During the past several weeks that I have been attending the farmers’ market, I have only had green peppers and garlic to sell there for vegetables. Last week we had the farmer’s market at the Black Gold Walnut Festival in Alton, Missouri and I gave away more peppers than I sold and didn’t sell any garlic.

I have been using my tomatoes myself. Most recently, I have been making red enchilada sauce and tomato juice with the ripe tomatoes. It is getting close to frost time and that means that I will soon have to pick the remaining tomatoes no matter how green they are. Fortunately, one of the recipes that I will be using is a recipe for green tomato enchilada sauce that I will can and use when I make chicken enchiladas during the winter season. Here’s the recipe I will be using.

Green Tomato Enchilada Sauce for Canning

The ingredients:

2.5 lbs green tomatoes, diced

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 green peppers (bell, Anaheim, poblano, or any combo), broiled until blackened then peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped (optional)

3 1/2-4 cups water or broth

1-2 tsp Salt

Instructions

Wash all the jars and canning equipment in hot soapy water. (Each batch makes about 7 pints). Rinse well.

In a large pot or skillet, sauté the onions in some olive oil until translucent and soft.

Add the cumin and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes, roasted peppers, and water or broth and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20-30 minutes until the tomatoes are mostly broken down.

While the sauce is cooking, sanitize clean canning jars in boiling water for 10 minutes.

In a separate pan begin simmering water and add the canning lids about 5 minutes before you will need them.

Once the sauce has cooked, blend or process the tomatoes in the food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Return the sauce to a boil.

After you sanitize the jars, remove the jars from the boiling water and add 1 Tbs of lime juice to each jar.

Fill each jar with the sauce, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Wipe the edge of the jars to make sure they are clean and place the lids on the jars. Lightly tighten the rings (just as tight as you can with two fingers).

Process the jars in a water bath for 35 minutes (or 20 minutes in a pressure canner) at sea level (you will need to add additional time as you increase in elevation).

How about you? What is your favorite way to use end-of-the-season tomatoes?