Mock Mincemeat
Submitted by Tone_g
Mock mincemeat made from green tomatoes, apples, and raisins with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. No meat needed. Water-bath canned for shelf-stable holiday pies and baking.
YIELD
10 quartsPREP
10 minCOOK
30 minREADY
40 minThis is the old farmstead answer to using up a fall garden’s worth of green tomatoes. Fifteen pounds get ground, triple-drained to pull out the raw bite, then slow-cooked with apples, raisins, and warm spices until thick enough to fill a pie.
The triple-drain method is the real technique here. Each round of boiling and draining removes more of the tomato’s sharp, grassy flavor. By the third drain, what’s left tastes mild and fruity, almost like apple butter’s distant cousin. Skip the drains and you’ll taste raw tomato in every spoonful.
Apple cider vinegar adds the tartness that traditional meat-based mincemeat gets from suet. It also drops the pH low enough for safe water-bath canning, so you can put up 10 quarts and have pie filling ready all winter.
Stir frequently during the 1 to 1½ hour cook. The sugar-heavy mixture sticks and scorches fast, especially toward the end as it thickens.
Kitchen Tips
- Use a heavy-bottomed pot. Thin pans create hot spots that burn the bottom before the mixture is thick enough.
- Leave a full inch of headspace in your jars. Mincemeat expands during processing and under-filled jars can prevent a proper seal.
- One quart fills a 9-inch pie shell, so plan your canning yield around how many pies you want this season.
Variations
Ingredients
Directions
Wash, core and chop unpeeled green tomatoes.
Grind tomatoes in a food processor, food mill or the old- fashioned way in a sausage grinder.
Drain through a colander lined with cheesecloth into a pan.
Measure juice after draining and discard.
Place tomatoes in a large enamel or stainless steel kettle; add a measurement of water equal to the amount of discarded tomato juice.
Bring mixture to a boil.
Remove from heat and drain mixture as above.
Measure juice and discard. Return tomatoes to kettle, add water equal to amount of water discarded.
Bring to a boil and repeat draining process.
Return tomatoes to kettle and add amount of water equal to discarded tomato juice.
Wash, core and chop apples.
Add apples, raisins, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt to tomato mixture.
Cook until thick (1 to 1½ hours), stirring frequently.
Mixture will stick and burn quickly.
Ladle hot mincemeat into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1” headspace.
Adjust caps.
Process 20 minutes in boiling water bath.
Note: This mincemeat can be used as a pie filling for cakes, in cookies or eaten as you would jelly on biscuits, English muffins or toast.
It also makes a great topping for ice cream. One quart of mincemeat is sufficient for a 9-inch pastry shell.
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