Spicy Pickled Tomatoes

So it is time to deliver some new items to my taste testers and I am pretty excited about this round. One of the main reasons for my excitement is because I HATE to see good food go to waste. My garden is FULL of green tomatoes and I know deep in my heart that there is not going to be enough warm weather to make all of those green tomatoes turn red. Summer is over. I know it, even if I have not yet accepted it.

Last month I put some of the green tomatoes to good use in some green tomato salsa and I was pretty pleased with the results. So today I decided to make some spicy pickled tomatoes. My mother in law gave me recipe from her mother in law and I took the liberty to make a few minor changes. Most of them were simply to add some spice and with the rest I remained true to her recipe.

But I have to wonder what my taste testers will think. If they had a garden full of green tomatoes, which item would they choose to make? And if they are not the 'making' kind, which item would they choose to spend their hard earned dollars on.

In the next few weeks each taste tester will get a jar of the salsa and the pickled tomatoes and we will let them answer the questions for us.

Spicy Pickled Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds green tomatoes. If using cherry tomatoes, no need to slice.
  
• 3 medium cooking onions, sliced
• 1 small red sweet pepper, chopped
• ¼ cup seeded and finely chopped jalapeno peppers
• 4 ½ cups white pickling vinegar
• 3 cups white sugar
• 2 tbsp mustard seed
• 5 tsp whole white peppercorns
• 2 tsp celery seed

Preparation:

Wash tomatoes. If you are using cherry tomatoes and you don't want them to float in the jar, prick the bottom of each tomato with a sterilized needle. Slice larger tomatoes 1/4-inch thick. Combine the tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, and jalapeno peppers and set them aside.

In a large saucepan combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, peppercorns, and celery seed; bring to a boil. Turn off the burner and set aside.

Meanwhile, pack tomato mixture into hot, clean pint jars. Then pour hot vinegar mixture over mixture, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with rubbr spatula or plastic knife and add more vinegar mixture if required. Wipe jar rims; hand tighten lids. Process jars in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes.

Yields – 5 to 6, 500ml jars