What to do with all those green tomatoes?

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If you are like me you've been checking daily for ripe heirloom tomatoes to make it some how to ripeness before the frost. Well, yesterday my sister in-law made me and my younger unit (the daughter) get to it! in the garden. We pulled up all of the big beautiful heirloom tomato plants as well as the volunteer varieties that gave and gave and gave all summer and into these few days of fall. There are now three very large BUCKETS of green and red tomatoes of every variety that need to be processed. I have felt sick looking at them last night and first thing this morning. I am a little hesitant due to the long week I've had to get the kettles (canners) boiling, and the stock pot readied to hold massive amounts of green stuff. **SIGH** Oh the green is over flowing and I am sad they didn't make it to their ultimate goals of brown and yellow ripeness. Just yesterday we had "The Best" BLT's using 2 large black krim tomatoes, which we served with wild rice soup. I know I will not be saddened for long for I and my assistant will be making uber amounts of Chow Chow (pronounced, ChaCha). This green goody is what every gardener needs to do with those left over green tomatoes. I just started  making this 3 years ago. I have worked on my recipe and come up with something not so sweet or spicy, but full of summer flavors. Don't chuck those slow growing green guys into the compost just yet because there are so many. Make a southern relish that will have you dreaming of the lovely warm nights full of the song of the cicada. Below are some links to recipes to get you started. The standard for southern chow chow begins with green tomatoes, and ends with yum! So be creative! throw in something new to the mix. My favorite is asaragus, and this year I am putting in carrots, and I always always use jalapenos.

Happy Harvesting!!!

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,chow_chow_relish,FF.html

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