BREAD AND BUTTER GREEN TOMATOES WITH LOTS OF PICTURES


I was in Texas in July for my Aunt Louise's 90th birthday.  When my cousin Gary and Nanny came to pick me up at the airport we went to dinner at a place that had a nice relish bar.  We arrived and Karen had us all a plate of all kinds of goodies to enjoy with our meal.  One of the items was a sweet pickled tomato that I would call a Bread and Butter style pickle.  I have never had this before and to be honest I LOVED it a lot and I am not a bread and butter pickle eater but with tomatoes, it was so yummy.  

A few weeks ago as I was picking some of the last of my tomatoes I picked some green tomatoes just for this recipe.  I know Scott will be somewhat disappointed because he wanted some green tomatoes for something else but I will figure that out later.  I had to make this recipe.  

Make sure you wash your tomatoes really good.  



Core them and cut any bad places off.



I hand sliced mine as well as the onions.  I found hand slicing was easier and much quicker. 



Once you have that done you need to salt them and allow them to stand for 4 to 6 hours.  This will help remove some of the natural juice from your tomatoes.  



Once you have drained the tomatoes and onions, measure out brown sugar and put into a large pot.



Add apple cider vinegar



Bring this to a simmer and melt the sugar.



Measure out your spices into a square of cheesecloth.



Make a bag out of the cheesecloth.



Add your tomatoes, onions, liquid mixture and the spice bag to a large pot.



Cook everything down.



You want it to look like this.  Cook it around a half an hour.



I wanted some heat to some of my jars so I cut a couple of jalapenos into slices to add to a couple of my jars.



Make sure you bring your water bath canner to a boil.



Ladle your tomatoes and onion mixture into jars the ladle in the liquid, and wipe down the tops.  Add lids and rings to finger tightness.



Put the jars into your water bath canner for 20 minutes.



BREAD AND BUTTER GREEN TOMATOES

Ingredients
  • 10 lbs green tomatoes
  • 2 large onions
  • 1/4 cup canning salt
  • 3 cups brown sugar
  • 4 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 1 tablespoon ground allspice 
  • 1 tablespoon celery seeds
  • 1 tablespoon whole cloves
Directions
  • Wash the green tomatoes and allow to dry.
  • Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick.
  • Slice onions 1/4 inch thick.
  • Add tomatoes and onions to a large non-reactive pot and sprinkle salt on top.  Allow to sit 4 to 6 hours.
  • Once the time is up, drain the tomatoes and onions.
  • Add brown sugar and vinegar to a pot and simmer until sugar melts.
  • Put tomatoes and onions into a large pot and add the liquid brine mixture.
  • Add the mustard seeds, ground allspice, celery seeds, and whole cloves to a square of cheesecloth and make a bag.  Tie the bag with some string.  Put the bag into the pot with everything else.  
  • Cook for a half of an hour.  You want to cook it but not to allow the tomatoes to fall apart. 
  • Sterilize pint jars and ladle in tomatoes and onions.  Top off with brine.  Leaving 1-inch headspace.  Put on lids and rings to finger tight.  Place into water bath canner and boil for 20 minutes.
  • Cut off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
  • Remove jars from water bath and allow to cool for 24 hours.  

I wish I could say they are wonderful but I have to wait for at least 6 weeks to open a jar.  I can say that they were pretty darn good when I tried what little was left after filling my pint jars.  I can only imagine they will get much better.  

This was served at a seafood restaurant in Odessa, Texas.  Again it was on a nice relish bar.  I really hope they are as good as the ones I had there was.  

ENJOY!!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

COPY CAT ORTEGA TACO SAUCE

TOMATO SOUP (CANNING RECIPE)

HOW TO MAKE CRISPY PICKLED JALAPENOS