Green Tomatoes Provide Chance to Make Piccalilli

“When we had our house painted a year ago, I had to pull out two large tomato plants that were growing against the house, leaving me with two buckets of green tomatoes,” Debra Dean writes. “I didn’t want to waste them, but most recipes using green tomatoes don’t sound very appetizing. My grandmother gave me an old recipe for Piccalilli. It’s delicious as a relish for hamburgers or hot dogs or just by itself. I froze it in plastic one-cup containers and it kept well for months.”

PICCALILLI

5 cups green tomatoes, chopped into small pieces

1/2 head cabbage, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup salt

1 teaspoon celery seeds

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/3 cups vinegar

2/3 cup sugar

Place chopped tomatoes, cabbage and green pepper in glass bowl. Add salt and mix well.

Drain well and rinse off salt. Stir celery seeds, cloves, vinegar and sugar into mixture. Simmer mixture in saucepan 45 minutes. Spoon into clean containers and freeze. Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

--DEBRA DEAN

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