Sunday, October 13, 2013

What is a Tomatillo?

What is a tomatillo? We get asked all the time what a tomatillo is. They are not commonly grown this far north but you can find them in the produce section in most grocery stores. They are an interesting ingredient in a fresh salsa. They taste like a citrus flavored kiwi, but not so sweet. They are not hot and are very meaty.

They have a husk on the outside that is removed before chopping them up or cooking. They have a little sticky coating on the inside of the husk that can be washed off before use. They sprawl out a little more than the tomato plants and yield pretty good. They yield keeps doubling each week until frost as the plants are heavily branched. They are in the solenacia family the same as peppers and tomatoes.

This year because it was so dry and the tomatillos are about 1/2 mile from the house. I couldn't water. I noticed that plants started to drop their fruit. We got a rain about a week ago and they look like they are back on track.

The plants will reseed themselves the next year and you can thin them out and keep the biggest ones if you'd like. We move them around so don't usually do that.

You haven't had fresh salsa until you add in a couple of tomatillos. You can also make a vibrant green salsa using all tomatillos.




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