Aunt May's Pickled Green Tomatoes
Aunt May’s pickled green tomatoes is a heritage four-day sweet pickle recipe that turns 15 pounds of unripe tomatoes into translucent, cinnamon-and-clove spiced jewels in cider vinegar syrup. Old-school canning that fills the pantry.
YIELD
64 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
90 minREADY
5760 minAunt May’s pickled green tomatoes is the kind of heirloom pickle recipe that gets handed down on a stained index card. Four days of layered work turn end-of-season green tomatoes into amber, almost preserve-like sweet pickles. The kind farmers’ wives put up to use the tomatoes that never had a chance to ripen.
The technique is patience-based. Day one is salting (dehydrates the fruit and firms the texture). Day two is the alum-and-boiling-water bath (locks in crispness, and actually doubles down on firmness). Days three and four are the syrup pour-and-rest cycles, which slowly draw moisture out while pushing sugar and spice in. By day four, the tomato slices have gone translucent and ruby-amber, swimming in a thick spiced syrup.
The spice bag is the soul of this pickle. Cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, tied in cheesecloth, perfume the syrup without leaving gritty bits in the jar. Keep it bobbing through every reheat for maximum infusion.
Pro Tips
- Use firm, fully green tomatoes (no pink shoulders). Riper tomatoes turn to mush during the long process.
- Stick to enamel or stainless steel pots. Aluminum reacts with the vinegar and turns the syrup gray and metallic.
- Slice tomatoes ¼ to ½ inch thick. Thinner and they shred during the boils. Thicker and they won’t go translucent.
- Test syrup thickness by lifting a spoon: it should ribbon off slowly and pull a long thread. Loose syrup gives soggy pickles.
- Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes for shelf-stable storage.
Variations
- Add a few slices of fresh ginger and a star anise pod to the spice bag for warmth.
- Use white vinegar in place of apple cider vinegar for a brighter, more neutral pickle.
- Substitute brown sugar for half the white sugar for a deeper molasses-tinged syrup.
Ingredients
Directions
Arrange the tomatoes in layers in a large bowl or pickle crock, sprinkling the salt between the layers. Let stand overnight. The next day, drain, sprinkle with the alum, and pour the boiling water over them.
Let stand for 20 minutes. Drain, rinse, and drain again. In an enamel or stainless stell preserving kettle combine cider vinegar, sugar and the spices, tied in a cheesecloth bag. (The spice bag should be kept in the syrup right up to the very end.) Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved and boil rapidly for 3 minutes. Pour the syrup over the tomatoes and let stand overnight. Next day, drain off syrup and bring to a boil. Pour over tomatoes and let stand again overnight. On the fourth day, put syrup and tomatoes into the kettle, bring to a boil and simmer until the tomatoes are transparent. Pack the tomatoes into hot jars.
Boil the syrup until it becomes quite thick or spins a long thread. Remove the spice bag and pour the syrup over the fruit, filling the jars and seal.
Makes 8 Quarts.
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