Green Tomato Preserves

History

"Green Tomato Preserves" is recorded in Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913). It calls for medium tomatoes — "smooth, even, meaty, just on the point of turning but still green" — pared very carefully with a sharp knife, with the eyes cut out and care taken not to cut into a seed cavity. Four pounds of fruit take six of sugar. The peeled tomatoes lie in clear lime water for an hour, are rinsed, then simmered ten minutes in strained ginger tea before the syrup is made separately, half a cup of water to the pound of sugar.

The lime water is a firming step, and the ginger tea a flavouring one; together they turn an unripe fruit into a preserve rather than a pickle. The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this particular recipe.

"Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" is a mixture of recipes and plantation reminiscence. McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War, and the book's affection for that world goes unexamined in it: its dedication is "to our Mammys," and much of the cooking it records is the work of enslaved and formerly enslaved Black women it does not name.

Ingredients

• green tomatoes
• 6 pounds sugar
• lime water
• ginger tea
• 0.5 cup water
• 3 whole lemons
• lemon rind
• salt water

Instructions

1. Select medium-sized, smooth, meaty green tomatoes that are just beginning to turn but still green. Pare very carefully with a sharp knife and cut out the eyes, taking care not to cut into a seed cavity.
2. Weigh the prepared tomatoes. For every four pounds of fruit, measure six pounds of sugar.
3. Lay the peeled tomatoes in clear lime water for one hour. Remove them, rinse well, and simmer gently for ten minutes in strained ginger tea.
4. In a separate kettle, make a syrup by combining half a cup of water per pound of sugar. Bring to a boil and skim clean. Add the blanched tomatoes and the strained juice of three lemons (for a large kettle full). Simmer for two hours until the fruit becomes clear and translucent.
5. While the tomatoes cook, prepare the lemon rind by cutting it into strips. Boil the strips in strong salt water until tender, then boil again in fresh clear water. Add the prepared rind to the syrup.
6. Simmer all together for another hour. Skim out the fruit and transfer to jars. Continue boiling the syrup until it reaches the thickness of honey, then pour over the tomatoes in the jars. The finished preserve should be very clear, with the tomatoes a pale, clear green.