Holy Tomatillos!

Last week I picked 20 pounds of tomatillos from our garden. Tomatillos are small, firm, green tomatoes with a paper husk. The tomatillo plant is similar to that of a standard tomato we are used to; it is from the night shade family and typically requires some kind of cage or trellis for the weak vine to rely on. We have three different cultivars of tomatillos growing this year. Some of them had purple-ish husks. The fruit is slightly crunchy, low in acid and high in pectin. This makes for great tasting salsa with perfect consistency! When I picked them they easily plucked off the vine. When picking tomatillos, you want to give them a little squeeze while still on the vine to make sure that the fruit has filled in the husk. Don't pick them before they are bursting out of this translucent paper wrapper!

When picking (and later when husking) the tomatillos are sticky. I found this sticky-ness to be almost oily, which was to me, a unique experience. While husking, I ate a few whole-- sweet and crunchy like an apple, slightly acidic like a tomato. Then, I simply quartered the larger ones (halving the smaller ones) and placed them in roasting pans. I baked them in the oven at 350 degress for an hour and a half. As the tomatillos were roasting, I threw three poblano, three anneheim, two serrano, and one jalepeno chile pepper on the grill. I just blackened their skins then let them sweat out in a ziploc bag. After they were cooled, I peeled the blackened skins off and took the seeds and stems out. I also sauteed 10 small white onions and six cloves of chopped garlic until the onions were soft and translucent. I drained the tomatillos of any excess water they let out while roasting and threw them, the roasted peppers, the onion and garlic mixture (both from our garden), three cups of chopped fresh cilantro (also from our garden) the juice of three limes, a half cup of white vinegar and some sea salt to taste into the blender.

Now, my favorite part-- canning! I washed and prepared lids for 10 pint jars and filled them almost to the top with my wonderfully green salsa. Then, after dipping in a water bath for 30 minutes, they sealed themselves closed on the kitchen counter while cooling off. Granted there were only 10 jars, but excitingly, my own tomatillo salsa sold out at the farmer's market in Dublin, OH. It's best on plain old tortilla chips, but I also found it very tasty as a tapanade for baked cod or salmon.

The 'Ol Moonshine Keg

So lately I've been into home brewing. I want to brew with my own, homegrown, hops next year, but this year, I will stick to the hopped malt syrups. Well, Younes and I bought a cheap-o plastic brewing kit at CVS the day after Christmas- everything was on sale. I'm brewing a belgian blanc in that 2 gallon keg. However, it's this 6 gallon keg pictured here that I want to bring to your attention.

This 6 gallon keg was in the basement at the farm for over 30 years. I remember, in highschool, going down to the basement and daring my friends to drink what I called, "moonshine." Nobody knew what was in the keg. It was a brownish color, smelled like some sort of alcohol and tasted gross. It was only last week that the keg was unearthed, dusted off, and drained. As I began to drain it I felt sad that 6 gallons of "liquid" were going to waste. I had to save some of it. What if it's aged and worth something now? What if it's some kind of amazing liquor that would go great with lamb?

Needless to say, I put a glass under the tap and saved some. It was truly murky. I looked at it. Remembered the days I willingly drank the stuff in highschool and took a sip. The best way to describe it was 50% rubbing alcohol and 50% tannin aftertaste. Ugh. There must be a better way to remember this keg and how it did its job for over 30 years with no complaints. So I cleaned and sanitized it and dressed it to the nines with a triple-hopped IPA. Let's see if this batch lasts as long as the 'ol moonshine.