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 Make Pickled Green Tomatoes

Our tomato plants here in the District of Columbia are still producing as we head into October. In fact, some of our plants are loaded with green tomatoes. It's an excellent time to be making things like sweet pickled green tomatoes and our famous green tomato and apple chutney. Once we've put these in canning jars and processed them, they'll keep for a year at least.

The process for pickling green tomatoes is a bit long to finish in one session with the kids in my "food appreciation" classes. So what we did was study the recipe, cut up some tomatoes, and set them to soaking in a lime solution to maintain the green tomato crunch.

These are good lessons to teach science and math. Lime, for instance, is something most kids (or most adults, for that matter) have never heard of. It calls for a bit of explanation of the pH scale, where lime falls on the "base" or alkaline end. Using lime is a bit old-fashioned, but I can attest to its ability maintain crispness. Culinary lime is not so easy to find in the city. I get mine at a farm supply in Annapolis that has lots of canning equipment. You can also find it on-line. But since canned foods like to be acid, it's very important to rinse all the lime out of the tomatoes before cooking them.

The kids used their plastic knives to cut the tomatoes into wedges. Then we mixed our lime solution and poured it over the tomatoes. They soak 24 hours before being cooked with onions, vinegar, sugar and lots of spices. This particular recipe results in one of our all-time favorite pickles. It will easily make six pints.

4 pounds completely green tomatoes (do not use any that are showing even the slightest hint of ripening)

4 quarts water

1 cup pickling lime

1 1/2 pounds onion

5 cups cider vinegar

5 cups sugar

1/4 cup pickling or other non-iodized salt

3 tablespoons mustard seed

3 teaspoons celery seed

2 teaspoons whole peppercorns

2 teaspoons whole allspice

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Cut the tomatoes into moderately thin wedges and place in a large, non-reactive bowl (do not use aluminum, for instance). Mix the pickling lime and water and pour this over the tomatoes. Stir gently to coat all of the tomatoes with lime solution. Cover and let the tomatoes soak 24 hours, stirring occasionally to mix up the lime.

Following the soaking period, use a colander to rinse the tomatoes thoroughly in cold water three or four times to remove all the lime. Some of the tomato seeds with rinse out and collect in the sink. Again, do not be concerned. Peel the onions and cut them into thin strips, a bit thinner than the tomatoes.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seed, celery seed, peppercorns, allspice, turmeric, cinnamon and cloves in a processing pan or large heavy pot. Bring mixture to a boil and cook, uncovered for two minutes. Add the tomatoes and onions, bring to a boil again and continue cooking over moderate heat, pushing the vegetables down under the surface occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to look translucent, about 15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them.

Ladle the hot pickles into clean, hot, pint-sized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace and dividing the spices among the jars (there will be lots of leftover mustard seeds). Use a dowel or the thin handle of a wooden spoon to remove any air bubbles that may be lurking among the pickles. Seal the canning jars with two-piece lids according to the manufacturer's instructions and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath (I use a pasta pot with built-in strainer for this, but there are special canning devices made especially for this purpose).

Allow the jars to cool, then label them. Let the pickles mellow for a month before consuming.

Kohlrabi Gratin

I have a secret love for kohlrabi. Kohlrabi has a wonderful, sweet flavor somewhere between turnip and broccoli. But you so rarely see it for sale anywhere that we mostly just dream about it. That's why we planted it in the garden this year--to satisfy our craving for kohlrabi anytime we like.

Our friend Larry calls kohlrabi "a little sputnik" because of its globe shape sprouting long leaf stems. It's not a root vegetable, but a swollen stem. Until recently, it never occurred to me that the leaves might be edible. That's something we'll have to try. Meanwhile, I usually prepare kohlrabi as simply as possible, just cutting it into large matchsticks, cooking it in salted water and tossing it with melted butter. But I wanted to do something that would really make kohlrabi shine. I thought it would be a perfect candidate for a gratin.

I make a delicious rutabaga gratin, and a dynamite sweet potato gratin stuffed with wilted greens. A classic potato gratin has fans who are very particular about the way it is cooked in the oven. So I consulted Madeleine Kamman--who is just about the most finicky cookbook author I know, and a damned good instructor--to see what she had to say about the classic gratin method.

There's nothing particularly difficult about the method Kamman describes. In fact, it could hardly be simpler: use lots of heavy cream and let is bake a long time. As the cream browns, scrape it from around the edges of the casserole and push it from the surface under the cream underneath. Continue doing this until there is hardly any cream left, and what cream there is is studded with brown bits.

