What to do with unripe tomatoes
As summer draws to an end, tomatoes in your tunnel will slow down and often you are left with quite a few green or yellow tomatoes. Some make tomato chutney or jam. I ferment them as they are. The fermentation process breaks down the alkaloids and tomatoes, albeit raw, become edible, savory and full of good bacteria for your gut.
Fermented Green Tomatoes
By Published: September 27, 2019
You need at least 2 kg of these, to make it work
Ingredients
- 2 kg cherry tomatoes green and yellow. unripe
- 3 cloves garlic no need to peel
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns whole
- 40 grams salt coarse
- 1 celery sprigs preferably with leaves on
- 2 chillies split
Instructions
- Find an airtight container, of about 2.5litres in volume
- Arrange a layer of celery leaves, some peppercorns, 1 garlic clove, cut into 2, 1 split chilli on the bottom
- rinse and arrange the tomatoes on the top, to almost fill your container
- cover the tomatoes with the rest of the celery leaves, sprinkle with the rest of the peppercorns, add the rest of the garlic and chilli
- sprinkle with the salt and fill the container with tap water.
- Cover and place it in a bowl, in case some of the brine will spill out in the process of fermentation. Put in a dark place at room temperature and leave for 5 days.
- When you open your container, it should look a slightly different colour and you should smell the specific fermentation aroma. If it has mold on the top, it means your container was not closed tight and it was not full to the brim with liquid. You can remove the mold, add more salty water and close it again. Tomatoes will be ready to eat in about 10 days. Once ready, you can decant them in smaller jars, fill with the brine and keep in the fridge for several weeks.
