It’s easy being green

By Carrie Floyd

November 8, 2007

The pickup: Last week, anticipating freezing temperatures, I picked all the green tomatoes — mostly cherry and pear — from the yellowing vines in my garden. My intent was to make green-tomato chutney.

The results: However, in the interim between harvesting and cooking, a good third of the tomatoes turned red. Those late bloomers have been tossed into salad, stirred into guacamole, and smashed into sandwiches and burgers. Crazy — eating garden tomatoes in November!

So, loosely following a recipe from Elizabeth David’s book Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen, I placed the stubbornly green tomatoes in a pot with chopped onions, green apples, apple-cider vinegar, brown sugar, kosher salt, ginger, garlic, and a big pinch of red pepper flakes.

I cooked this for about an hour until it acquired a jammy consistency, then ladled it into jars. How is it? Not for the feeble! Sweet, spicy, and oh-so-tart.

I’m seeing green in a whole new way: spooned onto pork chops, as a side to dal and rice, or spread onto turkey or grilled-cheese sandwiches. To share the wealth, I’ll give a few jars away, too — but only to those friends who aren’t afraid to pucker up.