By Kevin Williams
Tomatoes are a summer staple in Amish gardens and kitchens. The ruby red delights find their way into sauces, salads, and even breads. But what if you are just itching to eat those tomatoes even before they are ripe? Well, we’ve all heard of fried green tomatoes. Yum! Dipped in a little ranch and, wow, oh wow (anything fried and dipped in ranch qualifies for a wow, oh wow). But what about green tomato pie? That’s not something I’m familiar with, so I wanted to try it.
WHY GREEN TOMATO PIE?
This is a fascinating recipe that comes to me from an Amish settlement in Tennessee. The first question I wondered when making this is: Why? Why would anyone make a green tomato pie? I mean, I guess, why not? At first I thought it would be a savory pie, but, no, it is a dessert pie. The 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the recipe makes sure of that. For the tapioca, I just used tapioca pie filling and that worked great, don’t use, say, pearl tapioca. The recipe is interesting to me because, true to Amish tradition, it is such a simple formulation.
GREAT DEPRESSION DISH?
This pie reminds me of some of the simple, from-scratch, threadbare cabinet pies that Amish bakers are so skilled at making. Vinegar pie is one that just sounds awful, but it works. It’s very good. The green tomato pie is another one. The tomatoes haven’t ripened yet so they don’t have their true flavor, so you use diced green tomatoes, smother them in sugar and tapioca and you get a creamy, interesting pie. I mean, I can tell you that I was super skeptical when I made the pie. My wife thought it came out fo the oven looking like “green slime”, but once you chill it, put a dollop of whipped cream on top of it, and taste the unusual swirl of flavors, you really will like it, I think. I know I did. I’d absolutely make it again. I made a homemade crust using our easy-in-the-pan crust recipe and, yeah, it was super simple and super tasty. The top crust didn’t work so well, kind of sank into the pie, but that is okay, it turned out fine. Just make it the top crust thicker and put on top and you should be OK.
Use plump unripened tomatoes…
Aster helped with the pie crust
This is what the pie looked like before going into the oven….
Looks like green slime out of the oven, but let it chill…
Similar pies:
AMISH GREEN TOMATO PIE
1 cup green tomatoes, diced
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons tapioca
pinch of salt
1 cup water
Mix together and put into unbaked pie shell.
Cover with second crust.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Rating
- 1 cup green tomatoes, diced
- 1¾ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons tapioca
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup water
- Mix together and put into unbaked pie shell.
- Cover with second crust.
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
9 Comments
Barbara Prisinzano
I’m sharing and I’m making the Tomato Pie!! I’ll let you knw how I like it!! Barb P
Kevin
Thanks, Barbara, good luck! Hope it turns out well!
dorothy
This recipe is way off. I use my grandmother’s recipe.
Linda from KY
The amount of tomatoes does seem a bit sparse. If you do increase the tomatoes, though, I’d increase the sugar, too. Green tomatoes, as you know are very tart with very little sweetness. I tried making a green tomato pie once that didn’t turn out very well.. It’s a recipe in my mom’s 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. If I tried this recipe I’d probably add some cinnamon and nutmeg.
Kevin
Yum, Linda, cinnamon and nutmeg are great ideas for additions to the recipe!
Kentucky Lady 717
Haven’t had a green tomato pie, but I did make a red tomato pie, recipe that I got out of an Amish book and it was absolutely delicious….was more like a pizza pie and we loved it…..
Hope someone makes this and lets us know how it is…..
Donna
This is the recipe I use for Green Tomato Pie.
1 quart of green tomatoes (fresh or canned*)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 – 4 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Double pie crust (store bought or homemade)
Put green tomatoes in an 8 inch pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle with sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Top with crust. Bake in oven at 350 degrees.
I usually mix the pie ingredients together; put the mixture in the pie crust, and top with the remaining crust. If using fresh green tomatoes, allow around one hour to cook.
*My mom usually cans green tomatoes for this pie.
Kevin
Yum, thanks for sharing this, Donna!
Mrs. H
One of my Kansas grandmothers used to make Green Tomato Pie at frost time every autumn. She would pick all the green tomatoes off the vines the day for the expected hard frost. Then she would make the pies. I carry on the tradition.