Green Tomato Blues

The summer has given way to fall, so what to do with all those green tomatoes that are taking their sweet time ripening. Don’t be afraid of the green! You can use green tomatoes raw or cooked, and you can let them ripen if you’re patient. Biver has lots of mixed ripe and green (but mostly green) cherry tomatoes available, so we put them in a share, and included here are links to some pages we found with multiple ideas to help inspire you.

1. This page on The Kitchn blog has five pretty good looking ideas from Lynne Rossetto Kasper, former host of the Splendid Table show on NPR, including:

Green Tomato Salad – Raw green tomatoes add a great crunchy texture to late-summer salads.
Green Tomato Chutney or Salsa – Toss those green tomatoes with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar for a basic pickled chutney.
Green Tomato and Yogurt Soup – With cucumbers and garlic, this is an excellent version of the Middle Eastern and Eastern European classic.
Green Tomato Curry – Make a basic curry with a coconut milk base and then add the green tomatoes at the very last second.
Pasta with Green Tomatoes and Ricotta – This would be good hot or cold!

2. Here’s a Southern Living page with six recipes, including:

Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomato Po’boys
Green Tomato Salsa
Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp Rémoulade
Grilled Green Tomatoes Caprese
Sweet Green Tomato Cornmeal Muffin

3. Here’s a page on NPR with four nice recipes and photos to entice you, and I liked the author’s description:

“With their firm flesh, green tomatoes stand up well to pickling (although they’re not as common as cucumber pickles, the fermented garlicky green tomato pickles were a beloved staple of my childhood deli visits). They also do well when baked, providing a bit of moisture without collapsing into mush, and their firm texture and sour-sweet flavor allows you to swap them for tart green apples in recipes from cakes to pies. Their bright flavor also works well in sauces, and in the beloved fried green tomatoes, it provides a juicy counterpoint to all that crispy coating.”  – Deena Prichep

4. Here’s Garden Betty’s page on Pickled Green Tomatoes.

5. Here’s a page with 25 recipes.

If you can’t find something there that looks good, you’d better just give those green tomatoes away!