Recipe: Dilled Green Tomato Pickles

Jessica helped to harvest some of our 600 pounds of green tomatoes, and was inspired to send me this recipe. It's from the "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving." Jessica says that it's tasty, but definitely on the vinegar-y side. Makes a great condiment.

Yield: 6-7 pint jars

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups vinegar

3 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup pickling or canning salt

5 lbs small, firm green tomatoes, halved or quartered, or whole green cherry tomatoes

6-7 cloves garlic

6-7 heads fresh dill or 1/4 cup dill seeds or dried dill

6-7 bay leaves

Instructions

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.

2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, water and pickling salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve salt. Remove from heat.

3. Pack tomatoes into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Add 1 clove of garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 tsp of dill seeds or dried dill) and 1 bay leaf to each jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover tomatoes, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 25 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Enjoy!