As a child we used to get green tomato pickles from Williams Chicken near my Grandmothers. They would be floating in a large plastic tub of brine and they were sour and delicious. My brother was mildly addicted to them. Even though I understand his obsession with them, I still do not fully understand the night he created, "Green tomato stuffed hamburgers". Let me just suggest you never attempt to make them and leave it at that. Although I have to admit the vegetable soup with the egg poached in it he made another time was worse, maybe it was the addition of the melted stinky cheese.
Several years ago I consulted the Ball Blue Book and tried to make green tomato pickles. Some folks liked them, but for me it did not match my memory of pickled green tomatoes. This summer when I was making lacto fermented pickles I realized the pickled green tomatoes we all loved where lacto fermented, not vinegar, salt and water. The folks from Flack Family Farm told me to use the same procedure I would use for any vegetable. Then they thanked me for giving them an idea for using their green tomatoes.
The good news is this method of pickling couldn't be easier, no boiling water bath canner, no hot brine. Plus lacto fermented foods are super foods, in modest quantities anyway. They improve vitamin absorption and correct the environment of your digestive system. The down side is after 3-4 days at room temperature they have to be stored in the fridge. The basic procedure comes from the Nourishing Traditions
cookbook. Although there is no recipe for green tomato pickles in the book. It is better to make the pickles with homemade whey as they are lower in salt and it works more consistently. Whey is really simple to make using full fat yogurt that active yogurt cultures. The only downside to making it with whey is you have to plan ahead, and have yogurt in the house.
cookbook. Although there is no recipe for green tomato pickles in the book. It is better to make the pickles with homemade whey as they are lower in salt and it works more consistently. Whey is really simple to make using full fat yogurt that active yogurt cultures. The only downside to making it with whey is you have to plan ahead, and have yogurt in the house.Lacto Fermented Green Tomato Pickles
For 1 quart (make as many or as few as you wish to store)
1 wide mouth quart preserving jar
enough green tomatoes to fill the jar to 1 inch below the lid (only use tomatoes that are totally green, the ones that made you crazy at the start of the summer)
1 dill head or 1 fresh dill sprig or 2 Tbsp dried dill or dill seed)
1 hot pepper with the stem pulled off (optional)
1 large or 2 medium or 3 small cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp canning and pickling salt
4 Tbsp homemade whey (or substitute an additional Tbsp of canning and pickling salt)
water
Wash the tomatoes and remove their stems and place in the clean wide mouth jar to 1 inch below the rim. Add the garlic and hot pepper between the tomatoes and add the salt and whey, if using. Fill the jars with water to 1 inch below the rim and screw on the lids. Store at room temperature for 3-4 days (3 days when kept at 72°) before placing on the top shelf of your fridge. They can be eaten after the 3 - 4 days but are better after a month of storage. It's normal if the brine is fizzy or there is white foam floating on the top. If the pickles go bad the smell will be completely off and you won't want to eat them.
As a full disclosure thing, the green tomatoes in the photo are not fermented yet. When done they will be more of an olive green color. I just wanted to post this while there were still green tomatoes for people to use.
not sure if I've ever had fermented vegetables, but this reminds me of all the canning my mom used to do when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteYou are totally right: some green would have made my pumpkin dish a bit more appealing, but would have required an extra trip to the grocery store :)
Olga, Traditional pickles and sauerkraut are both fermented. It is only modern pickles that are preserved in a vinegar brine as it is less labor intensive. Ba tampte pickles are fermented, they are sometime in the kosher refrigerated sections of grocery stores, and so much better then other grocery store pickles.
ReplyDelete-Robin
It is a falsehood that lacto-fermented foods must be stored in the fridge after a few days. By that logic, there were no lacto-fermented foods before the advent of refrigerators!
ReplyDeleteThey ought to be stored in a cool place--I use my basement, and have for years, with no bad results.
You don't need a refrigerator. I've stored lacto-fermented Jalapeño, sauerkraut, Tomato Salsa,Dilly Beans, and other delicacies for nearly twelve months on shelves on the outside corner of a basement room at aproximately 60 degrees, depending on how accurate the little thermometer thing is. Everything tasted just as good, if not better, the longer it was stored. The only reason I didn't keep anything longer was we'd eaten it all. This year I bought more jars, so we'll see. Be sure to date all your creations.
ReplyDeleteI used this recipe and am now happly addicted to them and am now moving to every veg in the garden before the frost
ReplyDeleteI agree that lacto fermented foods do not need to be stored in the fridge for food safety. However if they are stored in the fridge they will maintain their texture better.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear you tried and liked the recipe.
-Robin
Try lacto fermented pepperoncine peppers. 2 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of vinega, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Fill jar to the top with the mixture after putting peppers in. Open every few days to release pressure....when pressure quits building they are ready to eat...fantastic
ReplyDeleteI know this is an older post, but it was the first thing that caught my eye when I was pondering the pile of green tomatoes I was about to stuff in my Picklit jars yesterday. I needed some flavor suggestions, and there you were! Thank you. It will be interesting to see how they turn out (so far, everything I have done in the jars, which are air locked, has turned out perfectly-- tart like good pickles, but with a clean flavor and lots of crunch.)
ReplyDeleteGreat blog!
How long will these last once refrigerated?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
It will last without molding for a long time, at least a year. They may start to get softer after a few months.
ReplyDeleteRobin
Just the recipe that I was looking for. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSolve the soft pickle problem by placing a clean grape leaf or oak leaf in with the tomatoes. That's what my grandmother use to do to her pickles to keep them crisp.
ReplyDelete