Green Tomato Pickles
Green tomatoes pickle is THE single most sought after food produced in any of our family kitchens. The recipe originated with a dear family friend who was a farmer’s wife. Nothing from her kitchen garden was ever wasted.
My daughters will be queuing at the kitchen bench for a few prized jars of pickle when they see this post. The sweet mustard pickle flavours and the piquant green tomatoes are marvellous together, and anyone who tastes this falls victim to its addictive flavour.
A cheese toastie becomes gourmet fare with a smear of this pickle as does cold leftover roast lamb, or a barbecued sausage.
The vinegar and sugar are natural preservatives so this pickle has the potential to be stored for a couple of years, but with family demand so high, it’s generally long gone before the next tomato season has come to a close.
I had 8kg of green tomatoes to pickle. Hopefully, 26 jars of pickle will satify the demand for the coming year.
2.5 kg green tomatoes
500g brown onions
Salt
1 litre brown vinegar approx
1 kg raw sugar
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons hot English mustard
2 teaspoon chilli flakes
3 tablespoons of maize flour.
Wash and roughly chop the tomatoes. Put them into a non corrosive container and sprinkle with a handful of salt. Cover and set aside for 24 hours.
Peel and slice the onions. Put them into a second non corrosive container and sprinkle with a handful of salt. Cover and set aside for 24 hours.
The next day drain the tomatoes and put them into a large pot. Rinse the onions and add them to the tomatoes. Add just enough vinegar to the pot to cover the onions and tomatoes.
Place over a high heat and bring to the boil.
Mix the flour, mustard and curry powder to a thin slurry with a little extra vinegar.
Add the paste to the tomatoes. Stir continuously until the mixture thickens.
Add the sugar and chilli, then lower the heat.
Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.
Ladle into sterilised jars and seal immediately. A vacuum will form to seal the jars as they cool.
This pickle is corrosive so you may like to place cellophane jam covers over the jar before screwing on the lids. This will prevent the lids from rusting if you intend to store the pickle for an extended period.
To sterilize the jars:
Preheat oven to 120C. Wash the jars with lids thoroughly in hot water. Lay the jars on an ovenproof tray then place into the oven for 30 minutes. Boil the lids for 5 minutes. The jars are now sterile and ready for the pickle.
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16 comments on “Green Tomato Pickles”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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let me count the way of how excited I am about this recipe … I have to hunt down some green tomatoes
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Thanks, definitely worth the effort!
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I just planted tomatoes yesterday. I’m saving this for later in the fall…it sounds great.
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Thanks and I hope you have a bumper tomato crop.
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Me too. 🙂
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That recipe looks so easy. Do those jars need to be special oven proof jars?
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It is easy, any old jam jar will do
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I’ll be joining your daughters in that queue… Oh yeah, you live at the other end of the world from me!!! Oh well, I guess I better get to work…
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Bad luck!
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This sounds like a wonderful pickle and I’ve pinned it for use later in the season. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
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It’s always a pleasure!
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Wow! This sounds so good. Wish I could have a jar…
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Ha, join the queue….
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This is almost like a chutney, isn’t it? Wow! 26 jars! A lot of work but it sounds delicious!
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Thanks, we love it. Pickle is sharper in flavour, wetter in texture than chutney, but other than that they are close cousins.
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