For a kohlrabi gratin:

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon butter

1 lb kohlrabi, trimmed and peeled (I used a serrated knife to remove the peel)

coarse salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup grated cheese (combine Parmesan with Emmentaler)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Rub the inside of a small, shallow ceramic casserole with the garlic. Grease it with the butter. Meanwhile, slice the kohlrabi very thinly. You may want to first cut it in half from end to end. Lay the kohlrabi slices in the casserole overlapping like shingles, seasoning them with salt as you go. You may make two or three layers. Cover with the cream and shake the casserole a little to distribute the salt.

Lay the casserole on a baking sheet and place in the oven. As the cream browns, break it up and push it under the cream underneath, scraping any brown bits from the side of the casserole and incorporating those as well. Continue doing this for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the kohlrabi is perfectly tender and the cream has been almost completely absorbed. Sprinkle the cheese over the gratin and continue baking until the cheese is completely melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.

We had this last night with a wonderful salad of fresh tomatoes from the garden with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. This is not something we would eat on a daily basis. But for now, my craving for kohlrabi is completely and utterly indulged.

Green Tomatoes

I have thirteen tomato plants growing in our garden, which means that a portion of my daily rounds entails admiring all the green tomatoes as they grow huge on the vine and anticipating what an avalanche of ripe red tomatoes we will soon have.

But then I think of some of our favorite tomato preparations such as green tomato and apple chutney and how we will be scrambling to find enough green tomatoes in October to make them and I think to myself, Why wait?

It probably should have dawned on me much sooner, but yesterday it hit me like a thunderclap that there was no reason at all to wait for the end of the season to start canning green tomatoes when so many of them are staring me in the face. So I turned my usual approach to tomatoes inside-out and just continued with my recent pickling operation, only switching briefly to green tomatoes to make a batch of our favorite chutney.

I can hardly think of a better use for green tomatoes, unless it is my wife's famous fried green tomato BLT sandwich, or perhaps her green tomato pizza. For months I have been missing something from the larder and that has been our green tomato and apple chutney, a wonderful condiment that of course fits marvelously well in an Indian meal, but also is fine next to a fatty pork roast, or slathered with goat cheese on a piece of toast or eaten right out of the jar with a spoon.

Since I've already written up the recipe, I won't repeat it. It's not difficult at all if you have a few basic pieces of equipment. And if you've been doing any pickling at all lately you probably have all the spices in your pantry already.

Spend an hour doing this and you will have the best chutney you've ever tasted for the rest of the year.

Tomatoes in Transit

The tomato seedlings have been thriving in their seed cells, set in an east-facing window. Being at least three weeks past the average last frost date here in the District of Columbia, it's time to find the seedlings a new home and prepare them for transplanting into the garden.

I planted four varieties: Cherokee Purple, my favorite, Mortgage Lifter, an heirloom yellow cherry tomato named Dr. Carolyn and the classic Italian sauce tomato, Roma.

To remove them from the seed cells, I use a spoon, working around the edges of the plant and plunging deep under the roots. Lift the plant with the entire ball of soil and move to a pot.

Seeds started indoors should be moved to a sunny spot as soon as they sprout. It's hard to get them all the sunlight they crave. Often they grow long and lanky. If they get too "leggy," it's time to think of alternate light sources, or they could flop over and fail.

Tomatoes have a valuable attribute: they will grow roots all along the stem. I choose a tall pot and bury the seedling deep inside--all the way to the bottom--so that it has plenty of buried stem from which to grow new roots.

Fill the new pot with organic potting soil. Better to put the camera down and use your free hand to hold the plant upright and centered while pouring in the new soil.

Tamp the soil down firmly to eliminate air pockets.

I cut labels out of used yogurt containers.

Once they are potted, the plants can be watered in. I added a bit of fish emulsion to give them a nice first meal in their new homes. Now I'll start them "hardening off," or exposing them to the outdoors a little more each day until they are fully acclimated. Then they can go in the ground and start making tomatoes.

Hard to believe summer is almost here already.

The Unbearable Lightness of Pickled Green Tomatoes

A year ago around this time I was driving 30 miles to a farm supply in Annapolis to buy a jar of something called "pickling lime." It's not that I will go to any lengths to find the most obscure ingredients, but I had a peck of green tomatoes on my hands and a recipe for pickling them that called for "pickling lime." I'd called every food and kitchen purveyor, every hardware store-- everybody I could think of in the area--and the closest jar of "pickling lime" was in Annapolis.


