Green Tomato Bread - Take One

A hard frost was forecast for last Friday night, so I hurried out to the garden to pick string beans and the remaining red tomatoes. I was happy to find at least four meals' worth of beans and 20 or so small tomatoes. There were a lot of green tomatoes, but with two quarts of green tomato relish and another two quarts of green tomato salsa already in the refrigerator, I left them and got to work snapping beans.

But I just couldn't stop thinking about those green tomatoes. Searching for a new and unique way to use them, I came across a possibility - Green Tomato Bread. This was new to me, had relatively high ratings, and of course, there were all those poor green tomatoes just going to waste on the vines, so I went out in the dark and picked a five gallon bucket full before they were claimed by frost.

The first time I try a new recipe, I usually make it as written, but I did make a few changes. I reduced the sugar to 1.5 cups, used 0.5 cup oil + 0.5 cup applesauce, and added 1 tsp. each of nutmeg and ground cloves. I had chili in the crockpot next to the mixer, and had left the chili powder out for further seasoning. Chili powder looks almost exactly like ground cloves when you're not paying attention, but I'm happy to say that I averted a seasoning disaster before it was too late.

I was anxious to see what baking did to the hard green tomatoes, as the batter looked a bit like fruitcake with pieces of citron sticking out. 

The pieces of green tomato seemed to stick out even more after baking. I could hardly wait for it to cool enough before I cut into the loaf for a real test.

The verdict? It tastes great, with a slightly weird consistency due to the pieces of tomato. It's not too weird for me to eat, but I wouldn't feel good gifting a loaf to a friend. It did take three slices for me to decide this, and John is the least picky eater I know, so there isn't any real danger that these two loaves won't get eaten.

While the loaves were baking, I was thinking about how to get rid of the problem of hard tomato pieces, and it dawned on me - I should shred the tomatoes in my food processor, just like I do with zucchini. I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough to think of this before, but stay tuned for Green Tomato Bread - Take 2 (now with new and improved shredded green tomatoes)!