let's Discuss Tomatillos

I went and picked a basket full of tomatillos, anything pingpong ball size and larger no matter the maturity. I made salsa verde with it, 4 pints and 4 cup jars. The last jar's worth got mixed with a handful of Thai peppers, fresh ground garam masala and brown sugar and more lime juice and a bit of tomato sauce. I think I will mark that as hot salsa, not sure what else to call it, maybe chutney??

I left the plants in the garden with plenty more lanterns on them. So far they have been only mildly burnt by frost..... so maybe there will another picking yet.

I'm jealous! I'm still watching my single tomatillo. I'm wondering if I can over-winter the 2 plants by cutting short and piling white wood chips over them. Anyone tried it? I'm Zone 8b to 9A,

huh...that's an interesting idea. I'm bringing in a tomato plant & a pepper plant for winter. If I got more than the few tomatillos that I might get this year I would consider bringing one of those in also, but they just aren't worth it to me.

Why not try it and see what happens?

CC

Sanderson, pot them up and bring them indoors for the coldest time of the year. I am going to put up and bring in a sorano pepper plant, parsley and a basil.

Once the lanterns have filled in, is the tomatillo pretty much done, or can the lanterns grow more followed by more fruit growth? Or can the tomatillos still grow so much that they make a sham of a mockery of a shamockery of their lanterns and burst through them in a big showy way?

I've got many lanterns filled out at last. But not many are falling off the plant or having their lanterns yellow -- which I think are supposed to be the two signals that they're ripe? I wonder if they're a fixin' to grow anymore ...

The lantern/husks will not grow any more. The fruit can split the husk. How ripe you do you want the fruit? When I have bought them the fruit from farmers it has filled the husk and maybe a split is starting but no yellowing of husk or fruit. I was told that yellowing was a sign of over ripe for salsa however I use those as well as the green ones and when pushed those that have not filled the husks yet and even those that have fallen off (those are least nice I find). The purple tomatillos develop that color where the husk has split, mine never get fully purple.

I've eaten a number that have fallen off, and none has had an "off" or spoiled flavor yet. I've also eaten ones with yellow husks and they were nice and sweet too. Either way, the fruit was always green, and pretty much the same color green. But for salsa verde, I take it you want to use them once they've filled the lantern, but when the lantern is still green?

I've never seen so much as a spot of purple on mine.

Well I was told I wanted to use them while the husk is still green. But I seldom follow directions fully  
I find they get sort of bland tasting when the husk is yellow and even more so when the fruit is yellow. What do you use tomatillos for? All I know is salsa verde. I am sure there are lots of other recipes.

I have a theory that those lovely pictures of purple tomatillos have had their husks removed so the fruit will color.

My one experience with a ground cherry was that they do not get fully sweet until they drop off. That was in a the cold frame or I doubt I would of gotten any ripe.

You still have plenty of time before first frost?

I grew them for salsa, mostly because my neighbor said she likes salsa verde so much, and she and her husband are letting me use their garden beds. I've never made salsa verde myself, and so far this year haven't really had enough tomatillos to bother (flowers dropping off from either the heat or cold (or both) for so long during the season.

I have enjoyed eating the few small ones I've gotten to ripen as though they were any piece of fruit, and sauteed a few more in various dishes. Never enough at a time to make even a small jar of salsa, though. But now I think I may have enough, though all the lanterns are still green.

Our frost is either 10/21 or 10/26, from what I've heard/read.

My first one fell off today and I happened to be standing right there.The paper is tan but I don't know what color the inside is yet.  I set it aside to wait on a few others (not that there are many) so I can make....something.
How long to they last sitting on the counter?

If it's OK to pick them before they fall off & use them I'll do that when first frost threatens, about first week in Nov.

When you eat them raw do they taste like a tomato?

CC

CC,

No, tomatillos don't taste like tomatoes. In my opinion, the flavor is much milder and better suited to sauces, salsas, and perhaps certain soups.

I keep them in the fridge.

I grew two purple tomatillo plants this year.  Both got huge and hugely loaded with flowers, then little lanterns, but only just recently have they begun to fill in and get purple.  Like Turan noted, the purple color is only where the fruit has split the lantern and gotten some sun.  It's like they get a purple suntan but the insides also seem to turn purple relative to how purple the skin is.

We've had about 4 or 5 frosts already and before the first one I went out and picked about a dozen or so of the fruits that looked the ripest or had even a touch of purple to them.  Most were rather quite green still, since I didn't know how the plants would fare with the cold.  They did fine under a light cover, so thankfully the remaining fruits have had a little more time to ripen. 

The flavor of mine is something quite different from what I expected; rather citrusy but yummy with tomatoes cooked into a sauce with some lemon basil!  Delicious, actually, though not for eating raw, IMHO.  Now that I'm getting enough at one go, I may try my hand at some of these Salsa Verde (though for me it would be Salsa Morada) recipes.

My plants are VERY thirsty, btw.  I can't seem to keep them watered enough.  Maybe for those of you with small lanterns: try watering them more & see if they plump up quicker.

