Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade – Seriously

By: Vivinator

Jan 06 2009

Category: food and beverage, Holidays, Preserves, Jams & Jellies

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As a child I hated tomatoes. My mom grew a few plants in the summer, and the only way she could unload her crop on two very unwilling children was to serve them fried green. Green tomatoes don’t really taste like tomatoes. In fact they don’t taste like much of anything.

Life is like a…
I don’t want to get too deep with my jar of jelly, but in making this recipe I witnessed a near miraculous transformation of the generally worthless green tomatoes. The oblivious fruit is confronted by acid, coarse company and high heat. After being subjected to this treatment, the mostly featureless tomato reflects the best characteristics of this hostile environment while retaining it’s own original beautiful color: a shimmering peridot. It’s almost literary, and it’s delicious!

I got this recipe from the New York Times (Martha Stewart offers a slightly different recipe, as well). My dad loves lemon and I wanted to make a special jar of preserves just for him for a Christmas gift. The tomato really does “melt” away leaving glossy pale green chunks of lemon flavored fruit. Delicate, paper-thin slices of lemon weave throughout in chewy bursts of yellow. There is such a thing as lemon marmalade, but it is much more complex to make. Trust me, you will love this as much for the bright flavor as for the interesting verdant color.

Green tomato and lemon marmalade
Published: August 22, 2007

1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

2 1/4 pounds green tomatoes (about 5 large tomatoes), cored and thinly sliced

3 1/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pinch of salt

1. Bring lemon slices to a boil in a pot of water. Drain.

2. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan along with 1/4 cup water, and bring to a simmer, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Cook at a bare simmer until tomatoes and lemon slices are translucent and syrup thickens, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely; store in refrigerator.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Sometimes when I am down and I don’t feel like you’re around, O Lord, feeling so sorry for me not knowing that all the while you’re working to see: if when I’m put through the fire I’ll come out shining like gold. O Lord, please don’t ever stop working with me till you see I can be what you want me to be.

I am willing, Lord, to be just exactly what you want me to be.

Often when I ask why, teach me then on you to rely, O Lord. You surely know what is best. May I learn that in confidence and strength I can rest. Then, leaning fully on You, my questions fall one by one. Dear Lord, please don’t ever stop working with me till you see I can be what you want me to be.

I am willing, Lord, to be just exactly what you want me to be.

“I am Willing Lord” by Kurt Kaiser, 1976

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2 comments on “Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade – Seriously”

6 Jan 2009 at 4:31 pm karenparmer
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….I am willing to be what you want me to be God. Please just help me to be a fountain, not a drain!!! Love your blog!
16 Oct 2011 at 2:01 am So long, summer « Blog Archive « Nator's Maters
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[...] After a hot summer of drought, we finally saw a boom in tomatoes in late August. Most of these are still green and I wanted to leave them on the vine as long as possible. Last week, when my Sasanqua began blooming, I realized the last days of summer were truly gone, and I’d have to make use of my tomatoes in their green state. (time to pull out the green tomato and lemon marmalade recipe.) [...]

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