Totally Tomatillo

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by Patihum

Definitely going to check the recipe and preserving forum for your posts! I've been mostly growing them for my husband's chili verde. He smokes the pork shoulder first and then makes the chili. Wonderful stuff on eggs in the morning. I guess I started mine too early because I've already repotted them once and some are flowering. I've been picking the flowers off. The soil is still too cold to plant here besides the fact that the other morning it was 30 degrees.

I did mine in Wyoming 4 weeks from planting out. They are turbo-injected growing machines.
Living in Mexico, I can start them any time and plant them out. They are a great thickener for soup or stew. I just run them through the food processor. My husband eats salsa verde on everything so I can plenty.
I can get them at the outdoor market here in Mexico year round fresh but I like to have it already canned and ready to use. My garden is done by July as we travel so much in the fall.

[greenthumbomaha]

brokenbar - My climate in Nebraska is probably similar to your days back in Wyoming (jealousy abounds). When did you plant your tomatillos relative to tomatoes, and when did fruit production begin ? I planted a lone tomatillo last year late in the season from a sale rack. It never produced ANY fruit. I don't know if it was lack of pollination, or if I ran out of season. Do you need two varieties to pollinate, or will two plants of the same variety work? Did you have a raccoon problem with Tomatillos back in Wyoming?

[indigosand]

This is my first year with them, if I crowd them a bit will the plants and fruits slow down a bit as a tomato would? I have 5 plants about 18" apart right now. I had intended to thin them once the birds and cutworms got their share (as they always do). I'm wondering if it would be better to let them be. Maybe they would be more manageable?

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

brokenbar - My climate in Nebraska is probably similar to your days back in Wyoming (jealousy abounds). When did you plant your tomatillos relative to tomatoes, and when did fruit production begin ? I planted a lone tomatillo last year late in the season from a sale rack. It never produced ANY fruit. I don't know if it was lack of pollination, or if I ran out of season. Do you need two varieties to pollinate, or will two plants of the same variety work? Did you have a raccoon problem with Tomatillos back in Wyoming?

You need two plants for pollination (same or different, does not matter) When you start your tomatoes from seed, wait 2 weeks and start the tomatillos. I never had them not produce fruit in Wyoming and I probably had a shorter growing season than you do in Nebraska (gee I miss that short growing season...OH YEAH SURE!) I never had anything bother the tomatillos...deer don't like them and never had a coon problem with anything but sweet corn...had to build Fort Knox, (7' fence, hot wire top and bottom) to keep the little baasstardos out. (I spelt it the Spanish way and the "Cussing Filter" still got it!)

I loved tomatillos because they were one of the traditional warmer climate vegies that thrived for me in Wyoming.

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by indigosand

This is my first year with them, if I crowd them a bit will the plants and fruits slow down a bit as a tomato would? I have 5 plants about 18" apart right now. I had intended to thin them once the birds and cutworms got their share (as they always do). I'm wondering if it would be better to let them be. Maybe they would be more manageable?

Crowd 'em all you want..,.they will grow into a giant hedge and will laugh at you. Where they grow wild in Mexico, it looks like an impenetrable 6 foot tall forest...nothing grows in these big colonies because they completely choke other stuff out and block the sun.

I have tried abusing Tomatillos but they pretty much ignored me and they seemed to like it..

[Rideau Rambler]

Now? This advice is posted now? I, for some reason (I think it was so we could all have a good laugh) started my tomatillos back when I started my peppers. A month before my tomatoes, which I started six weeks before plant out. Yes, that's right, 10 weeks of tomatillos before plantout, still four more weeks to go. It's invasion of the toms in my windows right now

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by Rideau Rambler

Now? This advice is posted now? I, for some reason (I think it was so we could all have a good laugh) started my tomatillos back when I started my peppers. A month before my tomatoes, which I started six weeks before plant out. Yes, that's right, 10 weeks of tomatillos before plantout, still four more weeks to go. It's invasion of the toms in my windows right now

You might have to move to a hotel for the duration...! I wish we could harness the tomatillo "grow gene" and infuse our pepper and tomato plants with it...on second thought, maybe not.

[Tracydr]

Can they handle a shadier area? How about an area of clay and gravel with irrigation every two weeks? In Arizona? I have some purple seed I'm starting but I'd like to get some Cisneros.
I lost all my tomatillos to blister beetles last year right when they were starting to have loads of fruit.

[indigosand]

Originally Posted by brokenbar

Crowd 'em all you want..,.they will grow into a giant hedge and will laugh at you. Where they grow wild in Mexico, it looks like an impenetrable 6 foot tall forest...nothing grows in these big colonies because they completely choke other stuff out and block the sun.

