Let's Talk BBQ
Tips, Tricks & Just Good Advice! => Good to Know! - A collection of How-To's & Sage Advice => Garden to Table - Growing Your Own! => Topic started by: Smokin Don on September 06, 2014, 01:13:37 PM
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Sep 06 2014
It was not a good year for my tomatoes. July and August was way too cool. The last week of August and the first week of Sept. we are just now getting hot summer weather and the tomatoes I had out came on all at once. I had six plants out, a beef steak, two early girl, two better boys and a plum.
I picked all the ripe ones yesterday and picked enough green ones to do some green tomato pickles. My recipe was for 2 lbs. of small green tomatoes. I had about 1 ½ lbs. and just right for my 1.5 liter Fido jar. Fido jars have a rubber gasket and a clamp lid. They are popular for fermenting; the gasket is supposed to let gas out but not air in.
The recipe was:
2 pounds of small green tomatoes (around cherry tomato size)
• 1 tablespoon coriander or dill seed
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1 jalapeño, or other hot pepper, halved
• 2 tablespoons sea salt
• Approximately 3 cups water, more if necessary.
Makes 2 quarts
Instructions
1. Prepare brine by warming up 2 cups of water, adding salt and stirring to dissolve, then adding 1 cup of cold water to bring brine to room temperature.
2. In a quart jar add coriander or dill seed, garlic cloves, and hot pepper. Fill jar with green tomatoes, leaving about 1-1/2 inches of headspace. Pour brine over all, just covering the tomatoes and leaving the headspace.
3. Cover jar with lid and airlock, if using. Allow to ferment in a room temperature space for 3 to 12 days. If you are not using an airlock, be sure to burp your jar regularly for the first few days of fermentation.
Once tomatoes are fermented, move them to cold storage.
Note: I just used about a half of a jalapeno and two large cloves of smashed garlic. I used about half dill seeds and half coriander seeds. I also added two fresh dill fronds.
After fermenting they should keep at least 3 to 4 months in the fridge. If you want to store longer you will have to use canning jars and do a water bath after they ferment but you will lose the benefits of the natural lacto acid. With canning jars you will also have to burp them, loosen the lids to let the gas escape, the first few days of fermenting.
(http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a474/deains/Fermenting/_9062967_zps693ac326.jpg)
Smokin Don
Update Sep 16 2014
I tried my tomatoes after fermenting for 8 days and they were good. I ate some of the small ones that were crisp. I put them in the fridge for two days and then I cut up the rest and made a salsa from them. I like the dilly taste for something diff. If fermenting larger tomatoes I think I would cut them and remove the seeds and water for more crisp ones. A couple of the larger tomatoes I cut up were a little soft. Don
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Sounds really interesting.
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Sounds really interesting.
Yes it does!
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Green tomato pickles sounds interesting, I've had plenty of fried green tomatoes. ;)
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We had some weird tomatoes this year too and lots of green ones still. I may have to try that recipe with the Heirlooms or early girls.
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Question for the Northern folks. Is there a way to grow tomatoes indoors over the winter? You just can't beat garden tomatoes. I know it's a silly question :(
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Question for the Northern folks. Is there a way to grow tomatoes indoors over the winter? You just can't beat garden tomatoes. I know it's a silly question :(
I had one of these but the wife hated the light on all the time so she took it back. I know muebe has one too but did not follow his results when he used his.
http://www.aerogarden.com/?cid=ppc_m
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Yup,another bookmark,thanks for sharing
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Did it :)
(http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/asbachman/IMG_6232_zps82b9c25e.jpg)
(http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/asbachman/IMG_6233_zps778050e0.jpg)
(http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/asbachman/IMG_6235_zps5d28b3d5.jpg)
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I bet those are going to be good Don!
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Yours look good KM!!! I think I will let mine ferment at least 7 days before the fridge. Don
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Yours look good KM!!! I think I will let mine ferment at least 7 days before the frodge. Don
I used some medium sized Tomato's so I will probably go at least ten days before the fridge.
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My green tomato pickles like usual when fermenting; they didn’t want to stay under the brine. I do not like to use a plastic bag filled with water. My fermenting crock has split heavy weights that cover most and work well. Cultures for Health http://www.culturesforhealth.com/small-ceramic-fermentation-weight.html has the split weights that work with the standard wide mouth jar and I need to get some.
This does not help me right now. I ask my wife if she had something glass that might work. She remembered a glass object she bought at a sale. It looks like a paper weight 1.5 inches thick, and round but has holes in it. I think they used them to make flower arrangements. It looked like it would work. I washed it with soap and water then boiled to sterilize. It worked great.
(http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a474/deains/Fermenting/_9072988_zpsb89243d1.jpg)
Smokin Don
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Great job Don.
keep some for me .
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A few asked for the recipe so I posted this link on Facebook instead of giving your recipe out to the world :)