[Swing Swang]

The real success of the year has been tomatillos: prolific, easy to grow, disease-free, do not succumb to blight, great crunchy texture when raw, incredibly versatile in the kitchen.

Anyway, I just grew the basic green sort - I note that there are other varieties available. Dows anyone have any experience of these? Pros/cons/recommendations etc. Perticularly if used in non-savoury cooking (jams etc).

Philip

[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning Philip,
it sounds as though you have more experience than most of us!   I grew a batch quite some years ago, never sure what to do with them.

Cheers,  Tony.

[Mr Dog]

I've grown a couple of plants from seeds sent in last year's seed circle pack. They've grown well (ie big and somewhat unruly) in a greenhouse with string all over the place to try and keep them under some control. They've produced loads of flowers, the bees absolutely love them but they've set very few fruits - although a few more seem to be appearing now.

[Deborah1]

Hi. I grow these every year now.

Yes, they are reliable! They self-seed abundantly too given a mild winter. I’ve grown the green and the purple varieties and have found no discernible difference.

I use them for chutney, char-grilled for salsa and pasta sauces and around pot-roasted meats.

[Ema]

Mine have been terrible this year, I interplanted them with trailing winter squashes and can’t get really get to the tomatillos to feed or harvest them. The odd one I’ve got too is still hollow. Waiting for the squash leaves to die back before doing a mass harvest.

Out of interest what do you do with them? I tend to make pasta sauces which are ok but think there must be more that can be done with them

[Plot 1 Problems]

I like to make a creamy dip with them. Finely chop them, add lime, salt, chilli flakes, coriander and some plain yogurt. Great with nachos

[I Love Spuds]

I also grew some from the seed circle. Grew like stink and got loads of fruit.

I make a salsa which I eat with all sorts of meals and snacks. It really zings things up:
Chopped; Tomatillo, Tomato, Shallot/onion, in equal quantities. And chopped chilli, the hotter the better  I put a Trinidad Scorpion in the last lot! 

[Ema]

I also grew some from the seed circle. Grew like stink and got loads of fruit.

I make a salsa which I eat with all sorts of meals and snacks. It really zings things up:
Chopped; Tomatillo, Tomato, Shallot/onion, in equal quantities. And chopped chilli, the hotter the better  I put a Trinidad Scorpion in the last lot! 

I don’t think I can handle that kind of heat!!

[Ema]

I pulled up my sweet peas which had gone crazy and low and behold found a load of over ripe tomatillos - any tips for seed saving? Sive and paper towel?

[Plot 1 Problems]

I pulled up my sweet peas which had gone crazy and low and behold found a load of over ripe tomatillos - any tips for seed saving? Sive and paper towel?

That's what I did for last years seed circle.