Tomatoes, Tomatoes, and More Tomatoes

OMG is not the best way to start out a blog, but it fits perfectly at this time. I have ripening tomatoes on the top of both of my servers in the dining room,

on my south and west facing windowsills,

in the basement under a natural daylight grow lamp, and we still have a big bin of green Romas and Oxhearts sitting in the kitchen.  To date, we've either eaten or canned 75 lbs of tomatoes and have shared at least 20 lbs more with friends and visitors.  We still have approximately 25-40 lbs more to process as they ripen...or stay green. 

Remember how I told you about our "test garden" this year?  Well, I planted ten tomato plants, two of each of five varieties - Roma, Oxheart, Slicing, Yellow Giants, and Cherry Tomatoes. Up here, tomatoes are very hard to grow because of the short growing season and/or cool summers.  Because of that, I guessed that I would lose 1/3 to 1/2 of the plants...but I didn't lose any.  I didn't do anything but plant them, feed them once with rabbit manure, and weed the bed. I didn't even pinch off any of the suckers to increases the production of tomatoes. At the beginning, our plants were way too leafy so I didn't expect much produce. In late August we had a heat wave (for the UP) with the temps reaching almost 90 degrees and the plants exploded with tomatoes - they were so heavy that the tomato cages were stressed to hold the weight of the plant and produce! ...but it was late for ripening.

As we discussed the weather and the garden, Mark decided to build us a small hoop house to put over one row of five plants and I took a light weight sheet of plastic and a Planket (plant blanket) and covered the other row of five plants.  We thought we'd try two different methods to see if one worked better than the other to keep heat in so that the green tomatoes would ripen.  Well they both worked...to a point.  We'd remove the hoop house and planket/plastic during the days and cover them at night until it got cold enough that we had to pick all the produce in the garden.

Those of you who know me well know I hate waste, so I am bound and determined to process them. I've canned stewed tomatoes, crushed tomatoes for sauces, and I'm now experimenting on canning things like tomato juice and green tomato mincemeat.

I learned about green tomato mincemeat from my mother-in-law Dolores Bloomfield years ago.  She also experienced non ripening tomatoes in cool Michigan summers and would turn those green unappetizing bulbs into the best tasting holiday pies.

Original mincemeat was commonly thought of as a traditional Thanksgiving dish--actually traces its roots back to Medieval times, when preparing meat with fruit and spices was one form of preservation. Early New Englanders would make large batches of mincemeat and store it in crocks sealed with a layer of lard for use over the winter months.  Green tomato mincemeat is a very rich veggie/fruit mixture (no beef) that is baked into pies and tarts during the holidays. Since it is so rich, people either love or hate it.  Mark and I love it and have fond memories of Dolores' mincemeat pies - you knew it was Christmas when you had that pie!  I'd like to share it with you now - Old Fashion Green Tomato Mincement

If any of my sisters and/or brothers-in-law would like a home-canned jar of green tomato mincemeat, just let me know and I'll wrap one up and ship it off to you as our way of sharing family memories that are cherished by us.

I'm ending this with a note to self - use small hoop houses early in the spring to get the plants out earlier so that the produce will have time to ripen on the vine..and remember 6-8 plants will do!

P.S. We met with our Italian lawyer today on farm business - he wants whatever ripe tomatoes we have left to make tomato sauce to go with his holiday ravoli. We are now trading tomatoes for ravoli!  He stopped by and picked up about 20 lbs from us.  Now all I have to do is make and can the mincemeat!! Hurrah!