A Classic Southern Dish

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Fance Fried Green Tomatoes with Whipped Herb Chevre

Howdy, fried green tomato lovers!

I read an awesome article this week by Diane Dunham of Mankato Free Press and wanted to share this with you. In this article, Diane talks about how to make your garden survive the winter and how to get the most out of it this warm fall before the winter takes over. Now, in Alberta our gardening season has long since passed, but this information will be good to note for a healthy garden in the years to come!

This article also talks about what to do with your tomatoes that may be sitting in your garage or cold room, waiting for them to turn red. Here’s what Diane had to say:

“Green tomatoes need to be to a certain stage of maturity when taken from the vine to continue to ripen, which will be evident in a week. If they haven’t started to turn in a week, they likely won’t.

Fried green tomatoes are the answer to the {tomatoes} that refuse to ripen. Slice and dip in egg wash, then cover in crushed saltine cracker crumbs and fry a few minutes on each side until browned. The taste is similar to eggplant which I like or make a green tomato mince for the very few that might like it.”

Fried Green Tomatoes may be the answer to the problem of unripe tomatoes, but they are also the answer to a hungry stomach. Get some green tomatoes, fry them up, and make your neighbours jealous of the feast ahead of you. The winter may be here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pretend that we’re in the warm south!

To access the full article from The Free Press, click here.

Southern Dish? Not So Fast!

Have you ever wondered how someone decided one day to pair a healthy food, such as the tomato, with a fatty food, like anything fried? If you have, you’re not alone.

I’m sure you think of Fried Green Tomatoes as a classic Southern United States dish, but would you be surprised to know that the recipe actually originated in the Northern States? The earliest records of a fried green tomato recipe were found in the 1900s, and those recipes came out of the Midwestern and Northern states. The first time a recipe appeared in a Southern paper wasn’t until the 1930s.

History of the Dish

While the Fried Green Tomato became popular thanks to the 1991 movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes”, based on a novel by Fannie Flagg in 1987, Fried Green Tomatoes were originally a seasonal treat, celebrating the end of the tomato-growing season in the north. Bet you didn’t know that!

What Is This Dish?

Now what exactly is a fried green tomato? Well, allow me to explain. Fried green tomatoes have a crusty exterior, often made from frying a cornmeal dipped tomato in oil, and soft on the inside, bursting with tangy tomato flavour. They may not be a true Southern dish, but damn are they tasty!