Green Tomatoes - and What to Do with Them at Pumpjack & Piddlewick

As the days close in I now take an hour at lunchtime to spend in the garden with the ducks as mornings and evenings don’t give me the same freedom any more. We normally take the time to clear an area. Me pruning or pulling, the ducks eating the wormy spoils. I am always laughing by the end, as I work around the ducks underfoot. Invariably the cats join us, playing amongst any swaying branches.

The tomato plants have been relishing the continuously wonderful warm sunny weather we have been having. Into late October and we are just turning the corner into cooler temperatures and rain. The plants are on their last legs and burdened with green tomatoes, so yesterday I harvested the lot. And there was a lot!

What To Do, What To Do

I recently watched a video on What to Do with Green Tomatoes, particularly on how to harvest and ripen them. This then put me on the search for what to do with green tomatoes, since I have so many (and I hate to waste anything). I am familiar with fried green tomatoes, but wasn’t aware of much else you could do with them.

What truly surprised me was the variety of yummy sounding recipes, which has inspired me to get in the kitchen . I definitely plan on making some chutney, but also going to try a stew (recipe links below). I’m thinking on whether a green tomato ketchup would make good Christmas pressies for neighbours?

Ripening Green Tomatoes

By the way, the easiest way to ripen green tomatoes is put a banana in with them. It truly works! It takes awhile. But as long as the tomato is not blemished or split, eg in good condition, it will ripen.

Now on to the Cooking…

Fried Green Tomatoes

Besides being a great movie (if you haven’t seen it, I do recommend it), fried green tomatoes are really actually good. And they are super simple. Slice your green tomatoes, dredge them in beaten egg, drag them through a seasoned flour and fry in oil in a frying pan until crispy on both sides. See? Simple.

I didn’t have any eggs or flour to hand though so decided to wing it, and take my new air fryer on a test run. I dragged my green tomatoes slices through oil, then into ground almonds and then polenta (ground corn) seasoned with Herbs de Provence. Into the airfryer they went for 10 minutes on 200 and then flipped over for another 10 minutes.

The result, though taking longer than a frying pan, was really, really good. And I will definitely be making more this way. It just shows you can really play around with the ingredients. Not to mention make a gluten free version if you wish. There are many many variations if you search the internet.