Sally, I'm wandering the same thing! My son came in Thanksgiving morning with two big sacks of green tomatoes.
I just finished quartering one sack to make green tomato pickles. There is a fish place in Oklahoma about 80 miles from here and they have the best green tomato pickles. Their's looks like quartered green tomatoes and alot of spices. Anyway, I will see how this turns out.

I would also like to have a salsa recipe to can.

The funny thing about these tomatoes, they didn't make three tomatoes all year. He stopped by there early Thursday morning and said they were covered in green tomatoes.

Yes, there are salsa recipes you can use, any that call for tomatillos can pretty much be made with green tomatoes, with only a slight difference in flavor.

I've never made the green tomato pickles, but I've made green tomato mincemeat. I love fried green tomatoes though, so I slice them and freeze them on sheets, then package them in freezer bags. I bread them and fry them while still frozen and they are like fresh. If I thaw them and try to bread them, I have a wet mess, so do not thaw!

Annie

Green tomatoes will ripen....keep them dry and wait for them to turn red.
Linda C

I made a fried green tomato pizza on the WFD #316 thread.

The tomatoes were stir fried, not deep fried. I will make that agian. It was pretty good.

dcarch

I agree, ripen some. I just ate my last ripe Brandywine last weekend....it's gonna be a long winter. :(
I'm thankful to have sauce and soup preserved.

From my many green ones I made Salsa Verde, Dill Pickle Relish, Hot Dog Relish. I have done pickles from cherry tomatoes in the past. Just be careful when you eat them, the juice can squirt down your throat and cause choking!!!

Check the Ball or Jardin websites for recipes as well as the National Center for Home Food Preservation and our very own Harvest forum.

Deanna

I did the same thing. We canned 36 pints of Green Tomato Relish. Way more tomatoes than I anticipated. I used the peppers from my garden...mostly poblanos, green chile, and a few anaheims.

Here's my recipe...given to me by a friend. Personally, I think it has a bit too much vinegar. Add in batches until you get the tang you want. This relish is good with chips, but also on grilled chicken and pork.

Green Tomato Relish

2 gallons green tomatoes, cut up
1gallon onions, cut up
1 qt. bell peppers, cut up
ý qt. jalapeños
5 cups sugar
1cup salt
2 T. black pepper
ý gallon vinegar

Chop tomatoes, let drain. Chop peppers.
Add all ingredients together.
Cook about 10 minutes until tomatoes show discolor,
Simmer, donâÂÂt boil.
Can in a water bath for 10 minutes.

green tomato pie is really good.

Lots of great ideas, everyone. Thanks for the input. I'm going to look for the salsa recipes, and also I like the idea of freezing them, Annie. That's a great idea. I will leave some to ripen, too. I have a few that are in between green and red - those I'll let finish ripening. Thanks for the relish recipe, too. DH likes sweet relish, so it' could be an option for him.

Sally

I used to buy green tomato pickles at the farmer's market where I lived. I was looking for a similar recipe and found one from Martha Stewart. The amount of sugar called for is frightening, but the recipe turned out to be exactly like what I remembered. Crispy and delish!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bread & Butter PGTs

happy, I think with the amount of low acid vegetables, you need quite a lot of vinegar to safely waterbath, although the green tomatoes are acidic.

Annie

Yes, Annie, you are right.

Here's a recipe that I got on the Harvest Forum, so it has been approved as safe to can, and it is delicious!

SALSA VERDE
7 Cups chopped, cored, green Tomatoes
5 to 10 Jalapeno Peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 Cups finely chopped Red Onions
4 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
ü Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Lime Juice
1/2 Cup loosely packed finely chopped Cilantro
2 Teaspoon ground Cumin, more to taste
2 Teaspoon dried Oregano
2 Tablespoons Salt
1 Teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and lime juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in cilantro, cumin, oregano, salt, sugar and black pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot salsa. Process both sizes in a BWB for 20 minutes.
Makes about six 8-oz jars or 3 pint jars

Steve

Sally, it's only my opinion but I wouldn't only keep the ones that are starting to turn, to ripen. I'd pick all the very best, greenest, hard, perfect tomatoes and leave them to ripen also. You do want to make sure there are no blemishes, but good green tomatoes will ripen at their own pace and probably keep you in tomatoes well into January. You just need to watch to make sure none are going bad and to keep track of them as they begin to ripen. I also make sure to keep the stem side up. Juice can tend to pool at the stem end and over a long ripening time they can rot there.