November 22, 2011

Canned Green Tomatoes, For Frying!

Sue was curious as to what I was going to do with the basketful of green tomatoes I picked after our killing frost. Some we'll let ripen on the kitchen window sill, and some I'll chop up to add to things like scrambled eggs. The rest I wanted to preserve, I just didn't know how. A common solution would be green tomato pickles or relish. Well, I still have plenty of pint jars of the green tomato salsa I made last year. Pickles we only need so much of and I have plenty of those too.

Several recipes on the internet interested me, one for green tomato jam, another for canned green tomatoes for frying, over at cooks.com. I found a recipe for green tomato mincemeat too, in Putting Foods By, but I didn't have all the ingredients for that. We have plenty of jam, but I thought fried green tomatoes would be a tasty, special occasion winter treat.

The recipe didn't have many details, but this is where experience is probably supposed to step in. Following the simple directions, I first sliced....


... but wasn't entirely sure about "fairly thick." I usually slice them about 1/4 inch for frying fresh, so I went a little thicker than that, about 1/2 inch.


The slices were packed in wide mouth quart jars with 1 teaspoon canning salt. Since I was uncertain of the acid content of the tomatoes, I added 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to each quart to be on the safe side. (You could also use 1 tablespoon lemon juice) I filled with boiling water, leaving about a 1/2 inch headspace.

Seven quarts were processed in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes.


No floating, no loss of liquid; I was pleased. I also read somewhere that green tomato slices can be frozen for frying as well. I don't have much room in my freezer, so someone else will have to test that one out.

How they'll fry up remains to be seen [UPDATE 1/25/2012 - they were delicious! See my related post below]. We can eat tons of fried green tomatoes, so a quart will amount to a just tasty bite of a side dish. Still, it will be a treat. At least it used up my largest green tomatoes, so now all I have to do is decide what to do with all the smaller ones.

Related Post:
Test Frying Those Canned Green Tomatoes

42 comments:

Tombstone Livestock said...

That sounds interesting be sure to post results after you fry some.

Sherri B. said...

They sure make a pretty looking jar, don't they? That will be a nice treat in the winter months. xo

Paula said...

I love fried green tomatoes. Love them.

Doyu Shonin said...

>smaller ones

Slice those as well, can in jewel jars and give them to the garden fairies.

Farmer Jen said...

I have never thought of canning them. Good idea! Will have to try that.

Theresa said...

This falls under things that make me hmmmm. Although I love fresh fried green tomatos! :)

Leigh said...

TL, I will!

Sherri, they do look pretty. I confess I sometimes rearrange my pantry shelves based on jar contents' color and texture!

Paula, addicting, aren't they? :o

Risa, LOLOL. Actually, I could see myself doing that to amuse my granddaughter someday. :) She's only 6 months old now though.

Jen, I wouldn't have either. Isn't the internet great?

Theresa, oh yes, fried is the best! I read that the frozen ones fry up tasting fresh. I hope these do too.

farmgal said...

Love fried green tomato's, I do make the green tomato jam, both the green jam but also the mock rasberry green tomato jam.

I make a number of diffferent chow-chow relishes that use green tomato's and I have done the pickled green tomatos..

Having said that I have never canend them to use for this use, I will be interested to see how they turn out.

I do freeze ripe tomato's and I know they turn to much when allowed to thaw, so I am also interested to see if the green would be that different when they thaw?

they sure do look pretty!

Doug Pitcher said...

We still have a few green tomato's as well. I wonder how dehydrating would work. We've done a lot of dehydrating over the past few years as we find it less time consuming and the final product is a third the space requirements on the shelf.
Ripe tomato's are great dehydrated. I'll have to see if I can sacrifice some of the remaining green stuff to give that a try.

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I sure like that idea and I hope it works, please let us know the results..I love fried green tomato's anytime.

Leigh said...

Farmgal, freezing ripe tomatoes was one of the best tomato tricks I think I ever learned. I'd try freezing the green ones, but I'm running out of room in the freezer. I'm going to have to try the jam. The recipe I linked to has the fewest ingredients, so I may give that one a go. I love the idea of green tomato jam and yogurt cheese sandwiches!

Doug, that's an excellent idea. Red toms dehydrate beautifully, so why wouldn't green ones. Please experiment and let us know what you think!

Ginny, me too! :)

Jody said...

Can you believe that I've never had fried green tomatoes? I know. There's something very wrong with that. I hope your experiment works and you can have them all winter long!

Mama Pea said...

I made fried green tomatoes just once and we didn't like them. But I'm pretty sure it was the recipe, so when you try these of yours that you've canned, if you wanted to post your breading recipe that would be much appreciated. Heaven knows, we can grow plenty of green tomatoes up here in our short season!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I have tried the frozen method, but they come out a little soggy to hold up to frying. I will be very curious how canned ones hold up. Be sure to post the results.

pelenaka said...

Now you tell me ... ah well there is next year & Lord knows I always have green tomatoes, lol.

