You Can Use Those Green Tomatoes!

One of the character qualities we try to teach our children is “Thriftiness”  vs. “extravagance.  Our working definition of thriftiness is “Not letting myself or others spend that which is not necessary.”

 

And so as we learn this, we try to look for new ways to be thrifty.

We learned a new way to be thrifty just recently from an elderly woman we met who was raised on a farm near the end of the depression.

She told us that we could be using all our green tomatoes for things other than relish or fried green tomatoes.  We were so happy to hear this!

 

 

 

 

 

This year, when the cold nights started, we knew we would not be getting many (or possibly any) red tomatoes.  Yet, we had SO many green tomatoes on the vine.  So we picked around 100 lbs of these green tomatoes and sorted them and used this woman’s idea – and so far it is working!

 

Simply take the green tomatoes that look well-formed and without any bugs or cracks in them, and wrap them in paper (newspaper works fine, but we used packing paper.)  Place them in the basement storage and then weekly, assign someone to go down and turn them, and check them, seeing if any are ripe.

 

 

 

 

 

Sure enough, we have found several that have ripened just perfectly in just a week.  Those that aren’t ripe are re-wrapped and put back into the basement storage.

Once we have enough that are ripe, or too many that are ripe for us to eat, we can blanch them and can them for the winter stews and sauces.

 

What a blessing this new idea was for us.  We hope you can try it as well!

“So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”   - Luke 16:11