So, today is the last of the decent weather up here. tonight it is supposed to be 25f and only 35 tomorrow and cloudy/snow. cool to cold for the next week, so I picked almost all of the tomatoes on the greenhouse since I am not heating it now and don't think I will get many more to ripen with this weather. So can anyone tell me can I use green and red tomatoes for salsa? (Tomatillas are green and are used for it, right?) Has anyone used green ones just to use them up so they don't go to waste? I have green peppers, but not red ones, although I probably can go buy some red ones so they aren't bitter to do a batch. I picked 1 peck of tomatoes tonight.
carolyn keiper, I have to ask you again.....Do you still have tomato plants outside or are they in your high tunnels? I forgot your answer to that. We almost have the same weather. Can I do that too.....?
Barb, Mine are all in the 24x48 heated greenhouse. I quit heating it though last week and have just kept the plants covered with a row cover at nighttime. This was an experiment for the first time this year. I didn't plant this house up until July 1st. It wasn't exactly a failure, but the tomatoes did not sell after the first frost.... :-? I guess people think that once the frost wipes out our gardens they must not NEED garden ripened tomatoes. I used most of them myself, I think. But that is Okay because I am selling everything all summer long and then when Fall is here I have the time to do a few canning projects for us. So, depending on when you plant up the tomatoes and if you keep up with a spray schedule for fungus, keep it heated and don't expect near the quantity a summer crop produces...you could do it, too.
Well, Since I posted this question and I haven't gotten my salsa started yet, they have turned orangish red. I guess I will wait another day.
All my green tomatoes turned red so I ate them. Perhaps nest year I will have more green tomatoes. Then I can turn some of them into salsa before I eat them. A peck? A local bird got a peck, I did not pick that tomato. There is always next year. I saved seeds. Jerry
Carolyn, you sure can use them in salsa and relishes like chow chow. Remember thats what I did with those I had a few weeks back. But for salsa the closer they get to red, even that pinky color, the better. The really small ones can be used for relish but they are not too good for salsa unless salted, soaked, and drained to get that funky taste out of them. They can be used in relish but I cooked mine a few minutes in vinegar water and some sugar, drained all that off then made the relish and it was the best I have ever tasted. I like a sweet/hot type. I just used what ever I had,, green tomatoes, onion, hot pepper from the freezer, and a few end of year zuchinni. Pulsed in processor, cooked with the vinegar water sugar and pickling spice and put in jars.
Thanks, Mart. I plan to make the salsa tomorrow and by now most of them are almost red. I ran out of time doing much of nothing earlier this week and they turned color on me as I burned oxygen . I think I am good to go with a regular recipe, although I could get a few more green ones out of the greenhouse yet since I have kept them covered this past two weeks at nighttime. I still have a few serranos and green peppers out there, too. Whatever is there I will use up.
Well , I used some pretty small ones and those have the wierd taste. Just a little too green I guess. Yours should be great.
Until I got my tomatoes washed, cut and roasted all of them had turned red except for one large one that was still green, but I used it too and ended up with 12 pints of salsa with the last of the tomatoes. I found a recipe for green tomato salsa that called for 24 jalepenos which I thought was mayne too many so I used 12 and a handful of serranos...it is a bit warm.
Yes,, that would be a bit warm . Bet its good though, I don`t use recipes very often, I just do it to my taste.
