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Test Kitchen

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:19 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:It also contains malt vinegar which in the UK contains a lot of caramel, so it's going to be dark either way, I think the tomatoes will probably be ok when removed from the liquid

Indebted to Tom Kerridge for convincing me that real malt vinegar is a good thing, quite unlike the chip shop condiment based on spirit vinegar

I was going to use the clear stilled malt vinegar Sue if I went with the white vine vinegar as I have a couple of bottles of that in cupboard.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:45 pm

Distilled or spirit vinegar is not the same as malt vinegar, but if you are using that, then might be worth using white wine or cyder vinegar to keep it light and bright

There's a kind of flavour pyramid

Non-brewed condiment is made from acetic acid (from any source) diluted with water and usually coloured - my lab colleagues used to pinch my dilute acetic acid to put on their chips!

Distilled/sprit vinegar is made by a vinegar mother (acetobacter) working on dilute alcohol (like vodka, hence "spirit" - it's the alcohol that's distilled) so it doesn't have a lot of flavour and no colour

Malt vinegar is made by a vinegar mother working on a wort, similar to the mash used for beer or whisky so it tastes a it beery

And wine and cider (or cyder) vinegars are obviously are brewed and have flavour form the original liquid

I doubt you'd miss the flavour of the malt with the wine vinegar in there too and the tomatoes themselves

I've got a jar of Polish pickled sliced green tomatoes, but they tend to be more brine than vinegar :yum

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:48 pm

Thanks Sue :)
I like the sound of the pickled green tomatoes :yum , might be an option if any don't ripen.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Sat Oct 09, 2021 7:06 pm

Went with the white wine vinegar/distilled malt vinegar combination in the end up. Just need to give them a couple of weeks to mature now but so far pretty pleased with the outcome. In all my years of growing tomatoes I've no idea why I never thought of pickling them before :)
245092055_10221500485884794_6271096382759756704_n.jpg

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:01 pm

look pretty good ltc

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:05 pm

Thanks Sue yea they make a pretty jarful, hopefully they'll taste good too. :crossed If so, I can see lots of pickled tomatoes being made over coming weeks. If I can avoid or reduce buying tasteless supermarket offerings over the winter I'll be happy.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby WWordsworth » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:21 pm

I preserved a load in olive oil, using Delia's method.
Then we eat the tomatoes and cook with the oil.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:46 pm

WWordsworth wrote:I preserved a load in olive oil, using Delia's method.
Then we eat the tomatoes and cook with the oil.

Good to know WW, thanks :D :thumbsup

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Oct 09, 2021 11:42 pm

Missed the pickled tomato discussion before this. I can't imagine what they are like (do they fall apart or stay whole and firm?) and what sort of use do you put them to?

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:48 am

Earthmaiden wrote:Missed the pickled tomato discussion before this. I can't imagine what they are like (do they fall apart or stay whole and firm?) and what sort of use do you put them to?

I've not made them before EM so I'm not sure how'll they'll turn out. I'm hoping they stay whole though I imagine they might soften as time goes on. I'm hoping to use them in salads and as antipasti. I'll sample them in a couple of weeks and report back.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:21 pm

I just had a look at the jar of green tomatoes, I thought I had the Polish ones, which are sliced and mixed with slices of peppers and onions - I just serve that as a winter salad

Like this
satatka-veg-salad.jpg
satatka-veg-salad.jpg (131.55 KiB) Viewed 3090 times


But in fact what I have are the Turkish ones, like this, which I will also use as a salad ingredient part of sandwich filling, or meze

Image

The ingredients are Green tomatoes, water, vinegar, salt, garlic and calcium chloride; the calcium chloride is presumably to stop the tomatoes (which are halved) from going mushy

My mum used to buy a Bulgarian version of the mixed sald, which also had green tomatoes, I suspect fully ripe ones are too soft

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby liketocook » Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:39 pm

Both of these look good, it will be interesting to see how the whole ripe ones mature.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:13 pm

I do wish you could pass the jar round when they're ready to eat!

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby ZeroCook » Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:37 pm

.
Your jars look very pretty LTC.

Very interested in what to do with green tomatoes as weather's turning cold, first frost approaching and need to pick all remaining tomatoes.

What kind of texture do your pickled green tomatoes have, Stokey? Do they taste any different from the other veg or just take on whatever theyre pickled with? Looks like they're sliced quite thinly.

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:05 pm

i can tell the difference in flavour between the different elements of the mixed salad (looking at the picture again, that version has cucumber, which they mostly don't). The peppers tend to give a background aroma though

The texture is hard to describe, but fairly firm in the commercial pickles, but of course they use a firming agent such as CaCl2 which you don't generally at home

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Re: Test Kitchen

Postby Renee » Tue Oct 12, 2021 12:03 am

I used to freeze home grown tomatoes whole to use during the winter to make sauces. I used to half thaw them out before using them.

I used to make a green tomato relish which had a lovely lemony flavour, but sadly, I haven't got the recipe now.

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