I have tried abusing Tomatillos but they pretty much ignored me and they seemed to like it..

oh dear, maybe I should move the sweet peppers I have planted in front of them.

[z_willus_d]

I was planning on creating a new thread for my Tomatillo Salsa adventure this past weekend, but Since I just noticed this one started by brokenbar, and since I'm a huge fan of hers and the tomatoes she shared with us all a couple years back; and since I'm so glad to see her back here at the TV, I figure I'll post an add-on to this thread.

I have 2 Toma Verde (1st pic) and 2 and "a half" Gigante tomatillo (2nd pic) plants growing in my garden. I purchased both seeds from Burpee. So far, the the Verde plants seem to have produced bigger and more and nicer fruit than the better positioned, and more vegetative, Gigante vines.

I'm dying to make salsa from my tomatoes, but between all the powdery mildew, thrips and other pests pressures, heat stress, and birds harvesting my goodies, I've not managed to collect enough for a batch. But I had a decent crop of tomatillo fruit this Sunday, which I harvested up and put to use in a Salsa Verde type recipe.

I've posted pics kind of showing what I did. I also harvested a selection of peppers from my so so doing plants: Tam Jalapeno, Salsa Hybrid (Burpee), Godfather (Burpee, similar to Anaheim), and one other Italian frying pepper I can't recall the name for.

Since my grill is out of propane and it was too hot to mess with charcoal outside, I decided to get some hickory smoking wood chips (from Safeway), which I placed a few handfuls of in my oil-lined cast-iron Le Cruset dutch oven. I then put down another layer of foil atop the wood chips and let the pot cook on the stove at medium high heat for around 10 min. It began to smoke, so I added the tomatillos and peppers series in order to smoke and somewhat steam them. While one batch was cooking/smoking (covered) in the dutch oven, I'd roast a batch of peppers in a pan so they get that crispy, burnt, roasted taste. I'd smoke those a bit too before throwing everything into the blender.

I had to blend in four rounds. To each cycle, I added a good handful of chopped cilantro, a dash of fresh oregano, salt, cracked pepper, dash of Asafetida (garlic substitute), and the juice from one half of a squeezed lime. I Also added about one half a cup of halfed sungold cherry tomatoes, since I had them to use. I didn't add any garlic or onions, since I am allergic to both, and I can say the result didn't suffer for their lack.

After blending each of the four batches, I mixed them together in the dutch oven (sans wood chips) with no heat. I added more salt to taste, mixed, and loaded up pint jars. All except two of the jars went through a pressure cooker cycle of 15-min at 10lb. My wife said it was the best salsa she'd ever had, but then the heat from the peppers hit her and that all changed somewhat. I'm very happy with the result. I think I'll be able to harvest a second load in another month or so, and so I can get another round of salsa made. These pints will not last long, they go down so fast.

My best wishes to all and nice to see you back brokenbar.
-naysen

[Cole_Robbie]

I made my tomatillo pork dish last night. It was excellent.

My mom took her tomatillos to the farmer's market and no one bought them. Most people did not know what they were.

I used about two quart boxes of tomatillos. I quartered them, chopped them in a food processor, and then pureed them with a stick blender, adding a generous amount of lemon juice and salt. It makes a lime green sludge.

I boiled two bags of boil-in-bag rice, and dumped that in a glass casserole dish. On top of that I added a few pork chops cut into bite-size chunks. Then dump the tomatillo sauce over that, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes at 375. After that, I take it out of the oven, cover with shredded cheddar cheese, and bake uncovered at 400 for 10-15 minutes until the cheese starts to burn.

I've never had a better casserole. The stuff is just phenomenal.

[spacetogrow]

If you get them faster than you can process them is it good to store them in the fridge or will they lose flavor like a tomato? How long will they keep in the fridge - or on the counter?

Being a gringa, I'm curious how they taste if you let them ripen.

[brokenbar]

Who ever thought "sludge" could taste that good??? If you let tomaillos ripen/turn yellow, they are very, very sweet which also makes a nice hot/sweet salsa if that is what you prefer.

I use the "regular" salsa verde as my enchilada sauce.

[spacetogrow]

Regarding seed saving...

If they don't change color when they ripen, how do you know when they are ripe enough for seed?

How do you process the seed? Fermenting like tomato seed doesn't seem to work very well.

[HiPoha]

I took seeds from tomatillos that were starting to crack open or show some rot from ripeness. Then I spread the seeds out on newspaper and removed as much of the fruit pulp. When they dry, that's it. I planted some seeds from a year ago and they sprouted in about four days. Seeds are hard and smooth like cucumber seeds.