A little confused on recipe wording

[larry_stewart]

Its soup season, so I've been looking for some new recipes on the internet. I came across one that uses green tomatoes, so I figured it was a win win. New soup recipe and I get to use up some of the green tomatoes that likely will never ripen from the garden ( I already have gallons of pickled green tomatoes from last year, so no need to add to that).

Anyway, the recipe calls for " Ripe Green Tomatoes".
Last time I checked Green Tomatoes are Unripe tomatoes.
I know they mean Green Tomatoes as Im thinking, but just running it past you guys. Honestly, Im not sure how much Ill enjoy the soup, but its either this or the compost pile, so why not.

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-green-tomato-basil-soup-in-sourdough

 

[karadekoolaid]

Hahaha!! Ripe green tomatoes!
Looks like Food & Wine needs to find themselves a new editor.
As you rightly point out, green tomatoes are always unripe...
Recipe looks good, though! I´d certainly give it a go.

 

[cookiecrafter]

Green tomatoes are used year round in Italian foods. Fried green tomatoes are a southern favorite and I was surprised to learn about the Italian thing.

 

[GotGarlic]

There are types of tomatoes that are green when ripe, but they're heirloom tomatoes that aren't necessarily very common.,like Green Zelda.

"Then there are types of tomatoes that are bred to stay green even when ripe, just as yellow or purple tomatoes keep their colors into maturity. Green zebra and Aunt Ruby’s German green are some famous kinds of green-when-ripe tomatoes."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/green-tomatoes_n_581a5f2ae4b0c43e6c1ddc44

 

[GotGarlic]

For example:

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Its soup season, so I've been looking for some new recipes on the internet. I came across one that uses green tomatoes, so I figured it was a win win. New soup recipe and I get to use up some of the green tomatoes that likely will never ripen from the garden ( I already have gallons of pickled green tomatoes from last year, so no need to add to that).

Anyway, the recipe calls for " Ripe Green Tomatoes".
Last time I checked Green Tomatoes are Unripe tomatoes.
I know they mean Green Tomatoes as Im thinking, but just running it past you guys. Honestly, Im not sure how much Ill enjoy the soup, but its either this or the compost pile, so why not.

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-green-tomato-basil-soup-in-sourdough

If you have space, tomato plants dug up, and hung upside down in a cool place will continue supplying nutrients to the green tomatoes on them, allowing them to ripen. They come out like hot house tomatoes. I'v also transplanted tomato plants into indoor pots, and grew them throughout the winter.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[taxlady]

I thought I remembered having seen tomatoes that are green when ripe. Thank you GG for posting more info on that. I'm pretty sure I have seen pix of tomatoes that look like those green zebras. Now, I don't have to go searching the intertubes to see if I was just imagining that.

 

[pepperhead212]

That is funny! I doubt seriously they meant one of the varieties that ripen green - seems they should have been more specific. But maybe what they were trying to say, or should have said, was mature green tomatoes - IOW, when they get to full size, but before they begin to blush. These are what you are normally trying to get for pickling, or relishes, and the like.

Here's the only green variety I tried this year - Esmerelda Golisina - a delicious flavor, but not very productive, didn't like the heat (as with most tomatoes!), and one of the two plants had countless split tomatoes! I'm still getting a few, so I didn't pull them yet.
Esmerelda Golisina 9-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

I was pretty confident they meant green/ unripe tomatoes , but they threw a curve ball in there. Ive considered growing one of the tomato varieties that ripen green, but I didnt want to have to guess when they were ripe. Even some of the other off color ones trick me a bit as to when they are fully ripe. I always try a few new varieties each year, but keep the bulk of them varieties that have proven themselves to me over the years as far as taste, production and predictability. Slowly Ive been weening myself away from thee others, but still like trying new things.

 

[pepperhead212]

All of the varieties that I have grown, that ripen green, would start out with some stripes, with some dark, but mostly light green. When they ripen, the light green will turn golden, some almost orange, but bright green inside still! And all have been good tasting - Green Zebras I grew for the longest, but they were very prone to those blights that started showing frequently, in this area. Otherwise, I'd still be growing them! They were top rated several years, when I would do taste tests with all my varieties - I knew what everything was, but my friends tasting them with me wouldn't, and at first, didn't know what to think about the green, but were amazed at the flavor. Another good one was Green Tiger, but it was prone to splitting, in heavy rains, and other tigers were even more prone to splitting, in my experience. Green Zebra cherry was also very prone, yet the regular GZ almost never split!

Here's those green tigers a few years ago:
Sunset Falls and Green Tiger, 7-09 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[georgevan]

I always consider that there are some posted recipes that are just guess words that have never been tried. Especially the more complicated ones. Maybe an ego trip for someone to have a recipe listed somewhere.

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't know what you mean. Can you give some examples?

 

[blissful]

I was pretty confident they meant green/ unripe tomatoes , but they threw a curve ball in there. Ive considered growing one of the tomato varieties that ripen green, but I didnt want to have to guess when they were ripe. Even some of the other off color ones trick me a bit as to when they are fully ripe. I always try a few new varieties each year, but keep the bulk of them varieties that have proven themselves to me over the years as far as taste, production and predictability. Slowly Ive been weening myself away from thee others, but still like trying new things.

