Pickled green tomatoes
Pomodorini verdi sott’aceto
Pickled green tomatoes are a relish that can be prepared in hundreds of different ways, and I normally make it with dill, bay leaves, cloves and peperoncini. Yet I’d heard they should be quite good with “sweet” spices like cinnamon and vanilla, and couldn’t resist trying. And they are divine – sour, sweet and spicy.
The cake ingredients highlight the inherent sweetness in the unripe tomatoes, but it is still a sour pickle that works wonders with cured cold cuts, steaming dark stews and mature cheese. A refreshing counterpoint to classic wintry food.
Ingredients
500 g green tomatoes
250 ml vinegar
250 ml water
200 g sugar
1 stick of cinnamon
½ vanilla pod
Preparation
Rinse the tomatoes and prick them with a toothpick
Bring water and vinegar to the boil and let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes.
Remove the tomatoes with a skimmer and place them in a clean pickling jar.
Add sugar, cinnamon, vanilla seeds and pod to the water-vinegar mixture at let it boil until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour the liquid over the tomatoes and seal the jar.
Don’t start eating the pickled green tomatoes immediately. They get better after a couple of weeks.
As part of the Food Friday fun here’s a link to ExpatGermany’s post on the German wine Trollinger, which may or may not taste good with pickled tomatoes:)
Cinnamon and vanilla adds sweet memories to an otherwise tart pickle.
I love Italian food, thanks for the recipe :)
My pleasure;)
Nice twist with the cinnamon and vanilla!
Thanks. I wonder how you pickle green tomatoes in the US.
Nice. I love pickled green tomatoes. In fact made them for the first time this summer. Love your pickling brine!
I can just imagine those with cold cuts, like you said. We’re loving pickles at the moment but I’ve never come across green tomatoes in Turkey at this time of year. Will definitely be keeping my eyes open for some though.
Julia
You don’t buy green tomatoes in Italy either, but you can pick them off the bushes before they mature.
I plan on growing lots of tomatoes in Calgary next summer so the late ones would be delicious in this mixture. Never tried but I do love canning and these sound good – especially in Italian.
Calgary would be perfect for late green tomatoes – and a lot of other delicacies besides. You’ve got something to look forward to:)
I’ve never heard of pickled green tomatoes before but would be up for trying them. It’s fun to try old food in new ways.
I never even heard of green tomatoes before and can’t really imagine the taste… but then I just had fried green tomatoes for the first time a few months ago and really liked it. I was surprised at how sour they were though… is it the same with the pickled ones?
Hi Sabrina. This version is not sour at all. In fact, I’ve just reduced the sugar, because the original version got rather sweet over time, but they’ve still got a nice tangy twist.