Green Tomato Catsup

This week the Milkweed Diaries is brought to you by green tomatoes.

I emerged from three months of intense off-farm work and found myself facing an onslaught of green tomatoes. They are everywhere I look. I realize that a normal person would chuck them, but I have an obsessive drive to use as much of the food that comes out of our gardens as possible.

So here's one of the things I did with them:

Green Tomato Catsup

This recipe is adapted from the classic Rodale publication, Stocking Up, the 1977 edition of which I have a beloved, battered, hardcover copy.

• 6 pounds green tomatoes
• 3 pounds onions
• 1 Tbs black pepper
• 1 Tbs dry mustard powder
• 1 1/2 Tbs high-quality salt
• 1 quart apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup honey

1. Slice tomatoes and onions and combine in a pot with everything except the honey.
2. Pour vinegar over the vegetables and cook for 4 hours over low heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Put mixture through a sieve or food mill.
4. Return to the pot and bring to a boil again, allow to boil until catsup has achieved desired thickness.
5. Add honey.
6. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal at once.
7. Process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Before cooking....

...the amazing food mill that my friend LJ found at Goodwill, and all that was left of the cooked tomatoes and onions after milling....

...and the final product: catsup!