Green Tomatoes - 5 Exciting Ways To Use Them
Green tomatoes are a delicious micro seasonal treat that flies under just about everyones radar. Well, everyone who doesn’t grow tomatoes. Any seasoned tomato grower will be well aware of their existence.
These are simply unripe tomatoes. Available at the end of the growing season, the weathers changed, it’s getting colder, the sunshines fading - the plants are on the final countdown. However, their vines are packed with tomatoes that are trying their hardest to get over the line and ripen - using every ounce of energy to try to get themselves over the line. Unfortunately though, the plants just don’t have enough left in them so they are stuck in this sort of tomato purgatory. Harvested before the plant finally packs in, they are often wasted and chucked onto the compost heaps or in a worst case, the bin!!!
But these firm, slightly acidic and beautifully unique green beauties hold the most amazing flavour, with an added attraction of being a little unwanted, pulling on the heart strings of all tomato fans. The tomato underdog! And I for one, am always rooting for the underdog! Some people like to ripen these after they have been harvested, packing them into a brown paper bag with some bananas, cramming them in there, sealing them in the dark and letting them stew for a bit, with no real idea of how they will come out the other side. This is remarkably like my memories of traveling on the Megabus! I was the green tomato, on a bus full of bananas, in the dark, confused, lost, wanting a better life for myself……….
Ripening them is great, I have had mixed results. Sometimes its great, sometimes it just doesn’t seem to work. So I much prefer to accept them for what they are. A super seasonal and surplus food that needs to be celebrated for their unique attributes and allowing them to be who they are! Its 2024 for Christ’s sake, if they want to be green, they can be green! Who are we to stop them being who they want to be!!!!!
Its really important not to confuse these with actual ripe green tomatoes, the green tomatoes that are available throughout the growing season. There are heritage varieties that are naturally green, even when ripe.
The green tomatoes we are talking about are usually available around October-November but once picked, they can be stored and last for some time, months even.
If you aren’t a grower, you can normally find market gardens and local growers trying to get rid of these, so ask about, visit your local greengrocers and buy some (or if you’re really lucky, you might find a grower willing to give you some)
Here are 5 quick fire ideas and recipes to give you some inspo and ideas to get these bad boys in the kitchen and then giving them their one true desire, ending up in your gob!
Green Tomato Chutney
Pickled Green Tomatoes
Green Tomato Salsa Verde
https://www.thehungryguy.co.uk/recipes/greentomatosalsaverde
Indian Spiced Tomatoes
https://www.thehungryguy.co.uk/recipes/indianspicedgreentomato
Cheese & Beer Battered Green Tomato Cob
Happy Cooking!
Steve xxx
