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Monday, August 17, 2009

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes


If you've been following our blog, you know that we ended up planting 30 tomato plants this year due to my new found plant empathy. Among the 30 tomato plants were 6 cherry tomato plants. Andy, of course, nearly had a nervous breakdown when he realized I intended to plant all 6 of them. As many people know, cherry tomato plants typically produce so many little red/yellow/orange bursts of heaven that their gardeners end up feeling as if they are in a multi-colored hell by the end of the season, trying to figure out what to do with the little buggers.

So far, this hasn't happened to us! Granted, we've gotten the suspected amount, but we've been keeping up with them quite well. Mostly, we've been eating them fresh as snacks, but a few days ago we collected quite a haul, so we decided canning was in order.

Among the cherry tomato plants that we planted is a tiny breed, smartly named the Gold Rush Currant Tomato. The fruit grows to a 1/4 to a 1/2-inch diameter. They have been especially plentiful and seemed the perfect fruit for pickling! We also canned one quart of the Riesentraube Tomato, which has also been a bountiful producer.

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes (makes about 2 quarts)
1 quart water
2 Tbs. kosher salt
1 lb. cherry tomatoes (firm, even a little under-ripe)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
dill or herb of choice (to taste)
dried hot pepper (to taste ~ we used 1/2 of one large for each pint)
garlic cloves (to taste)
approx. 12 peppercorns

2 cups white vinegar

Sterilize 2 pint jars or 1 quart jar. In a pot, bring water, salt, vinegar, and sugar to a boil. Meanwhile, prick each cherry tomato with a pin so that it can absorb the pickling mixture. Put dill, dried hot pepper, peppercorns, and garlic into jars. Fill jars with cherry tomatoes. Once the pickling mixture is boiling rapidly, pour over the cherry tomatoes, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Process in boiling water canner.


Ready for the brine.









1 comment:

  1. How long do you water bath them. I don,t seem to see that. Otherwise it sounds great thanks

    ReplyDelete