Tomato Blight Blues ...

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Mike313

Nomad
Apr 6, 2014
272
30
South East
Hi all,
For the third year in a row, our tomatoes (only 8 plants) have succumbed to blight. Only last week I thought we were going to escape the blighter this year, our cherry toms were ripening nicely and we had already harvested some, and the larger variety was doing well. Then, after a warm & wet day (ideal blight conditions) the leaves and stems started to show the tell-tale signs. In a few days it had spread to the cherry toms as well. Many curses were muttered and I resigned myself to pulling them up and disposing of them (by fire). I took off as much unspoilt fruit as I could and was left wondering what to do with a couple of dozen medium-sized green tomatoes and probably the same weight in ripe cherry tomatoes. Last year I made green tomato chutney (and bloody nice it was too) but this year I was diagnosed as diabetic so I need to avoid the sugar so was wondering what to do with them.
I found a really nice recipe for frying the green toms (sliced and tossed in egg then flour), and serving it with a salsa made from ripe red tomatoes (skinned), a few spring onions, a handful of mint leaves, a green chilli (seeds and pith removed) and some lime juice. All the salsa ingredients are chopped very finely and mixed well. Very tasty. It was nice also because the green and red tomatoes, the spring onions, the mint and the chilli all came from the garden.
We finished off the last of the green tomatoes today at lunch-time. So while the blight is a pain in the rump, at least all was not lost.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Good job.

We have given up on outdoor tomatoes now - we raise ours under glass now which has the added advantage of keeping blight off as well as meaning we have already had so many that we have canned a load :)
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
The size you say you have make them a bit small for frying. Fried Green Tomatoes are normally big enough to slice large enough for a sandwich sized slice.

Flour alone won't make a proper crispy crust; for that you need corn meal. The video in the following link uses a 2 stage batter in first flour, then corn meal/bread crumb mixture and will work well. However I skip the flour and the bread crumbs as my daughter is a celiac and can't have them. They come out just as well with only corn meal. http://youtu.be/iGUrcwdhFkk

The best dressing is Ranch, or Bleau Cheese. The Salsa should be saved for tortilla chips instead.
 

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