Maine Man grew most of the tomatoes in the hoop house this year. Because of that we were one of the first to have ripe tomatoes and we may be one of the last. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Good: Lots of tomatoes to eat & giveaway throughout the extended season.
Bad: I am still have vegetables screaming "hey lady you better hurry up and process me or I'll rot".
I have made fresh salsa, lots of spaghetti sauce, soup, and tomato sauce. Today I plan to make some more sauce but I think I will can it instead of freeze as we are running out of space.
Fortunately I have a handy dandy Sauce Master that I bought last year at Johnny's.
Fortunately I have a handy dandy Sauce Master that I bought last year at Johnny's.
It is slick....wash the tomatoes and cut the large ones and throw them in (stems, peelings & all)
Definitely one of my better kitchen gadget investments. Especially come this time of year.
It is amazing to see how many tomatoes it takes to make this sauce.While we are talking tomatoes has anyone ever made Piccalilli?
I fear that we are going to have a lots of green tomatoes left so I am looking for ways to use some up. I've also read you can wrap them up in newspaper and store them in a cool place.
What do you with your green tomatoes?
Wow Kim, that's a lot of tomatoes! We love Piccolilli, it's one of my husband's favorites that his mom always made. However, the recipe we have is used with small green cucumbers. Maybe there are different kinds? I also have a great Relish recipe that uses green tomoatoes. I believe that came from my mother-in-law as well. I hope to be able to make some next year as we haven't had much success with tomatoes the past couple of years. Happy Cooking!
ReplyDeleteFried green tomatoes are yummy! Green tomato chutney is popular, although I have never made it.
ReplyDeleteThe sauce looks great! I will have to do some reading about that sauce master. Interesing.
I just made piccalli for the first time this year - and it is yummy. Will definitely make it next year. I used the recipe out of the ball canning book.
ReplyDeleteAnother suggestion is salsa. I made both red and green and is it yummy. The red salsa is much like pace salsa but better.
In Southern California we rarely have green tomatoes to worry about. Our gardens usually burn up around now from late summer Santa Ana winds and heat (supposed to be 108 today) We usually can salsas (tomato with mango or peach) pizza/pasta sauce, enchilada sauce, diced rotel type tomatoes for chili all winter long and tomato soup. My mom also makes V-8 type juice. We don't care for that so I don't can it.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the abundance of tomatoes. Remember last year when we couldn't grow a tomato to save ourselves? Process, can and freeze as we don't know what next season will bring. I like the idea of growing in a hoop house. You'll probably have tomatoes ripening into November. The only problem is as the sun gets lower in the sky, the flavor of the tomatoes gets less sweet.
ReplyDeleteNice set of tomatoes! We grew too many as usual and it seemed like we were putting up tomatoes forever! You must have been even worse!
ReplyDeleteripen green tomatoes by putting them in a paper bag in a dark area (closet, cupboard) or you can make relish with green tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteMaineFG how do you eat the Piccolilli, like a dip or a relish?
ReplyDeleteSheryl I am going to make fried gree tomatoes tonight I think.
Sandy J, thatnks for the referece to that book. I didn't even the notice the recipe in there. I may give a try but I need to get some cabbage from the farmer's market because we did not have a good year for it.
Donna, that is interesting. We usually have lots.
Dog lady, you are SO right. Last year was a disater!
I feel your pain Warren ;)
Good ideas Bobbie, thanks!
You can also oven dry tomatoes which makes them very similar to sun dried.
ReplyDeleteDL, I thought about doing that. Have dried tomatoes before, just not a big fan of them.
ReplyDelete