I made up a batch of these pickled green tomatoes to use up some of the unripe tomatoes knocked off the vines during our recent hail storm. We picked all the storm damaged fruit, and trimmed off the spoiled bits, saving the undamaged parts for preserving.
I found a number of green tomato recipes, but pickled green tomatoes seemed most likely to appeal to my family. (The crew groaned out loud at the green tomato mincemeat recipe.) We like dill pickles, so why not dilly green tomato pickles?
Want a super easy dill pickle recipe that doesn't require canning? Check out Betty's Dill Pickles.
Pickled Green Tomatoes – Which Tomatoes to Use
These pickled green tomatoes work best with small, firm tomatoes, not ones that are large and juicy. The firmer the fruit going into the pickle, the firmer the end product. The recipe isn't meant for tomatoes that are green when ripe. I'm sure you could still turn those into green tomato pickles, too, but they would be soft and mushy. This recipe also works fine for pickled green cherry tomatoes.
I use cider vinegar in my pickled green tomatoes, but you could also use white vinegar for a brighter color. Homemade vinegar is not recommended because the acidity may vary.
Prepare jars and two piece canning lids. Wash tomatoes, drain. Core tomatoes; cut into halves or quarters.
Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil.
Pack tomato chunks into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add 1 clove garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds) and 1 bay leaf to each jar.
Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims and screw on lids finger tights.
Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. Yields about 6 pints.
More Condiment and Relish Water Bath Canning Recipes
Because of added vinegar, most pickle and condiment recipes (like pickled green tomatoes) can be processed in a water bath canner instead of a pressure canner. These are some of the other water bath canning recipes featured on the site:
Home CannedSalsaRecipe – Plus 10 Tips for Safe Salsa Canning
HomemadeKetchup– Canned
Pickle RelishSweetened With Honey
Pickled Dilly Beans with Garlic and Cayenne Pepper
For an overview of different ways to store food at home, see Home Food Preservation – 10 Ways to Preserve Food at Home.
Are you a fan of pickled green tomatoes or green tomatoes in general? What's your favorite way to use them? Do you have any other tips for using garden produce that might otherwise not make the cut? Leave a comment and let me know.
Green Tomato Pickles – Easy Pickled Green Tomato Recipe for Canning
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Pickled green tomatoes are a great way to use up unripe tomatoes, or simply mix up your tomato harvest with the crisp texture of green tomatoes.
Prep Time:20 minutes
Cook Time:15 minutes
Total Time:35 minutes
Yield:6–7 pints 1x
Category:Condiment
Method:Canning
Cuisine:American
Ingredients
UnitsScale
5pounds small, firm green tomatoes
1/4cup canning salt
3 1/2cups vinegar
3 1/2cups water
garlic cloves, 6 or 7
fresh dill heads, 6-7; or 1/4 cup dill seeds
bay leaves, 6 or 7
Instructions
Prepare jars and two piece canning lids. Wash tomatoes, drain. Core tomatoes; cut into halves or quarters.
Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil.
Pack tomato chunks into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add 1 clove garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds) and 1 bay leaf to each jar.
Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims and screw on lids finger tights.
Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. Yields about 6 pints.
Notes
Note: Nutrition information includes salt in the brine, most of which is not eaten unless you like to drink pickle juice.
Peel and core green tomatoes and chop in cubes ½ -inch or less in size. Drain. Dry in food dehydrator at 140°F.When perfectly dry, store in glass jars or freeze.
And that gracious moment is what Texas food means to me. Green tomatoes are simply unripe tomatoes. While many enjoy frying green tomatoes, they are excellent as a tangy, crunchy pickle, too. They go well on sandwiches, with barbecue, grilled meats, on hot dogs or simply straight out of the jar.
Put lids on and put in water bath canner. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from canner, tighten caps and cool on counter top. Can also use quart jars, adding 1 teaspoon salt.
Maybe the green tomatoes you eat aren't all that underripe? If they were, you'd probably know. If you need to spice and pickle the tomatoes to make them taste good, then they're not ripe enough—solanine makes them taste bitter and horrible.
Pickles raise the risk of stomach and esophageal cancer, and this is especially true for Asian pickle use. Pickles have a high salt content, which raises the risk of heart disease and hypertension. There is no doubt that eating pickles will raise your blood pressure.
Cabbage, radishes, onions, carrots, beets—the limit does not exist. And they're all great for the gut. Here's more about the best plant-based pickled foods, why they're beneficial for our health, and how to enjoy them in vegan recipes.
Grape leaves contain tannins to inhibit the enzyme that makes pickles soft. Cutting off the blossom end 1/16th of an inch has the same effect as grape leaves. Alum is a compound used in old recipes to make pickles crisp.
Visible mold: This is an obvious sign that your pickles have gone bad. Unusually sour taste and smell: If things smell and taste a bit more sour than usual, in an unpleasant way, this may not be a good sign. If you're not liking the taste anyway, it may be time to toss those pickles.
Keep unripe green tomatoes stem side down, in a paper bag or in a cardboard box in a single layer.Place in a cool area until they turn red in color. Perfectly ripe tomatoes should be kept at room temperature on the counter away from sunlight.
There's little you can't add these pickled green tomatoes to, especially in the salad category—potato, pasta, tomato, and of course leafy, salads. Pile them on a sandwich or burger, turn them into a relish or dressing, or better yet eat them straight out of the jar.
There is a higher presence of this Solanina toxin in green tomatoes than in ripe red tomatoes, making it harder to digest for humans. Therefore it is recommended to cook them in order to sweeten the taste, de-neutralizing the Solanina that causes the bitterness in raw green tomatoes.
Tomatillos also tend to be juicier and not as firm as green tomatoes, so they are quite different in texture. When a tomatillo is ripe, it remains a small, green fruit, and it grows inside a papery husk called a calyx. On the other hand, a green tomato is the unripe fruit of any variety of tomato plant.
2. Keep them stem-side down: Store tomatoes with their stem-side down to prevent moisture loss and reduce the risk of mold growth. 3. Avoid direct sunlight: Keep tomatoes away from direct sunlight, as prolonged exposure can cause them to ripen too quickly and spoil.
Freezing tomatoes is the easiest way to keep ripe tomatoes until you're ready to use them. You don't have to peel them first—in fact, the act of freezing them itself makes the tomatoes insanely easy to peel! —and you can freeze as many or as few at a time as you like.
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