Well, it was worth the trip, because those were some damn fine pickles--sweet pickles made with lots of vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, allspice, cinnamon. I gave many jars to friends but had many more green tomato pickles to munch on throughout the year. In fact, I still have one jar in the refrigerator to dip into. I just have to remember to keep it within eyeshot, not hidden behind a bag of cornmeal.


So what is this "pickling lime," anyway?


Lime has been used in food processing for thousands of years. Derived from limestone, chalk or oyster shells, it was used by natives in Mexico and points south to treat dried corn, removing the tough husks and, once ground, turning it into something called "masa" that could be fried as tortillas. Unbeknownst to the Indians, the lime had the added nutritional benefit of making the niacin in the corn available for human digestion, preventing the wasting disease pellagra. This method of processing corn is now called nixtimalization.


Lime for pickling is calcium hydroxide. It has the effect of crisping vegetables by introducing calcium and reinforcing the naturally occurring pectin in whatever is being pickled. Since it is extremely alkaline, however, lime needs to be thoroughly rinsed out of the vegetables before the pickling process can begin. Otherwise, the lime will neutralize the acids that may be required to preserve the food, resulting in spoilage.


I'm not an expert in canning by any means. I feel much safer around recipes that call for lots of salt or vinegar or sugar. This particular recipe for sweet green tomato pickles comes from Fancy Pantry, a book we've turned to on a number of occasions for delicious preserves, pickles and sauces. You will need pickling lime, which is available on-line if you don't happen to have a farm supply or hardware store nearby that stocks a lot of canning items.


You will also need to process the pickles once they are in jars. I improvise when it comes to the tools for heating the canning jars and getting them in and out of the hot water bath. If you've never canned before, best to do some research and make any necessary purchases before you start cooking the tomatoes. I have to say that if I were to change anything about the way I approach this, it would be to buy a good pair of specialized canning tongs for handling the jars.

And just where do you get these green tomatoes? Why, from all those tomato plants in your garden that are beginning to fade, of course. Or check your nearest farmers market. Late in the season is when the tomato growers would be trying to get rid of their unripened crop. We had plenty. Some of the plants we set out late are still producing, but not much longer. And then I picked up a big bag of green tomatoes at the Washington Youth Garden here in the District of Columbia, where I am tending a small vegetable plot.

One note about this recipe: the lime soaking liquid turned out to be enough to process twice as many tomatoes as the recipe calls for. I don't know why. But since I already hand twice as many tomatoes on hand, I used it all. And if I'd been thinking clearly, I would have found a way to use the first batch of cooking liquid for the other half of the tomatoes. Perhaps I'll remember to do that next time.


For five pints of pickled green tomatoes:


4 pounds completely green tomatoes (do not use any that are showing even the slightest hint of ripening)

6 quarts water
1 cup pickling lime
1 1/2 pounds onion
5 cups cider vinegar
5 cups sugar
1/4 cup pickling or other non-iodized salt
3 tablespoons mustard seed
3 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons whole peppercorns
2 teaspoons whole allspice
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves


In a very large non-reactive mixing bowl (do not use aluminum), mix the pickling lime and the water. The lime has a tendency to not dissolve completely and collect on the bottom of the bowl. Not to worry. It will still do the job.

Cut the tomatoes into moderately thin wedges and place in the lime-water mix. Stir gently to coat all of the tomatoes with lime solution. Cover and let the tomatoes soak 24 hours, stirring occasionally to mix up the lime.


Following the soaking period, use a colander to rinse the tomatoes thoroughly in cold water three or four times to remove all the lime. Some of the tomato seeds with rinse out and collect in the sink. Again, do not be concerned.


Peel the onions and cut them into thin strips, a bit thinner than the tomatoes.


Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seed, celery seed, peppercorns, allspice, turmeric, cinnamon and cloves in a processing pan or large heavy pot. Bring mixture to a boil and cook, uncovered for two minutes. Add the tomatoes and onions, bring to a boil again and continue cooking over moderate heat, pushing the vegetables down under the surface occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to look translucent, about 15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them.


Ladle the hot pickles into clean, hot, pint-sized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace and dividing the spices among the jars (there will be lots of leftover mustard seeds). Use a dowel or the thin handle of a wooden spoon to remove any air bubbles that may be lurking among the pickles. Seal the canning jars with two-piece lids according to the manufacturer's instructions and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath (I use a pasta pot with built-in strainer for this, but there are special canning devices made especially for this purpose).


Allow the jars to cool, then label them. Let the pickles mellow for a month before consuming. And not to worry--you will want to be consuming these pickles as often as possible.