Extension > Food > Food Safety > Preserving and preparing > Fruits, vegetables, and herbs > Pickled sweet green tomatoes
Pickled sweet green tomatoes
Recommended Processes
Boiling water bath
Pints, 15 minutes
Quarts, 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 10 to 11 lbs. of green tomatoes (16 cups sliced)
- 2 cups sliced onions
- ¼ cup canning or pickling salt
- 4 cups vinegar (5%)
- 3 cups brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. mustard seed
- 1 Tbsp. allspice
- 1 Tbsp. celery seed
- 1 Tbsp. whole cloves
Yield: About 9 pints
Procedure
Wash and slice tomatoes and onions. Place in bowl, sprinkle with ¼ cup salt, and let stand 4 to 6 hours. Drain. Heat and stir sugar in vinegar until dissolved. Tie mustard seed, allspice, celery seed, and cloves in a spice bag. Add to vinegar with tomatoes and onions. If needed, add minimum water to cover pieces. Bring to boil and simmer 30 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent burning. Tomatoes should be tender and transparent when properly cooked. Remove spice bag. Fill jar and cover with hot pickling solution, leaving a ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.
The following low temperature pasteurization treatment can be used to prevent excessive softening.
This treatment results in a better product texture but must be carefully managed to avoid possible spoilage. Place jars in a canner filled half-way with warm water (120° to 140° F). Then, add hot water to a level 1 inch above jars. Heat the water enough to maintain 180° to 185° F water temperature for 30 minutes. Check with a candy or jelly thermometer to be certain that the water temperature is at least 180° F during the entire 30 minutes.
Reviewed by Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota Extension educator, 2010.
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