CapeCodess, my tomatillos, when fully ripe, taste very fruity. Really nice! They have more of that "salsa verde" taste when not quite ripe.

Molly -- I watered the heck out of mine, but will consider watering even more next year.

Just picked a bunch of tomatillos and made Tomatillo Soup! Had never heard of it, but found it on the Hood River (garlic growers) site. Findable in this index:

http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com/recipes.htm

Some of my tomatillos weren't ripe enough, so the soup was just a bit sour, but not off-puttingly so. If you've had Chinese hot and sour soup, that can be more sour than this was. I substituted some carefully trimmed seared pork roast for the chicken. If I make it again, I will add more roasted peppers for a little extra kick of richness.

Overall, though, pretty cool and different, with an unusual blend of flavors.

Picked 4 tomatillos yesterday, took 1 to work to share between 5 people, only 2 like it. I wasn't one of them, even though it was kind of sweet. They taste almost like the ground cherries but not. At home my mother thinks they taste fabulous. Good thing since there are 3 more on the kitchen counter and a bunch still hanging on the plants.

Today I'm canning up some stewed tomatoes so I may throw them in one of those jars and do something with them come the dead of winter when anything from summer is welcome. Maybe I'll like them by then.  

CC

They taste so different depending on when you pick them -- maybe you'd like them at a different stage of ripeness?

Windmere two tomatillo's gave us more fruit than we could use. We froze 6 containers of sauce and made green salsa many, many times. We also gave our friends some and had tomatillo's all over the plants at the end of the season but were not ripe. If I remember correctly (big if) they were slow to start producing and then went into high gear. This year we are planting four in a 4 x 4 box and hope to sell some at our neighbors' apple shed along with cucumbers and squash.

johnp wrote:Windmere two tomatillo's gave us more fruit than we could use. We froze 6 containers of sauce and made green salsa many, many times. We also gave our friends some and had tomatillo's all over the plants at the end of the season but were not ripe. If I remember correctly (big if) they were slow to start producing and then went into high gear. This year we are planting four in a 4 x 4 box and hope to sell some at our neighbors' apple shed along with cucumbers and squash.

johnp,

Well, my wife and I read your post and we figured "What the heck."  We certainly use tomatillos, so it would be a very useful crop.  Normally, tomatillos are a bit pricey at our farmer's market.

Soooo....

We ordered:

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Garden-Organics-TT-01-25-Tomatillo/dp/B004G70ZI0/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1395675476&sr=8-13&keywords=tomatillo+seeds

Hopefully we will have some success.  Thanks for the inspiration!

A pair of tomatillos that I started from seeds.  I'm experimenting planting 2 of them in a 14" pot with a tomato cage for a little bit of upright support for the main stems.  Can I add more MM or compost up to the "first" leaves???

Mine last year were kept to a main stem that got nice and thick, but needed a stake for support. You might find a stake suits your tomatillo better than a cage. Mine wouldn't even have touched a cage except at the very top, which was too tall for most cages and where the support wasn't needed anyway. It was the "trunk" that needed it.

sanderson, one tomatillo can spread its canopy two or three feet wide easily. They don't vine like tomatoes do, but have lots of shorter branches that form a tree-like canopy. At least mine did. The root ball is huge, too. Even one in a 14-inch pot is pushing it, especially since they are exceptionally water-hungry. Better to put each in its own large self-watering container, IMO, if you're going to use containers. Like maybe one made from 5-gallon buckets.

I would separate those two buddies before their root balls begin to tangle and merge.

If I recall correctly, you can bury tomatillos just like tomatoes, but someone else should verify. I don't recall last year whether I did or didn't. I need to ask the nursery again what they recommended.

Last year I had 4 plants in a 2 and a half sqf between two cold frames. They all grew and produced plenty. I think they are good at adjusting to circumstances. Sure you will optimize production giving each plant more room but you should get plenty with them crowded. Certainly the bees will not have far to go to cross pollinate. I have done this with tomatoes as well, put 2 in a hole and let them fight it out.

Marc, The second tomatillo I purchased last year was in a 12" pot and grew as large as the one next to it in the SFG box. I perched the pot on the corner of the box and they intermingled like mad but were 2 of the healthiest plants I had. It must be the weather here. Just didn't have any bees. I just wish the bees that are buzzing all over the orange tree would hang around for the tomatillos and other plants. I do have a set of pollinating brushes ready for this year. I'll post success / failure later this season.

welp, ran to Home Depot to get another Tomatillo plant for the pollination issue, then out to lunch with my grandson so hopefully we'll have some tomatillos! Anything else special I should know??

SG,      Just that they need bees or artist brush.  They are fascinating and beautiful plants (to me).

Interesting pic. Yours were vinier (viny-er? viney-er? veneer?) than mine, which had been kept to a single stem. I guess you'll probably be wanting to train them well away from each other then. Mine looked more like little trees, and were staked straight up.