Tarte De Tomates Vertes
Finishing off a few lingering small green tomatoes. Decided to try making them into “pie in a jar”, with the intent to experiment on Kerry and Gillian (with a piece saved for Steve) to get a feel on whether this is feasible to try again next year.
This recipe is pretty standard (a la Paula Dean), including the addition of vinegar. I first found this recipe on the Abundant Life, which I think she adapted from the Univ of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). This should make 7 quarts:
- 4 quarts chopped green tomatoes
- 3 quarts peeled and chopped tart apples (like Granny Smith)
- 1lb or 3 cups each: raisins and currants (optional)
- ¼ cup grated citrus peel (lemon or orange)
- 2 cups water (I cut it with juice from my oranges)
- 5 cups sugar (brown/white mixed)
- ½ cup 5% vinegar (I used cider)
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 2 Tbs cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cloves
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook slowly stirring often, until tender and slightly thickened (about 35 to 40 minutes). Fill hot, clean jars with hot mixture, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe the rims, seal and adjust lids, then process in Quart size jars for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. After the process is complete, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid. Wait five minutes before removing jars.
Since I only had 1 quart of sliced green tomatoes in the first place, I mixed that with 3 cups of sliced apples, ½ cup each of sultanas and currants, chunks of citrus peel that I discarded at the end, ½ cup orange juice and ¼ cup lemon juice, 1¼ cups brown sugar, 2 Tbs cider vinegar, pie spices to taste (and I like a lot of flavour so don’t go by my recommendation).
I was also making pear-apple pie in a jar, so I marked the lid and removed early. The rest continued to cook for 25 minutes, as prescribed by IFAS.
