All Those Green Tomatoes

[so lucky]

So here it is mid-September, and my tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes. More than they had all season. The Big Beef and Kellogg's Breakfast have been cracking so bad, I have only gotten ripe tomatoes by picking them just past green and ripening them inside on the counter. Three other heirlooms I planted on a whim, I haven't gotten a ripe tomato off of, due to cracking and rotting on the vine. Well, maybe one tomato, early on.

What do you find works best for saving the green tomatoes at the end of the season? In the past, I have wrapped them in newspaper, placed in boxes single layer, placed under the bed and found them months later all rotted. Clearly that is not a good method for me.
I don't care much for pickles and relishes, so green tomato relish is not something I would want to bother with.

Any ideas? This is the best "crop" of tomatoes all season. so I hate to just let them rot.

 

[Nyboy]

Fried green tomatoes

 

[Nyboy]

For a Italian twist on a Southern dish, melt mozzarella cheese on top.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have no help for you So Lucky. But I feel your pain. We had a great tomato weather year and I got a lot of ripe ones, but the heirlooms are like you describe, cracked and if left on the vine rot before getting ripe all the way.

I'm going to be picking everything with a hint of color tomorrow evening and seeing what they do inside to ripen.

 

[digitS']

With absolute respect for NyBoy, I'm not a green tomato fan. My feeling is that any use for a green tomato would be better served by an eggplant.

Last year, I grew a paste tomato for the first time in decades. What have I been missing! Well, those Heinz 2653's made delicious pasta sauce and I don't have them this year. Shoot, they all ripened just about now.

That's what I'll do with what I've got, So Lucky. Don't put them away where you can't see them. Go through them almost daily and when you have enough to fill a pot - use 'em.

By the way, of what I grow, Big Beef is the least likely (unless it's Early Girl) of the slicers to crack. Just way too much rain???

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Yes, Steve, I guess it was all the rain. We haven't had the horrible hot weather this summer that we normally have, but there were a few days of rain, then heat/sun, so that probably did it.

 

[Beekissed]

Could you make a salsa with them? I've never had green tomato salsa but it just might be a really good, tart flavor. I'd blend up a few in the blender with other salsa ingredients and give it a taste...could be the best salsa you've ever had and would be a great thing to put in a jar for later.

 

[ninnymary]

I occasionally make a tomatillo salsa. I bet Beekissed is right and would make a good salsa.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I bet eggplant would ..

. not .

..be better in something like that!

Steve

 

[Beekissed]

Nope