How to Pickle Green Tomatoes

Do you love tomatoes and just can't imagine letting any go to waste? If you have had a productive year growing tomatoes the end of the season can feel a little depressing once you realize that those green tomatoes growing on the vine and getting larger, while the summer days are getting shorter. And there isn't much of a chance of them ripening before it's too late. So what do you do? Of course, fried green tomatoes are a must, but I'm here to tell you about the goodness of pickled green tomatoes.

Pickled Green Tomatoes Recipe

2-3 pounds of green tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
2 cups of water
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of bourbon (optional)
1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
2 star anise seed pods
1 1/2 tablespoons of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds

Take your green tomatoes and quarter them. To make things easier, I used a quart-sized canning jar for the pickling process, but you can split them into medium sized jars if needed. Next add your two sliced garlic cloves, sliced jalapeno pepper, fennel seeds, and four tablespoons of bourbon.

In your saucepan, combine the water, apple cider vinegar, kosher salt, whole black peppercorns, star anise seed pods, and turmeric. Bring to a simmer until all of the sugar is dissolved and remove from from heat. Pour your brine into the jar with the green tomatoes.

Let cool, close lid and place in the fridge for at least three days to allow the tomatoes to fully pickle. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Serve with cheeses, cold cuts, in salads, or just enjoy a tasty, crunchy, pickled tomato.

Do you often have green tomatoes at the end of the season, or do all of your ripen during summer?

Rhubarb Simple Syrup

Do you grow rhubarb, but don't know what to make with it? Perhaps you don't grow this edible perennial vegetable because you think it's only good for baking pies. Rhubarb plants can get pretty big and there are only so many pies and jams you can put away in your cupboard. A rhubarb simple syrup is a good way to preserve the flavor of rhubarb, especially if you have a lot of it.

This was the case at the community garden recently. An orphaned rhubarb plant was growing like gangbusters in an empty plot. Try as I might, there weren't a lot of gardeners taking me up on the offer to harvest the rhubarb stalks and take them home. Many didn't know what to do with it, and others just said, "I don't know how to bake." So I set about trying to make a dent in the rhubarb monster.

How to Harvest Rhubarb

Don't harvest stalks from your rhubarb plant during it's first year of growth. Wait until the second or third year to harvest. Choose stalks that are between 12-18 inches long and reddish in color. Grab an individual stalk from the base and twist it free from the crown. You can also just cut the stalks away with a knife. I prefer this method because it's cleaner and quicker. Leave a few stalks on your plant to keep the plant alive. Cut off and discard the leaves of the rhubarb plant. The leaves are poisonous and should not be eaten.

Make a Rhubarb Simple Syrup

4 cups of chopped rhubarb
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water

Cut your rhubarb stalks into 1 inch lengths. Make sure to remove the leaves. Combine the rhubarb, sugar, and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened slightly and the fruit has become soft.

Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and the pour out the contents of the sauce pan into the strainer. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer, use a course strainer lined with cheesecloth. Use the back of the spoon to press the rhubarb against the strainer to squeeze out any liquid.

After the syrup has cooled, pour it into a glass jar or bottle.  It should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. You can also freeze the syrup for longer storage.

Tips: When I told people I was harvesting a rhubarb plant to make simple syrup everyone asked if it would be too tart. The answer is, NO--it isn't too tart. It's actually very sweet. If you (like me) enjoy tart flavors try reducing the amount of sugar. If you happen to walk away when your rhubarb is simmering on the stove for more than 20 minutes it will break down into thin fibers. If this happens, like it did with one batch of mine, you will have to strain it twice to remove any float-y stuff from your syrup.

Now that you have made rhubarb simple syrup, make yourself a rhubarb soda after a long day of working in the garden!

Rhubarb Soda

1/2 ounce of rhubarb syrup
12 ounces of carbonated water

Other ways you can use your rhubarb simple syrup: Drizzle it over shortbread, shortbread cookies, fresh strawberries, yogurt, vanilla or strawberry ice cream. Or even over pie! You can also use this syrup in many of your favorite cocktail recipes.

Are you a rhubarb lover, or a rhubarb hater?

Chive Flower Vinegar Recipe

Do you grow chives but don't know what to do with them? What about when the plant flowers? Do you ignore the blooms, cut them, or let them go to seed and spread all over your garden? Chive flowers are edible and have many uses in the kitchen. One easy thing you can make with chive blossoms is chive flower vinegar.

Chive flowers are beautiful, easy to grow, and they are a great food source for tiny pollinators, but I hate seeing the lavender-colored flowers just go to waste. So recently, I harvested chive flowers for my vinegar from the community garden I'm a part of and from a friend's edible parkway planting.

For this chive flower recipe I harvested 2 1/2 cups of chive blossoms to get a really rich hue. Remove as much of the green stems as possible for a subtle flavor for your vinegar.

Toss your chive flowers into a bowl of cool water, swish them around to remove dust and any tiny bugs. Let any garden debris settle at the bottom and scoop out your blossoms. Place them in a colander and give it a few shakes to remove any excess water. Or, put all the blooms in a salad spinner if you own one and give it a few spins. Place them in your canning jar.

Pour 1 1/2 cups of white wine vinegar into a sauce pan and warm it up over a low heat. NOTE: You are not looking to bring the vinegar to a boil. We are just warming it up ever so slightly; remove from heat if you start to see bubbles.

Pour the warm white wine vinegar over the chive flowers in your canning jar. If you have any blooms that are not submerged in the vinegar, you can push them down with a spoon or other utensil.

Set your concoction aside to cool down. Enjoy the chive-y scent already emanating from your jar as the blooms begin to steep. Feel free to give it a few swirls to make sure all the blooms are submerged in the warm vinegar and releasing their flavor.

After the vinegar has cooled down (you'll notice there's no steam condensing on the inside of your canning jar) you can place your lid on your jar. I used a canning jar that is taller than I needed because I didn't want the vinegar or the blooms to touch the lid and start to rust and ruin my chive flower vinegar. But if you have glass canning jar lids you can use them, or place a piece of parchment paper over the jar's mouth before screwing on your lid.

Now place your tightly closed jar of chive flowers steeping in white wine vinegar in a cool and dark place for anywhere between 1-2 weeks. Yes, it seems like a long time, but the longer the blooms steep the more of their flavor they will impart on the vinegar.

You may notice at this point that there is more debris at the bottom of your jar. That's OK. After you have left your flowers to steep to your preferred flavor strength, pour out the content into a fine sieve to filter out any debris, chive stems, and spent flowers. Now you can pour your chive flower vinegar into a glass bottle or container (that has been sterilized) and enjoy it wherever you want to add vinegar that has a nice chive flower profile.

Making your own chive flower vinegar is really easy, and is a good way to preserve the taste of spring in your garden. Have more chive flowers than you know what to do with? Break the blossoms apart and add them to soups, salads, and sandwiches where you want to add a light chive taste.

What's your favorite way to use chives you grow in your garden?