What to do with green tomatoes?

Remember the  picture in the last  post    of a colander full of  green tomatoes  and a sprinkling of  cherry tomatoes. The tiny red tomatoes were  delicious in a salad. So sweet..  but what I pondered to do with the green tomatoes. They were so green no way would they ripen  to red....
Thought of  fried green tomatoes but    trying to stay away from fried food..
There was  an intriguing  recipe in one of my favourite cookbooks  Great Good Food  by Julie Rosso,
Green Tomato Mincemeat  .
Never heard of it before! Apparently   lots of other people have heard of it and made it which I found out after doing  a google search.
With my English heritage  mincemeat tarts are Christmas are   an essential. Just isn't Christmas with out a taste of mincemeat. The old fashioned method of making mincemeat with suet is long and tedious. This recipe quick and simple.

So...since  I had a bushel of  Macintosh apples picked up at the local apple farm and the green tomatoes, and even the  cider vinegar....decided what  the heck at the worst  it  could be  a chutney...
Green Tomato Mincemeat:
This recipe yields 9 1/2 cups.
 3 pounds of  green tomatoes , coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds  tart apples , coarsely chopped  , with skin on
3 1/3  cups brown sugar, ( used dark)
10 ounces currants( used half currants half sultanas)
6 ounces dried cherries( used  frozen montmorency cherries)
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup chopped crystallized  ginger( substituted fresh ginger  2 TBSP and 2 TBSP white sugar)
2 oranges sliced into 1/4 inch  thick rounds , seeds removed
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp. mace , ground
1 tsp. cloves, ground
1 tsp. nutmeg, grated
2 juniper berries , cracked( left these out)
Place the tomatoes in large stock  pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and blanch for  4-5 minutes.

Drain, add all of the remaining ingredients..Mix well  and bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat  and simmer for  1 1/2 hours. (  2 hours  to achieve the proper thickness I wanted) Stirring occasionally.

Let mincemeat cool , remove cinnamon sticks and  orange slices. Transfer to   covered containers. The few changes I made  are in brackets. Did not seem to   hurt the recipe at all.....
This mixture tastes  so good, has a very fresh flavour. nice blend of spiciness..don't miss the suet at all..
Will make a  great  pie or tarts at Christmas, maybe even  a mincemeat cake.  Decided I will add rum or brandy  when  baking.....


  Mincemeat can be stored in fridge for up to 1 week..  This can also  be preserved in sterilized jars  , process according to manufacturers   directions . I  decided  to chill in  fridge overnight to allow flavours to meld then I have frozen theo containers.
Thanks to Julie  for this   terrific recipe..