Introduction: Green Tomato Pie... Really.

By Ravensmoon Artisans
About: I make stuff. All sorts of stuff. I prefer to use materials that would otherwise be headed for the landfill. It's the best seeing someone's face when you tell them what that nifty item is made from (post-po…

This year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes.  Problem was, few of them ripened in time. I set some on shelves in the storage room, so they could ripen over time (which worked well), I made some into pickles (which is a very good use, BTW...  They make good pickles).  But even with drying the late ripening red ones and making nearly two gallons of green tomato dill pickles, there were STILL more.  And then I heard rumour of a green tomato pie(?).  This possibility piqued my interest.  Upon finding some old (pre 1950's) recipes, I found that this was not a difficult execution, as many of the spices, etc. would resemble apple pie...  But would it TASTE like apple pie?  I was excited to find out, and also excited to get rid of some tomatoes!  So here we go!

Crust:  You can get a premade 2 crust pie package, but pie crust REALLY isn't that hard to make.  Oil pastry is a good option, but really, any premade pie crust will work well.  Prep crust according to baking directions, for a 9" pie plate.

Filling:

4 1/2 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 C. sugar
1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves

Mix all if the dry ingredients together completely.  Add the chopped green tomatoes, mix well until all of the tomatoes are coated with the sugar, spice and flour mix.  Put mixture inthe bottom crust, top off with top crust, making sure the pie is slashed across the top several times.  Dot with butter, bake for 45-50 minutes until filling is bubbling out of slashes and crust is golden around the edges.

I was... hesitant about this pie, I'll be honest.  With using tomatoes vs. apples, there is more moisture, which can make for interesting changes.  And it was made of GREEN TOMATOES!  That said... it was actually really good!  After I took the picture, I ATE THAT PIECE.  Tasty.  The spicing and the like IS like apple pie, but the flavor and the texture of the tomatoes does lend a decidedly different feel to it. 

This recipe will be used here again, of that I am sure!

EDIT:  There have been requests for more pictures of the pie, unfortunately, that was the last piece.  It had been summarily destroyed by my kids the night before.