Dilled Green Tomatoes
I love all things cooking - this includes preserving! Last summer I started canning. I've taught myself with my trusty Ball Blue Book of Canning (if you don't own it - go get it!). Canning is a great way to preserve fresh fruits and veggies. You can also even preserve meat and sauces and jams...and well the list goes on. I have only done water bath canning, which is where you put you jars in a giant bot of boiling water for a certain amount of minutes to process it. There is also pressure canning - which I would love to get into but haven't been able to afford to buy a pressure canner yet! When using a water bath there are only certain things you are able to can due to the acidity of the food. If the food you want to process has a low acid level it has to be done in a pressure canner. You need to follow recipes carefully and can with the proper tools (water bath or pressure canner) so you don't end up killing whoever eats your canned goods!
Now onto the latest thing I canned a couple weeks ago. Dilled Green Tomatoes. We were in the middle of moving from one town to another (2 hours away) when I realized exactly how many green tomatoes there were on my tomato plants! I didn't want to leave the fruit for the over hungry squirrels at our old apartment (come on we spent lots of time and effort growing our 4 tomato plants that ended up getting over 6 feet tall!). So I picked all the green tomatoes and brought them with me! I had already made and canned Salsa & Pasta sauce with the ripe tomatoes....so it was on to something new. A green tomato salsa didn't appeal to me. So I turned to my trusty Blue Book and what did I find, a recipe for pickled green tomatoes with lots of dill. I love dill and pickles...so I decided to give it a go.
A green tomato with my trusty Blue Book.
Washing the tomatoes
Coring the tomatoes.
Cutting the tomatoes into pieces.
Yummy little hunks of green tomato (they smelled really good)
In my pot ready to get the water & pickling salt added
All hot, cooked & ready to be packed into jars!
Giant pot of water almost boiling
My husband and cat while I was canning...I don't think they were having as much fun with the canning process as I was.
All done! Pretty jars all done and ready to cool and get put in the pantry.
So my advice to those who want to can....get a Ball Blue Book and go for it!!!!!
Dilled Green Tomatoes (adapted from the Ball Blue Book)
Yield: about 6 pints
Ingredients:
5 pounds small firm green tomatoes
1/4 cup canning salt (yes this is different than regular salt - it can be found in the canning section of a store)
3 1/2 cups vinegar
3 1/2 cups water
6 or 7 cloves of garlic
6 or 7 heads of fresh dill (or 1/4 cup dill seeds if you cannot find fresh dill)
6 or 7 bay leaves
Directions:
Wash tomatoes, drain.
Core tomatoes, then cut into halves or quarters.
Place in pot.
Add salt, vinegar, and water in a large pot.
Bring to a boil.
Pack tomatoes in hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
Add 1 clove garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds), and 1 bay leaf to each jar.
Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4 inch head space
Remove air bubbles
Adjust 2 piece caps
Process 15 minutes in boiling-water canner.
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