Hints: Make sure to prepare your jars properly before canning.
It is important to follow the instructions to boil them and the tops.
Everything, including the sauce, needs to be hot when you can for proper
sealing.
You can fill the jars with the chunky mixture to use as sauce or in
other dishes that use stewed tomatoes. If you plan on only using it as sauce
puree it in a blender before canning it. Just remember to reheat it before
placing it in the jars to ensure a good seal. Or you can always puree it later
if you want a smooth sauce for spaghetti.
Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!
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| Canned Green Tomatoes! |
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