What You Can Do With Green Tomatoes

18 Aug

If you ask most people what you can do with green tomatoes, they will immediately chirp: “Fry them!” This probably has more to do with the 1990s movie Fried Green Tomatoes than recipes for the fruit, even though people have been cooking unripe tomatoes for centuries.

There are several old recipes for fried green tomatoes that appeared in old Jewish recipe books around the turn of the 20^th century. It is also a well-known fact that they were popular with American southerners around the same time; and not such a well-known fact that they were cooked in northern and mid-Western cities in the USA too.

Fried Green Tomato Recipes

There are probably as many recipes for fried unripe fruit as there are types of tomatoes. One popular method relies on what is commonly called a “three-dip batter”. You will need three large tomatoes that have not yet turned red, which should be cut into slices one third of an inch or about eight or nine millimetres thick. Put quarter of a cup of plain flour in a shallow bowl; mix one lightly beaten egg and half a cup of buttermilk together and place in a second bowl; then combine another quarter of a cup of plain flour with half a cup of cornmeal, a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of pepper, quarter of a teaspoon of dried thyme, and quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper for the third.

Dredge the slices of fruit through the flour, then dip in the beaten egg mixture, and finally dredge through the seasoned flour, and fry in vegetable oil until golden.

Alternatively you can first fry thick rashers of bacon to produce fresh, steaming fat. Then slice a couple of nice big unripe (or half-ripe) tomatoes vertically so that the seeds stay in the slices. Add about a teaspoon of water to an egg and beat. Dip each slice into the egg and then into plain flour and fry in the fat. When all the fruit has been fried, pour the remaining fat off and deglaze the pan with four tablespoons of cream. Pour this sauce over the top and garnish with finely chopped spring onions. Serve with the bacon and freshly made toast.

Other Ways to Cook Green Tomatoes

Frying is not the only culinary option for unripe tomatoes. You can also make:

delicious creamed green tomatoes, which combine the fried fruit with rashers of bacon in a white sauce;
yummy sautéed green tomatoes, made by first simmering four chopped tomatoes, one slice red onion and six slivered dried apricots in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a quarter cup of white wine; then seasoning with a couple of tablespoons of honey and a bit of salt and pepper;
flavoursome relish which calls for loads of sugar and seasoning, including celery salt, mustard seeds, cloves and cinnamon;
tasty pickle which has similar ingredients to relish, but with the addition of red chilli pepper which adds a nice kick;
wholesome soup (made of course with the green fruit), that owes its flavour more to good quality ham, chicken broth and fresh garlic than the tomatoes themselves;
even cake can be made with green tomatoes, together with crunchy walnuts and raisins.

While you won’t normally find green tomatoes at your local supermarket, you might find pale red fruit that is not yet ripe. Some people prefer the fruit to be slightly less green, so try both options for yourself.

Nothing beats tomatoes grown in your own garden. How To Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes is our book and can help you successfully grow the most delicious tomatoes you’ve ever had.