Green Tomato Pickle and First Published Article

It is with great excitement that I type that I have had my first article published today !!!

It is on The Daring Kitchen site - http://thedaringkitchen.com/food-talk

So please read it.

It is about pickles and preserves, which aren't very hard to make. As long as you can chop, stir and boil a kettle, you can make pickles.

If you are lucky enough to grow your own vegetables or have a farmers market or even a local market with fresh produce, that can be purchased cheap you are off to a good start. Even produce from the supermarket can be used, but the whole idea of pickles is to use excess produce.

The pickles make good presents for people who appreciate a good pickle. We have a good friend who roasts meat especially to make sandwiches with my pickles !

Now for the jars I usually save ones with metal lids, honey and jam jars are good. I rinse them well, then wash them in the dish washer, storing them in a cupboard with the lids off, to stop any mould if they aren’t completely dry.

Green Tomato Pickle

1 kg green tomatoes, chopped, 500 gm onions, finely chopped, 500 gm cooking apples, peeled , cored and finely chopped, 2 garlic cloves chopped, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, pinch each of cloves and cayenne pepper, 250 gm brown sugar, 300 ml white wine vinegar, 100 gms sultanas

Ingredients ready to cook

Place all ingredients into a large pot, bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat, simmer stirring occasionally for 45 minutes – 1 hour until thickened, it may take longer. For the last 10 – 15 minutes you need to stir more often to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. You can do this as you are boiling the kettle to sterilise the jars. Makes about 2 litres.

The pickles busy cooking

Now while stirring for the last 10 - 15 minutes steralise your jars. Place the bottles you are using in the sink and put the lids in a bowl. Pour boiling water into the jars and over the lids, ensuring they are covered. Now wasn’t sterilising the jars easy. Keep the water in until you need them. I pour boiling water over the ladle and funnel just before I use them

Now I have a wide necked funnel for bottling, but you can carefully ladle the mixture in. Empty the water from the jars one at a time fill to the top and screw on the lid, and then fill the next jar.

So give making pickles a try there are plenty of easy recipes, I even make tomato pasta sauce in the microwave.