Canning Sliced Green Tomatoes for Frying

Many households across the country enjoy canning sliced green tomatoes. Canning green tomatoes for frying allows this summertime treat to be enjoyed year-round. However, one does not appreciate home-canned green tomatoes until the dead of winter.

Many households across the country enjoy canning sliced green tomatoes. Canning green tomatoes for frying allows this summertime treat to be enjoyed year-round. However, one does not appreciate home-canned green tomatoes until the dead of winter.

My closest friends know two things about me: I am a speaker of truth, and I love Southern foods. I love comfort foods, which so happens to cover many southern dishes. Please give me a plate of collards with bacon, fried tomatoes, and fried pasture-raised chicken; you’ve got one pleased individual. It is about the love of all food, which allows me to crave deep-fried foods.

The canned unripe green tomato flavor is very similar to the cooked version. Not a growing season goes by that this item is not preserved. My only regret? That I cannot preserve more than a few jars each year!

Canning Sliced Green Tomatoes

Aside from canning sliced green tomatoes, many options exist to preserve unripe tomatoes.  I add a new recipe each year to use up the green tomatoes and not waste them. Make sure to check back this time next year for additional preserving recipes!

• green tomato pickles
• green tomato curry (without coconut milk)
• green tomato chutney
• homemade tomato pie
• green tomato salsa
• green tomato sauce
• and, of course, green tomato relish

Are tomatoes a high or low-acidic fruit?

Based on the National Center for Home Food Preservation, tomatoes are a borderline fruit. What does this mean? Tomatoes teeter on both sides of the fence can be canned using a hot water bath or a pressure canned. For those canning this item in a hot water bath canner, please pay close attention to the acceptable items listed below to boost the acidity in tomato products.

Tomatoes products such as: 

• spaghetti sauce without meat
• chili sauce without meat
• canned tomatoes – diced, whole, or crushed
• salsa
• and even slices of green tomatoes

These items can be canned using a hot water bath canner as long as an acidic item has been added to lift the acidity within the jars. Remember, you can learn more about home canning methods through my online canning course. 

Adequate items to boost the acidity level in tomato products

• white vinegar – 5% or higher
• red or white wine vinegar – 5% or higher
• champagne vinegar – 5% or higher
• bottled lemon juice
• bottled lime juice
• citric acid tablets
• store-bought bands of apple cider vinegar

Homemade apple scrap vinegar can not be used as an acidity booster. The NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Preservation) states that an accurate method for determining the correct acidity level of homemade apple scrap vinegar is needed. Unfortunately, no method is available.

Canning Sliced Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes are very different from red tomatoes as the green variety holds its figure during the canning process. The texture and slightly tart flavor put this green fruit into a league of its own. Enjoy this canning recipe, and do not forget, at the end of this article, my recipe for fried green tomatoes.

For those wondering, this is a safe canning recipe per the National Center for Home Food Preservation. This association stated in 2019, “Unripe tomatoes may be canned like ripe tomatoes, following the same directions, including acidification.”

Though this canning recipe falls into the guidelines of being a “safe” recipe, it is not an NCHFP-tested recipe. Please go ahead and do what you think is best.

Ingredients

• 6 pounds medium green tomatoes
• bottled lemon juice
• boiling water

This canning recipe does not call for salt, which is unnecessary for safely canning goods in the comfort of your home.

Equipment

Your equipment list consists of canning tools you already have on hand. 

• Stainless steel hot water bath canner or a 23-quart Presto pressure canner (this canner allows for stacking of pint-size jars and triple stacking of 1/2 pint jars and a single layer of quart jars)
• Little Dipper to warm lids
• Jar funnel
• Jar lifter
• Air bubble remover
• 7 wide-mouth pint jars

Instructions

Canning green tomato slices is a water bath canning recipe. However, you can process the jars in a pressure canner. Please look at the charts below for the correct processing time and PSI if you are pressure-canning the jars.

