Green Tomato Pickles

This year, like last year, we cultivated a garden. And this year, like last year, our tomatoes really didn’t take off until August. The plants produced a bunch of tomatoes, but most of them were still green last week when we pulled up the plants to clean out the garden. I knew there had to be ways to use the green tomatoes (other than fried green ones, that recipe is coming), so I did some internet searching. I found two recipes that were promising. One was a pickle recipe and one was a jam recipe. I had never done anything like these before, but they were quite fun to make.

The pickles I made last year took on a strong vinegar taste after about 3 months. This time I reduced the vinegar and replaced it with water. We’ll see if that works all right. I’ll let you know.

Green Tomato Pickles

• 5 lbs green tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
• 2  cups vinegar
• 3 cups water
• 7 1/2 teaspoons pickling salt
• 10 teaspoons of dill seed, or 5-6 dill heads
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 1/4 teaspoons whole peppercorns
• 5 bay leaves

Prepare your jars.

Combine the vinegar, water, and salt, and bring to a boil.

In the bottom of each jar place 2 teaspoons or a head of dill, 2 garlic cloves, 1 bay leave and 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns. Pack the jars with tomatoes, and fill slowly with brine. Use a wooden chopstick to remove air bubbles, and add brine if necessary. Put lids and rings on jars and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tomatillo Salsa

This is another post about home canning. See my post on grape jelly for more specific information about some of the process. 

Dona and I signed up for Bountiful Baskets this summer so that we could get more fresh vegetables as well as increase our access to organic vegetables. One of the first baskets we received included a "Mexican bag." I don't remember what other things it included, but I know there were a bunch of tomatillos. I had seen tomatillos before, and I have had tomatillo salsa in the past, but I have never actually tried to make it. Since I had tomatillos, and I didn't know what else to do with them, I decided to try making some salsa. Since I couldn't find any recipes somewhere else, I used one from the food network.

Tomatillo Salsa

• 1 Large poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges 
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 1/4 pounds tomatillos,
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• kosher salt
• 3 jalapeno peppers

 Husk the tomatillos and cut into quarters. Put them in a blender or food processor and chop them coarsely. Transfer them to a bowl.  

Coarsely chop the pepper and onion. You can do this by hand or with a machine. Put them in a large saucepan or kettle. Add the cumin, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil and and allow to reduce slightly. 


Add the tomatillos and jalapenos, cover, and return to a boil.

Once heated,  it will look like this. 

Fill your jars with the mixture, leaving 3/4 inch headspace, seal and process in a boiling water bath canner for the amount of time appropriate for your altitude.

Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam

On Sunday I talked about grape jelly. Today it's strawberry jam.

Strawberry Jam

• 8-10 cups strawberries, washed and hulled
• 1-2 boxes low sugar pectin (Sure Jell, Ball, MCP, or whatever is available in your area)
• 1-2 cans apple juice or white grape juice concentrate (100% juice) 

Once your berries are ready, put them in the blender. Depending on how big your blender is, you might have to do it in a couple of batches. Don't puree them, you just want to break them down into small pieces. Of course, this also depends on how you like your strawberry jam. If you like it chunky, just pulse your food processor or blender a couple of times. to get the juice flowing and break up the strawberries.

Once you have this done, put the strawberries in a large stainless steel kettle with 1 box pectin, and bring to a rolling boil. (See the post on Grape Jelly, immediately preceding this one, for other information about home canning.) Add one can of concentrate, return to a boil, and boil for one minute.  Now, taste your concoction to see if it's sweet enough for you. If not, add another can of juice and boil for another minute.

 Once you have it sweet enough, we need to see if the jam will "jell." I wrote about the spoon test last time, but I will repeat it here. Dip a spoon in the jam and place it in the freezer for a minute. (Put it on a plate so that you don't get stuff in the freezer sticky.) Take the spoon out and see how the jam slides off. If it slides off in a sheet, it's ready. I usually just tasted it to see if it was about the right consistency. If it's too soupy, add another half of a box of pectin, boil for another minute, and repeat the spoon test. Once it's the right consistency, you are ready to put it in jars, put the jars in the water bath, and boil away!

*When I made this, I used apple juice concentrate. However, pectin also is made from apple juice, so they might have worked together, because I had a hard time getting it as sweet as I wanted it. Next time, I am going to try white grape juice.