7 Delicious Ways to Use Green Tomatoes This Fall Season

As the frost begins to settle and the seasons change from warm to cool, our tomato plants to give way. They are actually tropical flora, able to live as a perennial in places without freezing. However, in the US, we have to grow them as annual crops. Perhaps the silver lining in that fact is the green tomato.

For most of us in the northern temperate climates, October is about the time to start pulling up the tomato plants and preparing gardens for the winter. In doing so, we are often bombarded with a selection of green tomatoes, which to those not in the know seems a tragedy. Rest assured, it is not. Green tomatoes are good eats. Really good.

Now, with that said, it’s important to realize they are not to be confused with the ripe, red tomatoes we’ve become accustomed to over the summer. Green tomatoes are a different vegetable altogether: a slight crunch, less sweet, but versatile and flavorsome all the same. In other words, they should not be thrown out or into the compost.

That’d be tossing out the key ingredient to these great dishes.

Source: Fried Green Tomatoes

1. Fried Green Tomatoes

The most famous way to prepare green tomatoes is to bread them, often in cornmeal, and fry them. Fried green tomatoes is such a tasty dish inspired a novel (or at least the title of one: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café), which in turn inspired the 1991 movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, starring Kathy Bates and Mary Stuart Masterson. Serve them with some homemade remoulade sauce or vegan mayo.

2. Green Tomato Relish

Relish is one of those things that is wholly underrated because most of us only associate the term with that cucumber mush we buy at the store. Relishes, though, are a much more encompassing, and they can be used with much more than a veggie dog. They are good on toast, atop stews, over some beans, on a stir fry, and on and on. Green tomato relish is fantastic accompaniment to lots of stuff.\

Source: Pickled Green Tomatoes

3. Pickled Green Tomatoes

While pickling tomatoes doesn’t sound necessarily like a good idea, pickled green tomatoes are absolutely delicious. Again, unlike red, ripe tomatoes, unripe green tomatoes have a notable crunch, and they are firm enough to stand up to being pickled. Treat them just like dill pickles, tossing them on sandwiches or in salads or just straight in your mouth.

4. Green Tomato Ketchup

The color red and the ripe tomato have dominated the ketchup market for decades now, but the time has come to be a little more creative. For that matter, we’ve all become just a little too comfortable always buying ketchup from the store. Green tomato ketchup is a funky twist, and it’s something that can be made right at home.

5. Salsa Verde

Though normally made with cooked tomatillos, which also have a bit of crunch and lack the sweetness of ripe tomatoes, salsa verde can be made with green tomatoes. In fact, unlike with tomatilloes, green tomatoes often have enough juiciness and give that they can be used to make a raw salsa verde. Hey, it’s a different way to spice up an organic corn chip.

6. Green Tomato Bread

Like all garden vegetables that come in abundance, green tomatoes can be put into bread. As with zucchini and pumpkin, the bakers of the world have figured out how to incorporate green tomatoes into a delicious desert bread. For a vegan version of this, just substitute a flax egg and bake it till it’s golden brown. Smear of little cashew cream cheese on it for a bonus.

Source: Richard Leeming/Flickr

7. Just a Vegetable

Lastly, but not least-ly, green tomatoes are still a viable vegetable, like any other. They cooked down wonderful in all sorts of typical and specialty dishes, including:

• Curried Green Tomatoes
• Green Tomato Pie
• Grilled green tomatoes
• Roasted green tomatoes
• Any kind of stew
• In a nice pot of chili
• Tossed in salads
• Sliced on sandwiches

The main point here is to save those green tomatoes before they go the way of winter and are no longer salvageable. Green tomatoes can add something new to old favorites and definitely star in some new favorites. The trick is to consider them a vegetable unto themselves and avoid biting in with the expectation of a juicy, ripe summer tomato. They are delightfully zesty.

We also highly recommend downloading our Food Monster App, which is available for iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. The app has more than 15,000 plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, and subscribers gain access to new recipes every day. Check it out!

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