Green tomato pie facts for kids

Green tomato pie is a yummy dessert that's a bit like other fruit pies. It's made with unripe, green tomatoes! People often add sugar, flour, cinnamon, and other spices or even raisins to the sliced tomatoes. Sometimes, they also add butter. This pie can be baked right away or the ingredients can be cooked on the stove first.

What is Green Tomato Pie?

This pie uses green tomatoes, which are tomatoes that haven't ripened yet. When spices like cinnamon and cloves are added, these green tomatoes can taste a lot like tart apples or even rhubarb! The crust for the pie is sometimes made with bacon drippings, which adds a unique flavor.

How is it Made?

There are a couple of ways to make a green tomato pie. One way is similar to making an apple pie. You simply slice the green tomatoes and mix them with sugar, flour, and spices. Then, you put this mixture into a pie crust and bake it.

Another method involves cooking the ingredients on the stovetop first. This helps to thicken the filling before it's baked in the pastry-lined dish. Both ways result in a delicious and unique sweet pie.

Green Tomato "Mock Mincemeat" Pie

Green tomatoes can also be used to make a special kind of "mock mincemeat" pie. Traditional mincemeat pie usually contains meat, but this version uses only fruits and spices.

To make it, green tomatoes are cooked with sugar, apples, vinegar, raisins, and spices until the mixture becomes thick. People say that this sweet pie tastes so much like real mincemeat pie that you can't tell the difference! Some recipes also add orange peel, jelly, fruit juice, or butter for extra flavor.

History of Green Tomato Pie

Green tomato pies were much more common in American cooking during the 1800s than they are today. Back then, people used green tomatoes a lot, not just for pies. This sweet pie is less common now than the savory southern tomato pie.

Cookbooks from the 19th century often featured recipes for green tomato pie. For example, the Buckeye Cookery book from 1877 had a basic recipe. A similar recipe also appeared in the White House Cook Book from 1887.

In the 1800s, green tomato pie recipes were often made just like apple pie. They used sliced tomatoes and sugar baked in a pastry crust. Sometimes, water, flour, molasses, cinnamon, and lemon zest or vinegar were added. Green tomatoes were a popular substitute for apples during the summer because they were easy to find and had a consistent tartness and texture.