I am always impatient for my tomatoes to ripen in the summer, but this year has been a particularly long wait with the rather lacklustre summer we are experiencing. Normally at this time of year I am standing over huge pots of bubbling arrabbiata sauce made from all my ripe tomatoes. But this year they are resolutely clinging to their vines, their bright green skins refusing to take on even a faint rosy tinge.
So there is nothing for it but to go out and clip off a few green tomatoes and get cooking, just like Nana did. All my old cookbooks have a few recipes for green tomatoes and they have a very unique flavour, so don’t miss out. Most people think of fried green tomatoes, possibly because of the movie of the same name. You can make these very easily by thickly slicing the tomatoes, crumbing them and frying them. They taste sensational and are great with a bit of mayonnaise or with a hot steak plonked on top.
But by far the best use of green tomatoes, in my opinion, is using them in a chutney or pickle. The unripe tomatoes deliver the sour to the sweet of the brown sugar and it all teams perfectly with a strong cheddar cheese on bread or crackers – or you can throw some into casseroles or curries to add extra flavour. I’ve also included a recipe for green tomato jam sent in by a reader for you to try.
Green tomato pickle
The original recipe for this called for six pounds of green tomatoes, which is a bit more than most modern gardens could furnish, so I’ve reduced the recipe down to 500g of green tomatoes, which makes two small jars – one for you and one for a friend.
500g green tomatoes (bigger ones are easier to chop)
1 onion
1 tsp salt
250ml brown vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
100g brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
3 cloves (ground in a mortar and pestle)
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tsp mustard (I used a grainy mustard)
Chop up the tomatoes into small pieces and put in a colander. Add finely chopped onion. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and mix in. Leave to sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
Pour the vinegar into a saucepan and bring to nearly boiling. Add the green tomatoes and onion (do not rinse the salt off) to the vinegar and then put all the other ingredients in.
Simmer for 30 minutes. There should still be a bit of bite to some of the pieces of green tomato and the flavour should be nice and strong.
This recipe was sent in by Weekly reader Lesley Nelson. It’s her mother’s recipe which Lesley lost, but recently got back from her bridesmaid’s 93-year-old mother, who still makes it for sales tables or to give to her friends.
Green tomato jam
1.3kg green tomatoes
120g preserved ginger
Juice of 6 lemons
1.8 kg sugar
Slice tomatoes and ginger. Add lemon juice and very little water – just enough to cook the tomatoes. Boil for about 30 minutes until soft.
Add sugar and boil for about ¾ hour or until set.
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