Can I can this recipe?

12 years ago

I am new to the harvest forum but not new to Gardenweb. I look forward to learning from all of you! First of all, reading a few posts here has me worried about canning any of my tomatoes. This is my first ever experience canning. I'm very excited to try it but don't want my first effort to be a waste. All my toms are all late harvest and some had cracking, etc. In their defense, they have been off the vine for less than a week and never frosted that I know of. They got covered well on all nights with frost warnings. I washed each one with a vegetable brush in lightly soapy water and rinsed well. Just got done processing all of them tonight (removing skins, chopping, etc) and would be very sad if I can't can them. I know I can always freeze, but I just got a canner from Granite Gear and I'm really excited to try it out!

OK, that aside-- about half of my tomatoes were less ripe than I'd like... greenish if you will. I would like to try and use them in this recipe I found for green tomatoes. Think this will work for canning? Oh also P.S..... what does BBB stand for? Seems many of you get recipes there. Thanks!

Recipe: I would scale this up to reflect about 4-5 cups of greenish tomatoes. (Any idea how many cups to a pound?)

1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound green, unripe tomatoes

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 large red tomato, cored and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Light a grill. Brush the onion slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the onion slices and the green tomatoes over high heat, turning once, until nicely charred; about 6 minutes for the onion and 8 minutes for the tomato.

Chop the onion into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a bowl. Core, peel and coarsely chop the green tomatoes and add them to the bowl. Stir in the cilantro, red tomato, lime juice and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the salsa with salt and pepper and serve.

I might skip the grilling step because I suspect the oil might make the recipe funny.

Thank you!

Comments (4)

Linda_Lou
12 years ago
I would not suggest it. It doens't have hardly any added acid.
Why not use a safe, tested recipe meant for canning ? This says tomatillos, but it is fine to use regular green tomatoes instead. I like this salsa a lot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green tomato salsa recipe.
dgkritch
12 years ago
I agree, I wouldn't can this. It's a recipe for fresh eating, not preservation.
In addition to very little acid, the oil used to roast the onions is another concern.

BBB is Ball Blue Book. They are readily available for under $10 and well worth the money. Lot's of recipes and also good, solid, TESTED information.

Another source of reliable information is the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Please use an approved recipe for now and keep learning!!
Canning is a fun, tasty and productive addiction!! LOL

Welcome to the forum!!
Deanna
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digdirt2
12 years ago
Agree. It is a fresh use recipe, not a canning recipe. First clue is that no processing time is provided. Second, the oil. That would have to be left out if it was a canning recipe and more acid would have to be added to make it safe for canning. Please stick to using safe, tested canning recipes. There are 1000's of them available and they cover just about everything.

About all your late season tomatoes - first do they taste ok? Late season/damaged tomatoes often taste bitter. That is one reason why canning them is not recommended. Second, since they are late season and even less acidic please make sure you add all of the required bottled lemon juice or citric acid to each jar.

Dave
bananastand
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks everyone! I will skip that recipe. Last night after posting I kept poking around and found an old thread from a couple years ago that you all had about green tomatoes. Found a kajillion recipes there! And I will most certainly be on the lookout for the Ball Blue Book as well. Thanks!

Dave, the tomatoes taste great. Last night I tasted both the ripe and the unripe ones, and they're lovely. Because many of them are Brandywines, I had trouble getting all the seeds (there are so many!) but I hope that won't make anything too bitter.

I just bought a load of jalapenos, long chiles, sweet onions, and red/green peppers at a farm market, so tonight is recipe and canning night. Very excited!

Thanks again all.