dremmle
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Fried Green Tomatoes?

My sister-in-law told me I needed to make fried green tomatoes. I have never tried to eat a tomato green, so I picked one and took a bite and it was bitter.

Does frying these somehow make them taste better? or is there a step I am missing that helps flavor them?

Any recipes for these would be great!

Thanks,
Daniel

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Ozark Lady
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Fried green tomatoes, huh?

Find a nice green tomato. Take it inside, wash it off good. Remove the two ends where it was attached and the blossom end.

Slice it up into about 1/4" slices. I take flour, salt and pepper, and mix them, then just roll the tomatoes to coat them.

Heat cooking oil, fry the tomatoes until nicely browned, drain on paper towels, and they are ready to eat!

Sometimes I even fry tomatoes showing some pink, but if too ripe they will fall apart in the skillet.

dremmle
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do they not have the somewhat bitter "unripe" taste still?

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Ozark Lady
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They taste like fried green tomatoes, I honestly don't know of anything to compare them to. They simply have their own taste. They taste a bit tart.

But how would you describe the taste of cooked garlic to raw, or cooked radishes, or even potatoes? I actually like potatoes better raw!

We like fried green tomatoes! But not as something we would eat often.

dremmle
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HAHA my wife loves raw potatoes as well! I told her that she is crazy, but now I guess it is not that crazy. I always have to keep her out of my potatoes when I am chopping them for dinner.

Thanks for the recipe, I will try it here shortly!

TZ -OH6
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The bitterness is actually solanine, a poison, but it is inactivated by cooking, at least in green tomatoes. Potatotes turn green when exposed to light build up solanine as well, so never eat a green potato. Luckily the bitterness makes it difficult to eat them.



Green tomatoes have a little bit of a citrussy tang to them. We don't do much deep frying because of the oil and mess, but instead just sautee the sliced or diced green tomatoes with onion and garlic as a condiment for porkchops. That is probably the fastest way to prepare them to see if you like the flavor.

thanrose
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One mistake people make their first times cooking up some fried green tomatoes is picking the tomatoes too immature. You don't want hard and small fruit. You want pretty much mature but not red yet and still firm. A little pink is fine, just as Ozark Lady says.

I usually dust them with flour just like OL, too. I have done cornmeal or even cornstarch.

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Ozark Lady
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One time, at the local gas station, with a deli. They made pizza that they call western.
It has ripe tomatoes sliced and cooked on it. I really like that, and I like ripe tomatoes in omelets sometimes too.
To me, the flavor is similar, just ripe won't fry, and they are a little less tart than the green ones.

You are right, too immature and they just don't taste good. You want them large enough for the seeds to look about like usual when slicing tomatoes. And you want the gel to be present. Hey, don't burn them though, they get really bitter if you get blackened spots on them.

bigtuna
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oh yes, almost a delacasy, when you coat with your favorite cornmeal or your favorite fish fry coating and deep fry and some good ranch dipping sauce. you gotta try them



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