When the first frosts unexpectedly come at the beginning of autumn, most zealous owners face the question: what to do with the unripe, almost green tomatoes collected in a hurry from the bushes? Indeed, at this time they are often recruited in quantity even more than ripe, red fruits, which can always be put on tomato paste.
It turns out that since ancient times it was green tomatoes in large quantities that were salted for the winter in the most traditional way, using large wooden barrels and tubs. And in our time, this method has not lost its relevance, only now it is known more as a cold method of salting green tomatoes, and the most common pot is most often used as a container.
Simple yet effective recipe
There are quite a few recipes for making green tomatoes using the cold salting method. But among them, the simplest remains the one that our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers most often used and which will require minimal effort from you.
The number of tomatoes for pickling will be different for everyone. But, for example, for 2 kg of tomatoes it is necessary to prepare 2 liters of water for the brine and 120-140 g of salt.
According to this recipe, the tomatoes are used whole, but for better impregnation with brine, it is advisable to pierce each tomato with a needle in several places.
Spices are essential ingredients for any salting. To make it tasty, you need to cook at least this amount of tomatoes:
- Dill - 50 g;
- Garlic - 1 head;
- Cherry and black currant leaves - about 10 pieces;
- Oak and laurel leaves - 2-3 pieces each;
- Leaves and pieces of horseradish rhizome - several pieces;
- Black and allspice pepper - 3-4 peas each;
- A bunch of parsley, basil, celery, tarragon - whatever you find to your liking.
The pan can only be used with enamel or stainless steel. It must be scalded with boiling water before use.
At the bottom of the pot, first place some of the seasonings and herbs so that they cover the entire bottom. The tomatoes freed from the tails and stalks are laid quite tightly, shifting them with layers of spices. On top, all tomatoes should also be completely covered with a layer of spices.
In this method, tomatoes are poured with cold brine. But in order for the salt to dissolve well in it, it must be boiled and cooled in advance.
Pickled tomatoes should be kept in normal room conditions for a week, and then placed in a cool place. They will be ready in about 3 weeks, although the taste will only improve as they soak in the brine for two months. The most unripe, completely green tomatoes are salted for the longest. It is not recommended to touch them earlier than after 2 months.
If you have no conditions at all for ripening and storage of tomatoes, then you can carefully transfer them after a week in glass jars, cover with plastic lids and place in the refrigerator.
Interestingly, this recipe can be simplified even more without preparing a special brine, but simply pouring the tomatoes with spices with the required amount of salt.After salting, it is only necessary to cover the tomatoes with a lid and place a load on top in the form of a clean stone or a glass jar filled with water.
Recipe for a sweet tooth
The above spicy and sour recipe is universal, but many people like sweet and sour preparations. They will be interested in the following unique recipe using sugar and special seasonings.
To cold pickle green tomatoes in a saucepan according to this recipe, you will need to cook a few more ripe red tomatoes in addition to the green tomatoes in order to make the filling.
To prepare green tomatoes, with a total weight of 1 kg, you need to find:
- 0.4 kg of red tomatoes;
- 300 g sugar;
- 30 g salt;
- 50 grams of black currant leaves;
- A pinch of cinnamon;
- Several pieces of cloves;
- A few peas of black and allspice.
Cover the bottom of a saucepan scalded with boiling water with a continuous layer of black currant leaves and add half of the other spices. Lay out the clean green tomatoes in layers, sprinkling sugar over each layer. It is necessary that after laying all the tomatoes on top, at least 6-8 cm of free space remains in the container.
Then pass the red tomatoes through a meat grinder, add salt and the remaining sugar to them, mix. Pour the laid tomatoes with the resulting mixture. After they have been warm for 3-4 days, the pan with the workpiece must be taken out into a cold room.
Filled salted tomatoes
According to this recipe, tomatoes are most often prepared using the hot pouring method with vinegar, but this does not mean at all that you cannot cook green tomatoes in the same way and cold without vinegar. But such a workpiece should be stored, if you do not use sterilization, it should be in the refrigerator.
For 5 kg of green tomatoes, prepare 1 kg of sweet peppers and onions, 200 g of garlic and a couple of hot pepper pods. It will be good to add a few bunches of greens: dill, parsley, cilantro, basil.
To prepare the brine, bring 30 grams of salt to a boil in 1 liter of water, add bay leaves, allspice and black pepper to your taste. The brine is cooled. As in the previous recipes, the use of spices for salting is only welcomed: dill inflorescences, oak leaves, cherries and currants, and, possibly, tarragon with savory.
To prepare the filling, both types of peppers, onions and garlic are chopped with a knife or meat grinder and lightly salted. Then each tomato is cut from the smooth side into 2, 4 or even 6 pieces and a filling of vegetables is placed inside it. In a pan of the required size, the tomatoes are stacked with the filling facing up. Spicy herbs with spices are laid between the layers. The layers are compacted as much as possible so as not to crush the tomatoes.
Then they are filled with cold brine. A plate is placed on top without oppression, but the tomatoes must be completely hidden under the surface of the brine. In a warm place, it is enough for such a workpiece to stand for about 3 days until the brine becomes cloudy. Then the tomatoes must be put into the refrigerator.
If you have absolutely no space in the refrigerator to store such a workpiece, then you can do otherwise. Put the tomatoes in the jars and after pouring the brine, put the jars on sterilization. For liter cans, it is necessary to sterilize them for 15-20 minutes from the moment the water boils, three-liter cans need at least 30 minutes for complete sterilization. But green tomatoes harvested in this way can be stored simply in the pantry.
It seems that among the variety of the above recipes, everyone will surely find something for themselves that suits the taste or preferences of their household members.
