I've picked about one billion little yellow tomatoes. After my attempts to roast them failed (they tasted nasty; maybe the seeds or maybe the metal pan), I rediscovered the dehydrator. I dried several batches by cutting them in half and scooping out the seeds before I hit upon cutting crosses on the ends and squeezing out the seeds. It goes a lot faster that way and takes up less space on the racks. It's also fun to make puking sounds while the seeds squirt out.
Now I have lots of baggies full of little cornflake-looking things. There is still a batch waiting to be done; I'm just waiting for them to ripen a little, plus some of the German pink tomatoes.
It was threatening to freeze today (I think maybe it did) so yesterday I went out and picked all the green tomatoes I could stand. I have pickled all but a few of the large ones that I left for Mom to fry. I made some of the cherry tomatoes the traditional way, using the recipe for normal-sized tomatoes out of the blue book (bay leaf, garlic, dill). Right now on the stove there are three "special" jars: one with a teaspoon of sugar added; one with a teaspoon of Splenda; one with a T of sugar, crystallized ginger, whole allspice and angostura bitters. There are also two quart jars with the larger tomatoes. I put a chopped-up ancho chile on top of one, and plenty of seeds.
There are still my hanging tomatoes that I wheeled into the garage. They have fruit on them, but no blossoms like the ones outside do (or did). Who knows, maybe it didn't freeze and I could be picking tomatoes for another month. Ugh.
Next up: a billion tiny pumpkins. Will also add a picture of the one massive German pink tomato.
Labels: tomatoes