MaryContrary said...

This is an interesting notion. I did have a few green tomatoes I could have tried this with this last season. Your comment that you had read somewhere about freezing green tomatoes for frying sent me to Google. I found several suggestions including a couple that suggest that you fry them without thawing them. Those sound interesting also. Have to make a note for next season.

icebear said...

mock apple pie can be made with green tomatoes, i wonder if you could can them as filling for that?

Leigh said...

Jody, I'm truly amazed. Of course, if you've never lived in the South, or if you don't know any Southerners, I can understand. :) If these work out, I'll can lots of them next year!

Mama Pea, I'll be glad to. Actually, I didn't care for them the first time I tried them either! This time around, I can't get enough of them.

Jane, thank you for that about the frozen ones. I was wondering. MaryContrary (comment below) said she read they should be fried while still frozen. Do you think that would help?

Pelenaka, LOL, it's amazing what one can find on the internet, isn't it?

MaryContrary, thank you for that! I hope someone tries that with some frozen ones. I'd be interested in how they work out.

Icebear, I've found several recipes for green tomato "mincemeat". Not sure if it's the same thing, but mock apple pie sounds pretty tasty. If apple pie filling can be canned, why not mock apple? I'll have to experiment.

Sue said...

Those look so pretty! Thanks for sharing, and can't wait to hear how they taste. Because of where I live we always get lots of green tomatoes (our frost dates are only about 3 weeks apart, so growing tender things can be a real challange). Love fried green tomatoes, but I can only eat so many when they're fresh.

Mr. H. said...

Pretty neat, I'll be curious to see what you think of them.

* Crystal * said...

Hmmmmm yummy!!

Love fried green tomatoes, though I've never tried it with canned tomato...looking forward hearing how they turn out :)

Cat Eye Cottage said...

I'm gonig to try the frozen version, so I'll be interested to here how yours turn out. Thanks for being the guinea pig for us.

Nina said...

They make a very pretty jar of goodies! I might do those just to make the pantry look nice. It will be good to know if they fry up nicely. Some years there are so many green tomatoes, even more than the chooks can eat. It would be good to know of another use.

CaliforniaGrammy said...

When I finished the book "Fried Green Tomatoes" I followed the recipe on the last page and we loved them. But I've not tried them since and that was years ago. My green ones this year just weren't big enough, hence I made the relish. I'll be watching with great anticipation to see how these canned ones fry up!

Ellen said...

Try searching Backwoods Home Magazine for several canning and cooking recipes to use green tomatoes. My husband and I still joke about making our green tomato ketchup when we had our first early frost resulting in a major haul of green tomatoes - he was stirring the pot until two in the morning, and our family refused to eat the stuff at first, though now they dig right in at family barbecues :) The green tomato relish and salsa are almost gone. I just can't stand to let them go to waste after all that work!

luckybunny said...

They look lovely and I imagine they will cook up nice, how handy to have them preserved like that. I'll have to try this next year :) I'd love to be able to open a jar of those babies on a cold January night!

Renee Nefe said...

I need to learn to can! I love fried green tomatoes! I can't imagine how that might fail unless they get too soft. hummm

Donna OShaughnessy said...

Leigh, of course now I have to rent the movie!

What Pigs Don't Know said...

Como Homestead just wrote a post on making green tomato pie. The recipe sounds great. Check it out!

http://comohomestead.com/2011/11/green-tomato-pie-im-a-believer/

-Carrie

Anonymous said...

Inviting you the Carnival of Home Preserving on my blog every Friday. Hope to see you there. Laura Williams’ Musings

The most recent edition - http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/06/carnival-of-home-preserving-13-come.html - open until Thursday 6/7.

Leigh said...

Laura, thank you!

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Unknown said...

Processing time of 7 minutes is not long enough. Other recipes state 40 minutes.

Unknown said...

I've actually had fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Juilette, GA! Awesome. I wonder if they are still open.

Unknown said...

I've actually had fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Juilette, GA! They were awesome. I hope these are too!

Becky Lynn said...

Why not do the same with the smalls bite size fried green tomatoes.... that would probably be bad for me as I could eat a ton... also I've had a few different recipes and find I am not a fan of the ones made with cornmel

Leigh said...

You certainly could make them bite sized. The slices are traditional and I think easier to coat and fry, but if they're your tomatoes, you can do whatever you want! (Including using flour instead of cornmeal. :)

itsmepamela said...

I've been canning these for the last 5 years, they fry up just as delicious as fresh. Everyone I share with has loved them.

Ninette. said...

Tried this recipe. Tasted delicious. Opened a jar about 5 months after canning them. Still pretty firm. Was afraid they would be mushy,but they weren't. Tasted great!

Leigh said...

Ninette, I'm glad you liked them! We find them to be a real treat in the middle of winter.

Anonymous said...

I eat the on a BLT instead of red. They ate amazing

Leigh said...

Anonymous, that's a great idea!