1. Wash jars. The first thing you want to do is wash the jars. Next, follow the manufacturer’s instructions regarding whether the jars need to be sanitized (see notes below). You can achieve this by boiling the jars or selecting your dishwasher’s sanitation cycle.
2. Prepare the hot water bath canner by filling it with water and turning on the burner to medium-high heat.
3. Place rings into the Little Dipper to warm the wax.
4. Using a kettle, bring water to a boil.
5. The next step is to wash the tomatoes ​well. 
6. Once washed, Remove the stem and blossom ends and any bruised area of the fruit.
7. Evenly slice tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices.
8. Fill wide mouth jars with the sliced tomatoes, stacking them to fit as many slices as possible into each jar. Make sure to leave a 1-inch headspace.
9. Add one tablespoon of bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid to each pint jar.
10. Using boiled water, fill jars and leave a 1/2-inch head space.
11. Gently slide the air bubble remover along the inside of the jar, removing any trapped air bubbles. Add additional boiling water as needed, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace.
12. With a clean dishtowel, wipe jar rims.
13. Add warmed lids and rings to finger tight.
14. Place jars into the hot water bath canner or pressure canner. Set the processing time according to the altitude you reside in; see the chart below. Process pint jars based on the altitude at which you reside. Please note that the processing time for a hot water bath canner begins when the water reaches a raging boil. Once this has been achieved, add the canner lid and start the processing time.
15. Once the processing time has ended, remove the hot jars from the canner and allow them to rest at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
16. Check that the lids have been sealed by pressing the center of the lid. If the lid bounces back, the lid did not seal correctly. Place the jar in the refrigerator and use within one week. 

Notes:

1. Ball stated that new canning jars have been sanitized before packaging and are ready to be used straight from the package.
2. Pressure canning green tomatoes is not shorter than the hot water bath method. Please refer to the charts to determine the processing time for both canners and choose from there.

Processing Time for Hot Water Bath Canning

Processing Time for a Dial Gage Pressure Canner

Processing Time for a Dial Gauge Pressure Canner

Please note, the weight required is 15 pounds regardless of where you reside from sea level.

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Yield: 7 pints

Canning Sliced Green Tomatoes for Frying

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Many households across the country enjoy canning sliced green tomatoes. Canning green tomatoes for frying allows this summertime treat to be enjoyed year round. One unable to appreciate canning green tomatoes until the dead of winter.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Canning Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 pounds medium green tomatoes
• bottled lemon juice
• boiling water

Instructions

1. Wash tomatoes extremely well. Remove the core and the blossom end.
2. Evenly slice the green tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices.
3. In a kettle, bring water to a boil.
4. Add the sliced tomatoes to wide mouth jars, stacking them as to fit as many slices as possible into each jar. Make sure to leave a 1-inch headspace.
5. Next, add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to each jar.
6. Once the water has begun boiling, fill jars leaving a 1/2-inch headspace.
7. Gently slide the air bubble remover along the inside of the jar removing any trapped air bubbles. Add additional boiling water as needed, making sure to leave a 1/2-inch headspace.
8. With a clean dish towel, wipe the rims of the jars.
9. Add warmed lids and rings to finger tight.
10. Process jars according to the altitude in which you reside, see the chart in the article.

Notes

Equipment

• hot water bath canner

• Jar Funnel

• Air Bubble Remover

• 7 wide mouth pint size jars

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

7

Serving Size:

1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

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Frying Canned Green Tomatoes

Now that you have a larder filled with home-canned green tomatoes, it is time to use them. Please feel free to use your jars of green tomatoes as an ingredient for any of the recipes mentioned; however, I plan to use them to make fried green tomatoes. 

Canned green tomatoes allow you to enjoy unripe tomatoes year-round. How can you go wrong when buttermilk, bread crumbs, cornmeal, farm-fresh eggs, flour, and green tomatoes from the end of the growing season are involved?

Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 jars of canned green tomatoes
• pinch or two of salt and pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet on medium heat.
2. Mix flour, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. This is the flour mixture.
3. Next, ​beat the eggs and buttermilk together. This is the buttermilk-egg mixture.
4. Using a third bowl, mix the breadcrumbs and cornmeal in another bowl. This is the breadcrumb-cornmeal mixture.
5. Dip the tomato slices into the following bowls in order: the flour mixture, the buttermilk-egg mixture, and then the breadcrumb-cornmeal mixture.
6. Fry the breaded green tomatoes on each side for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown.

Additional green tomato recipes

Aside from canning green tomato slices for frying, there are a plethora of recipes using green tomatoes. Here are a few my family loves.

• Canning Tomatillo Salsa Verde
• Canning Pomodori Verdi- A Green Tomato Pasta Sauce
• Heirloom Tomato Pie- Can Make a Green Tomato Pie
• Canning Green Cherry Tomatoes
• Canning Tomato Jam- Use Green Tomatoes for Green Tomato Jam