We also try new varieties every year. This year we added amish paste which were touted as excellent for Wisconsin weather, and they are lovely, but, they are not as prolific as the roma and san marzano that we love. We also tried the tomesol white tomato because Baker's Creek sent us free seeds so we started some of those.


What you said about off color tomatoes we've also found to be true. The tomesol white tomatoes turn white as they ripen, but they go to rot faster than the red tomatoes. The black tomatoes we grew last year were perfect delicious slicers but they went bad so quickly they didn't hold for a few days, they were called amazon chocolate tomatoes.



I think we talked about the seeds--I collect the seeds for the future and for others. If you or anyone is still interested in some, PM me your mailing address and I'll send seeds of the tomesol (if I'm remembering right). I will send out envelopes in October, but I have the seeds fermented, cleaned, and dried now.

 

[larry_stewart]

My Best tomato this year was the one that I got from a local far a few years back and saved the seeds. Only described as a " Sauce Tomato", it not only tasted great, but also produced pretty good too. I figured this is the locals farm's business to find varieties that do well in the area, so if its good for them, good for me too. Im sure its not genetically the same as the first year seeds I got, but still doing well.

Second would be the San Marzano, as far as quantity goes.

I weighed each tomato and documented which plants they came from, so on a rainy day, when Im bored, Im going to figure out which was best in quantity, and which best in weigh, the mean and median weight for each variety .... yeah, I know , but I get a kick out of doing things like this.

My overall judgment of how good of a year it was , is the amount of quarts of tomato products I make and store for the year.

 

[blissful]

Larry, I do the same. Some years I get 100 qts of thick sauce (40 lbs of tomatoes, cooked down to 20 lbs of sauce with body, makes 10 qts), some years 100 qts of diced tomatoes (20 lbs of tomatoes to make 10 quarts). We had poorer pollination starting the tomatoes, the weather was very hot, and ended up with 65 qts of sauce. Over 100 plants. I mostly depend on the roma for a one time harvest and they die off from fungal infection, while the san marzano last a longer season, bigger tomatoes spread out into fall. The romas are done and have died now, the san marzanos are more disease resistant and still have tomatoes on the plants.

 

[larry_stewart]

I jut ripped up my tomatoes today from the main garden. like most gardeners, I have a few other parts of the yard I found room for my ' extra' plants that couldn't fit in the main garden. They are still kicking, but barely. Most have ripened already. There is one new variety I started late. Tomatoes appear to be full size, just green. Not sure of they will start to turn color or not. Im hoping they do so I can at least get a sense oof whether I like them or not.

I will hit you up for some of those white tomato seeds. I'll send you an Im in a few weeks.

I tried the Roma last year and didnt have much luck.

My first tomato was picked early the second week of July, and my last was today ( other than the few stragglers around the yard). Last year was the same harvest range.

I try to store enough tomato products to last me from basically October until I pick my first tomato in July. So far Ive had no problems doing that ( especially since the kids moved out, im saving only for 2 as opposed to 4).

Last year, after tallying up my quarts, I then defrosted a bunch and made some tomato paste , partially cause I never had done it before, and partially to make room in the freezer. Its amazing how much it cooks down.

 

[blissful]

Larry, sure let me know your mailing address and I'll mail out some seeds.


If we (mr bliss and I) could find some disease resistant romas, we would move to those, so I'm going to have to research that. The disease is fungal disease. I'm just not sure I care that much if they are disease resistant because they all get ripe about the same time the leaves are turning brown.



The canning hell, I mean canning season (ha ha) happens for me around Aug 15th through Sept 15 and longer. The first flush of roma starts the season for us. On my first batch of tomatoes, I was exhausted and had a late start of cooking them down in the roaster. So that night I turned the lid sideways so evaporation could occur, turned it down low and went to sleep. The next morning I had paste. Only 28 one-half pints but too thick for sauce. (sauce for us means it has body and begins to mound, but paste is thicker)

 

[larry_stewart]

How many cans can you do at once ? it must be a round the clock operation.

 

[blissful]

With the pressure canner (beans legumes carrots) I can do at most 7 quarts at at time and run it three times in one day. I've tried 4 but can't do it comfortably. With the water bath canners, a 21 qt or a 33 qt, I mostly use the 33 qt, I can get 10 quarts or 9 depending on whether they are large mouth or small mouth, and many more pints and half pints. I'm most comfortable doing 10 qts of sauce per day, whether it is tomato sauce, pear sauce, or apple sauce. It takes from morning to evening to cook them down then can them. I'm no wonder woman, it gets taxing and tiring no matter what I'm doing if it is the 10th batch.

 

[larry_stewart]

With the pressure canner (beans legumes carrots) I can do at most 7 quarts at at time and run it three times in one day. I've tried 4 but can't do it comfortably. With the water bath canners, a 21 qt or a 33 qt, I mostly use the 33 qt, I can get 10 quarts or 9 depending on whether they are large mouth or small mouth, and many more pints and half pints. I'm most comfortable doing 10 qts of sauce per day, whether it is tomato sauce, pear sauce, or apple sauce. It takes from morning to evening to cook them down then can them. I'm no wonder woman, it gets taxing and tiring no matter what I'm doing if it is the 10th batch.

I can imagine. Just doing the 7 quarts or 9 pints for me is a chore. Ive resorted to just freezing the sauces , but ive been canning some pickles and the salsa.