Green Tomato Mincemeat

Can you believe we are still processing green tomatoes?

Our final harvest netted us a bus tub full of green tomatoes plus another bus tub full of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. Here it is November and we are looking for new and different ways to use our green ones.

We love our sweet pickled green tomatoes and green tomato and apple chutney. In our latest search, we came across this recipe for green tomato, apple and pear mincemeat in Helen Witty's Fancy Pantry. It sounds an awful lot like the green tomato chutney, but with sharper flavors: lemon, pear, allspice, cloves, ginger and rum.

Besides serving our green tomato chutney as a condiment, we like to spread it on a cracker with goat cheese. I see a similar destination for this meatless mincemeat, which also would be perfectly fine in pastries and such. This recipe makes about eight pints, which is a lot. You could easily halve it and can the mincemeat in half-pint jars for holiday gift-giving.

3 quarts coarsely chopped green tomatoes, scrubbed and trimmed of stem scars
1 tablespoon iodized salt
1 1/2 quarts diced, peeled and cored firm, tart apples
1 quart diced, peeled and cored firm, slightly underripe pears
2 1/2 cups dark seedless raisins
Grated zest and chopped pulp of 1 or 2 medium oranges
Grated zest of 2 small lemons
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup undiluted frozen apple concentrate, thawed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup dark rum (we substituted Calvados)

Stir chopped tomatoes and salt together, scrape into a colander and let drain for 2 hours

Combine drained tomatoes with apples, pears, raisins, orange zest and pulp, lemon zest, vinegar, apple concentrate, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and ginger in a preserving pan or heavy, non-reactive pot. Bring mixture to a boil over moderately-high heat. Lower heat and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until mincemeat is thick enough to mound in a spoon, about 1 hour. Take care to stir often and scrape the bottom to prevent burning.

Stir rum (or Calvados) into boiling-hot mincemeat, cook a minute or two longer, then ladle into hot, clean canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles (I poke around the mincemeat and stir gently using a long wooden skewer). Seal jars with new two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's instructions and process in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes (for pint-size jars). Let mincemeat mellow for about a month before using.

Note: you can also store the mincemeat covered but not sealed in your refrigerator.

KIds Can Tomatoes

We are overwhelmed with Roma tomatoes from our garden. Perhaps this is a good time to teach the kids in my "food appreciation" classes a thing or two about canning.

First job is to blanch the tomatoes in a big pot of boiling water for about 20 seconds (15 seconds is about the minimum). Chill them quickly in a bowl of cold water. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, you can start peeling away the skins.


Blanching loosens the skins. I teach the kids to make a small cut at the pointy end of the tomato, then pull the skin away in strips with the aid of their trusty plastic knives.

Once the skins are completely removed, we cut the tomatoes into quarters lengthwise, then cut the quarters into small small pieces or dice. The dice then go into a pot to be boiled for a few minutes. Ten or 12 will fill a one-pint jar. I show the kids how to ladle the tomatoes into a sterilized canning jar, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt before screwing on the lid and processing the jar in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes.

But we also want something to snack on as a reward for all that tomato prep. So we peeled some more tomatoes and turned them into an easy pasta sauce with some sauteed onions and finely grated Parmesan cheese. A sauce of tomatoes fresh from the garden delivers uncommon flavor. The kids quickly wolfed it down.

Barbie Says, Let's Can More!

Careful what you wish for, Barbie. The ground around our Roma plants is littered with tomatoes. I have a feeling if you just gave the plants a good shake, you'd have an unending supply.

These are the pulpy, less juicy variety of tomatoes ideal for dicing and canning or turning into tomato sauce or paste. Each plant produces a phenomenal number of tomatoes. They were beginning to pile up around the base of the plants inside their cages. After collecting those, I went after the ripe ones still on the vine and realized that those were rarely still attached--they had fallen but were hung up in the foliage. Too many tomatoes even to count.

We may have enough tomatoes to last the winter. As you can see, our Romas are prolific but not necessarily large. Next year I'd like to try the famed San Marzano tomato and see how that fares. Any readers have experience with the San Marzano or care to make a comparison with the Roma?