Here is a recipe for my Gram's Sliced Green Tomato Pickles. This is a true "old Fashioned Recipe". Give it a try and let me know what you think. 🙂

Gram Little’s Sliced Green Tomato Pickles

By: Jim Rancourt (aka OwlOak)

The nice thing about this recipe is that “the amounts are approximations” and not cast in stone, and that it can easily be scaled up or down depending on the amounts of produce and spices you have on hand. Gram was of the old school of cooking where she would say some of this and some of that and if she was short, or long, on one or more of them she put in what she had. Now, I’ll admit that no two batches ever turned out exactly the same. But, I will solemnly swear that each and every one was delicious.

Ingredients:
4 lbs. Green Tomatoes – washed and stem ends removed*
6 Large Yellow Onions – peeled
½ Cup Salt
6 Cups White Vinegar
6 Green Peppers – seeded and diced into ½ in. pieces
3 Sweet Red Peppers – seeded and diced into ½ in. pieces
1 TBS. Mustard Powder
1 TBS. Whole Cloves
1 Stick Cinnamon – broken into pieces
1 TBS. Powdered Ginger
½ TBS. Celery Seed
4 1/2 Cups White Sugar, or 2 ¼ Cups Honey **

6-1 Pint or 3-1 Quart canning jars, lids, and locking rings – sterilized
Cheesecloth and thread, or string
1 very large enamel or stainless steel pot with lid. (I use my enameled water bath canning pot because I usually double or triple the batch)

Directions:

Slice the tomatoes and onions into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. I use a mandolin – that’s the flat surfaced slicer with adjustable blades that almost everyone has and almost never uses. J

Combine the tomatoes and onions in the pot and sprinkle with the salt and mix well. Let stand overnight, then drain and rinse the mixture to remove the salt.

Make a spice bag with the whole cloves and the cinnamon.

Place the vinegar, sugar, mustard powder, ginger, and celery seed in a large enamel or stainless steel pot and heat to boiling. When the sugar has dissolved add the diced red and green peppers. Then add the tomatoes and onions and reduce to a simmer.

Place the spice bag in the pot, cover and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are transparent, being sure to stir the mixture frequently to insure that all is cooked and doesn’t burn.

Turn off the heat, remove the spice bag and transfer the hot mixture to the sterilized jars leaving ½ inch headspace and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes for the pints, and 15 minutes for the quarts.

Any extra can be either processed or chilled in the fridge for an early taste of what’s on the shelf keeping in mind that, as with all pickles, the longer they sit the better they taste.

* The measurement is not critical. I usually figure about 1 pound of tomatoes per pint, and double that for quarts.

** When using Honey a couple of things need to be remembered. Honey is much sweeter than sugar so use ½ as much honey as you would sugar. And, that the sugar in honey breaks down very quickly from high heat and causes a brown discoloring so add the honey as the very last step by stirring it into the mixture just before transferring the mixture to the jars.