Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

There are two vegetables in the garden that frustrate me more than any other - corn and tomatoes.  Now corn I've come to grips with.  The problem is that we in the Pacific Northwest just don't have a long enough growing season to really do corn.  The "marine layer" of mist dampens our mornings and hides the sun.  The result is that we get our own corn every few years and the in between years we can corn from Yakima (they have awesome corn!).

The other vegetable, or to be truthful it's a fruit, that kills me are tomatoes.  In my whole adult life, there were only 2 years when I didn't plant at least one tomato plant.  And those were my first two years in college - in the dorms and then in a second story apartment (I didn't think of doing a container).  But my next apartment was on the ground floor and there was a little flower garden outside so I slipped a tomato plant in there.  And from then on, I have always had tomatoes ... but many years only green tomatoes.

I planted 10 tomato plants this year.  One was a sunglobe cherry, which always ripen and get eaten right down in the garden.  One was a heirloom large slicing variety.  The rest were Romas for saucing.  I'm in love with Roma tomatoes because they have thick skins that are easy to remove, lots of flesh and few seeds.  Also, they don't split easily in the rain like slicing tomatoes do.  But for some reason the Romas take for ever to ripen ... at least for me.

My mom lives about 30 minutes south of me, right near the Columbia River.  She plants stuff in containers on her back patio.  A month ago she was giving me bags of ripe Romas.  Mine were just getting to full size.  And, yes, we did plant at the same time.  And, yes, we both have about the same hours of sun on our gardens.

Now it's mid September and mine are finally starting to turn.  But now the rain is upon us and the leaves are wilting and some of the fruit are getting moldy in the dampness.  I'm resorting to bringing in any that have even the slightest hint of color and forcing them on the kitchen counter.

But at least I'm getting some this year.  I've already made one batch of sauce.  Many years, like last year and the year before that, none of my tomatoes ripened.  I tried every trick in the book:

• pierce a hole in the stalk, 2 inches off the ground
• stop watering
• put red tarps underneath
• put big black garbage bags over each
• pull them and hang upside-down in the barn

Nothing worked.  In most cases the fruit would get black spots or start to mold.

Thankfully I have this awesome recipe for pickled green tomatoes.  But after two years of nearly all my tomatoes being pickled, the last thing I need are more. So my fingers are crossed that I'll get more red then green tomatoes.  

Green Tomatoes, Fried or Otherwise

If you are living in the Pacific Northwest right now, you already know exactly what I am talking about. This summer has been ridiculous. If we had gotten even 3 weeks of solid heat and sun, then my post's title would be "50 lbs of Tomatoes" and the recipe would be for marinara sauce. But NO - this is all about the lovely green tomato.

Seriously though, I have never had more tomatoes on the vine than this year. We were set up for gallons of marinara sauce, which I need because I go through gallons every year. It's now mid-September and the rains have begun and there is no way I'm going to get even one red tomato. Actually that's a lie. We got two red tomatoes. One is a big heirloom that turned orange-ish and the rains hit and it split right up the side. It's sitting on my windowsill attempting to red-up. The other was one little cherry tomato and I popped right in my mouth and thoroughly enjoyed it.

My mom and I decided to do three things with the green tomatoes. First, we harvested all that were hanging outside the cages around each bush. These we pickled (more to come about that). Second, for the tomatoes that remained on the vine we decided to experiment with clear plastic. This plastic was purchased by my dad for hunting season. During elk hunting the guys create these clear plastic rooms off of each RV in camp. They always need more clear plastic and more 2 x 4's. Tough, we're talking tomatoes here! About 25 feet of the plastic got placed over the 8 tomato plants. We doubled it for extra insulation, hoping the heat will make those little Romas ripen. I'll report on the results in a couple weeks. Third, I put about 15 large tomatoes in a paper bag by the fridge, where the heat escapes underneath. Again, I'll report if this works at all.

The ones we harvested got pickled. We did the following: 12 pints dilled slices, 12 pints spicy dilled slices, 12 pints rosemary cherries. It took about 4 hours total, which is one less than the relishes I made last weekend - the benefit of having a partner-in-crime when canning. Here is the one of the best recipes I've ever found for green tomatoes:

Dilled Green Tomatoes

Makes 6 pints

5 lbs small, green Roma tomatoes

1/4 c pickling salt

3 c vinegar

4 c water

6 garlic cloves

6 t dill seeds

6 bay leaves

Directions

Cut tomatoes into slices, about 1/8 inch thick. In a large sauce pan, combine salt, vinegar and water. Bring to boil, then turn off the heat. Pack tomatoes into hot pint jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Add 1 garlic clove, 1 teaspoon dill seed and 1 bay leaf to each jar. Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4-inch headspace, and secure the lids. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Notes - To make spicy, add 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to each jar. You can double or triple (as I did) this recipe.