Green Tomatoes

If you are from the south, green tomatoes are a delicacy usually only available at the very beginning of tomato season, and again right before the first freeze. In the early summer I judiciously decide which tomatoes will forfeit their ruby red future in exchange for a dip in egg, cornmeal, flour, and a pan of hot oil, to end up on my plate as a fried green tomato. Once that yen has been satisfied, the rest are safe to ripen.

In the late fall I carefully pay attention to the weather forecast, anticipating the first hard freeze. On the appointed day all of the tomatoes – red, green, or in between, are stripped from the vines and brought into the kitchen for sorting. The red tomatoes are put to use immediately. Tomatoes in and on everything. (This year I ate tomato sandwiches for five meals in a row – breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch!)

The in-between or pink tomatoes or even green tomatoes with the slightest hint of a pink blush are individually wrapped in newspaper, placed in a box, and stored in the back of the pantry. I’ll check the box every few days and bring out a newly ripened tomato, one at a time, savoring it as if it were the first tomato of summer. Hopefully, my last tomato of summer will be sometime in December or, if I’m lucky, one or two will last until January.

The green tomatoes are destined for a greater purpose – chow-chow. There are mixed opinions on the much maligned condiment known as chow-chow. I say – If you don’t like chow-chow, you’ve just never had mine. I can’t divulge the recipe (or I’d have to kill you), but it is a concoction of green tomatoes, cabbage, bell peppers, onions, garlic, jalapenos, sugar, vinegar, and pickling spices. It is all chopped, cooked down, and put up in jars to be stingily doled out during the winter. With each bite I am transported to my grandmother’s east Texas kitchen.





A tomato is a wonderful thing. I can hardly wait until it is warm enough to plant again. But, until then, I have jars of canned tomatoes in the pantry, along with wrapped tomatoes ripening slowly and fourteen pints of chow-chow to tide me over.