Tuesday, October 24, 2017

More Than Just Fried

The first frost of the season is forecast for later in the week.  Yesterday morning the weather was still decent, so I took the opportunity to do some yard work, including pulling up the huge tomato plant next to the deck. In the last month it had grown even larger, and the end result was a Medusa-like tangle of stems and leaves. Hidden among that tangle were multiple clusters of large cherry tomatoes.

To deal with the snarl of stems I used a kitchen scissors to cut them into pieces about three feet long, then removed the immature fruits (and a couple of ripe ones) from each piece.  In the end I filled up a colander with green, semi-red, and a few red grape tomatoes.

I repeated the process with a second (standard size fruit) plant that had made itself comfortable along the back side of the garage. That area doesn't get much sun, but it didn't seem to bother the plant; it yielded another colander full of green fruit.

The tomato vines went in the yard waste trash bins.  The edibles were brought inside, where they got washed, dried, and dumped into bowls.  I covered the bowls loosely with plastic bags and set them on top of the refrigerator, hoping the cats wouldn't be motivated enough to seek them out there.

Now I have to figure out what to do with approximately ten pounds of green tomatoes.  Based on past experience, some of them will eventually turn red, and some of them are so immature they'd rot before they'd ripen.  Those go in the broth bag.  The rest will get used up somehow.

I'm trying to cut back on fat, so frying them isn't really an option.  Google gave me some good ideas that I'll incorporate over the next few weeks.  I started the project today by making Green Tomato Curry with Potatoes and Garlic Recipe.  It turned out really good.  By doubling the recipe I was able to use up an entire pound of fruit.

Only nine more pounds to go.

9 comments:

  1. yikes, I could never do that! (my skin is very reactive to tomatoes. I wouldn't call it a true allergy, but it causes eczema.)

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  2. Sounds fantastic and better still you were able to use these tomatoes, no waste.

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  3. Oh, the work our little projects entail!

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    1. I enjoy cooking, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of using all the 'greenies' up.

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  4. Ever try green tomato relish? It's my go-to when the frost ends the season. My mother-in-law claimed that wrapping tomatoes in newspaper and put in a cool, dark place encouraged ripening. Don't know if this works for the small ones too.

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    1. Linda, thanks for the suggestion. Do you have a recipe you like? Otherwise, I'll see what my friend Google suggests.

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  5. An elderly friend gave me their family's favorite recipe several years ago. They used this on burgers and hot dogs. The instructions are very sparse. She suggested chopping everything in the food processor.
    6 cups of cut up green tomatoes
    3 cups of chopped onions
    3/4 cup of jalapeno peppers, deveined and seeded and chopped
    1 cup sugar
    1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
    1/4 c or less of salt
    2 tsps. black pepper
    Cook uncovered 15 minutes

    I also found a Taste of Home recipe online that used red and green peppers. Since I am not too fond of jalapenos, I would like to try it next time I grow tomatoes (growing tomatoes is a real challenge for this Midwesterner transplanted to Texas).

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