Home » Green Tomato Pickles – Old Retro Recipe
by Matt Dobson
What did the roast beef and cheese sandwich say to the green tomato pickles? You complete me! Or maybe that’s just a line from a bad Tom Cruise movie. Anyway, these green tomato pickles are so delicious.
I have just finished smothering a bread roll in this spicy relish and devouring it, and believe me, it really does make the sandwich complete!
This pickled relish recipe is a fabulous way to use the green tomatoes that won’t ripen at the end of the season.
There are so many traditional recipes that I remember my grandparents making when I was small. A lot of recipes like jams and relishes were used to ensure there wouldn’t be wastage when there was a huge crop of cucumbers, or the tomatoes weren’t ripening.
I have noticed a lot of these family secret recipes just don’t seem to get made anymore!
When I was younger housewives and granny’s would be making, and giving away;tomato chilli jam, chutneys, pickles, cucumber relishes and jams.
This green tomato pickles recipe is a real blast from the past. My taste buds instantly remembered the relish flavour.
It took me back to eating roast beef and cheese sandwiches at nan’s, with heaps of pickles and chunks of real butter.
So how did I come to be sharing a recipe for Green Tomato Pickles? I had just made my Tomato Chilli Chutney from the excess tomatoes in my garden and a friend commented that his mother had the best green tomato pickle recipe ever!
So Craig decided that it was timethat I should learn how to make this family recipe. We engaged the assistance of his mother Maureen to make a batch of Nana’s famous green tomato pickles.
Green Tomato Relish Recipe [ Pickles ]- Homemade Retro Method
What did the roast beef and cheese sandwich say to the green tomato pickles? You complete me! Or maybe that's just a line from a bad Tom Cruise movie. Anyway, these green tomato pickles are so delicious.
3.65 from 42 votes
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Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American, Australian, English
Prep Time: 3 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours hours
Total Time: 6 hours hours 3 minutes minutes
Servings: 18 Jars
Calories: 18kcal
Author: Matt Dobson
Ingredients
- 1.9 kg Green Tomatoes
- 400 g Onion
- 9 Tbs salt
- 900 g sugar
- 750 ml white vinegar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 Tbs Curry powder
- 1 Tbs Ground Turmeric
Metric - Us "Imperial"
Instructions
Day 1
Wash the tomatoes, remove any stalks and dry them thoroughly.
Chop the tomatoes and onions into a similar sized dice. In a large saucepan add a layer of 1/3 of the tomatoes and 1/3 of the onions, add 1/3 of the salt evenly over the layer.
Continue this process until you have three layers. Cover the saucepan and leave to stand overnight. This will draw out any moisture.
Day 2
Drain off all the liquid from the tomato mixture.
Boil a jug with hot water and pour over the tomato mixture and drain again. Do this twice to remove all the salt.
Put the tomatoes on the stove and add 450ml of white vinegar. Bring the mixture to the boil cover and then cook for ten minutes using a timer.
In the meantime in a bowl combine the flour, turmeric, and curry powder with the remaining 300mls vinegar until it becomes a paste. Reserve for later use.
Once the tomato has boiled for ten minutes add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Turn off the heat and add the paste slowly to the tomato mixture while stirring. Avoid lumps by adding the paste slowly and continuing to stir.
When the paste has been fully combined, place the pickles over a low heat and simmer gently. Pickles should be cooked for another 10 minutes, or until the mixture has reached the desired consistency.
Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly before bottling in sterilized jars.
Nutrition
Serving: 30g | Calories: 18kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 0.5g | Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 3489mg | Potassium: 25mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Out comes the Sweet Pickles old school recipe card
One of the really cute things about this recipe is that it was typed on nice little-indexed cards in pounds! We had to convert the recipe to metric as we went.
As it turns out, finding 6kgs of green tomatoes isn’t that easy, but after a trip to Ricardoes Tomatoes in Port Macquarie the vital ingredient was secured. The pickle making is a two-day process so Craig’s mother kindly offered to dedicate two days to the pickling and teaching of her recipe.
The result of all these green tomatoes would be three batches of pickle relish or about 18 jars!
I have given the recipe for a single batch which is about six jars.
Maureen (Craig’s mum) warned us that she would be the quality controller for cooking this recipe.
Unless each green tomato pickle batch all past the taste test they wouldn’t be allowed out of her kitchen.
We learned well under her watchful eyebecause although there were differences in the spiciness of each pickle, they were all delicious.
Day 2 of cooking Green tomato pickles:
Draining off all the liquid from the tomato pickles mixture.
Boil a jug of hot water and pour over the green tomato mixture and drain again. Do this twice to remove all the salt.
Put the green tomatoes on the stove and add 450ml of white vinegar. Bring the mixture to the boil cover and then cook for ten minutes using a timer.
In the meantime in a bowl combine the flour, turmeric, and curry powder with the remaining 300mls vinegar until it becomes a paste. Reserve for later use.
When the tomato has boiled for ten minutes add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Turn off the heat and add the paste slowly to the tomato mixture while stirring. Avoid lumps by adding the paste slowly and continuing to stir.
Once the relish paste has been fully combined, place the pickles over a low heat and simmer gently. Pickles should be cooked for another 10 minutes, or until the mixture has reached the desired consistency.
So thank you so much, Maureen, for sharing your famous green tomato pickles recipe and your time with me.
Have you ever tasted or cooked something that instantly triggers a time in your life like the Green Tomato Pickles did for me?
