Urban Life vs. Rural Pursuits
I love fried green tomatoes. Unfortunately you can’t get green tomatoes year-round. So when a friend I was visiting in the country offered me a few dozen green tomatoes to lessen her overly abundant harvest I immediately said yes, knowing that I could easily can the tomatoes so that I could have green tomatoes even in the heart of winter. All I need is mason jars. In the south, where I grew up, this is a simple quest. At this time of year especially every grocery store has them in abundance so that people can deal with the produce from their gardens. Now, I know that New Yorkers don’t have gardens and so aren’t really in a position to can vegetables at home, but I figured that SOMEONE would have mason jars to sell me. So far though, after two days of seeking I’m turning up empty. None of my local grocery stores, Bed, Bath and Beyond, K-Mart, Target, or even William Sonoma have them. It’s times like this when I realize how far apart my rural roots and my current life are.
All the while my tomatoes sit and ripen and soon won’t be suitable for what I wanted them for in the first place.
Don’t worry about the lack of mason jars, because I don’t think you can fry tomatoes that have been canned anyway. So get your skillet out, get to frying, and enjoy them while you can. Maybe you can find at least one mason jar for your sweet tea to drink along with your fgt…
DG– The method I use to can them is just a simple water and salt pack, no cooking. I fried some last year that had been packed by a friend using the same method. They weren’t quite as crisp as fresh ones but they were still good!
Have you tried asking someone in a gardening store? Goodwill is often a good place to score some….but I could have sworn every Jell-o/Jelly and Jams section had some pectin and jars.
I finally found them, at The Container Store of course. You can see the story of my canning adventures (with pictures!) at my personal blog.