Pickled Green Tomatoes

As summer rolls, okay rolled a few days ago, to a close, my garden is still sporting some green tomatoes. This always frustrates me, you can only eat so many fried ones. Once I do that, I am resigned to imagining the luscious fruit they could have been.

This year I decided to do an experiment. I adore pickled green tomatoes, but have a hard time plopping $8 down for a jar. They remind me of lunches with my grandparents. My grandma always stocked up on pickles when we flew to Florida for a visit, and the green tomatoes were always the first to get eaten.

I went with a basic kosher dill recipe. This is ridiculously easy. Salt water, dill, garlic and some spices are poured over the tomatoes, to top covered with a cloth, and left to ferment in a cool corner for a few days. After 5 days I felt they reached the perfect level of bubbly, pickle goodness. Now they are waiting in the fridge for a tuna sandwich lunch.


Pickled Green Tomatoes
1 large crock or jar
green tomatoes (not even a tiny bit red!), quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons pickling spices
1 large handful of fresh dill, with seed head if possible
3 tablespoons kosher salt
4 cups of water, or enough to cover the tomatoes in the jar. If you need more then one additional cup of water, double the salt water mixture.

1. Heat water and salt until salt is disolved.
2. Pack jar with quartered green tomatoes. Add dill, garlic and pickling spices.
3. Pour salt water brine over tomatoes.
4. Cover jar opening with a cloth held on with a rubber band.
5. Store in a cool corner of the kitchen. Taste after 3-4 days. The liquid will be a little cloudy, and there will bubbles on the top. When the pickles taste good to YOU, put jar in the fridge. Eat within 2 weeks.