Green Tomato Catsup
When I was in the Navy they sent me to Sangley Point, Isle of Luzon, Republic of the Philippines for two years. Actually it was two years, two months, and two days, but who was counting? During that time I really enjoyed myself. I got to play baseball most of the time and had several of the easiest jobs the Navy had to offer. So much for fighting a war, eh? Well, when it came time for me to go home I was surprised to find out that I was homesick. And when I got home my mother didn’t help that much. She was so elated to see me that I felt like a little boy again. The first thing she asked me after I gave her a chance to talk was: “What do you want me to fix you for dinner? You can have anything you want. Just name it!”
My response was quick because I had been dreaming about exactly that all the way home. I told her, “I want white soup beans, green tomato catsup, and cornbread!”
“No, really! I said anything: steak, lobster, anything.”
“Mom, I really want white soup beans, green tomato catsup and cornbread. I have been waiting for that meal for two years, two months, and two days. (But who was counting?)
You see, that was the main meal I grew up on. That may be why I am so short. But anyway to me it is still the best meal ever. She did fix it for me and after that dinner I was ready to die. I had attained it all.
I guess by now you are wondering just exactly what all this dinner really is. So I am going to tell you, although it would help if you spoke West Kentucky Slang.
First off, white soup beans is just a category. Any bean that is white or even some that are not (such as pintos) qualify. As you probably already know, any bean dinner will not only fill you up but it will enhance your social life afterwards. (If you don’t understand that, then it is very likely that you are not a bean connoisseur.)
Second, everyone knows about cornbread unless of course you in fact do not have a life. So I will not talk too much about that part’
This blog is really about the third element: green tomato catsup. You may not have even ever heard of it. And if it is known by you, you may be more apt to call it relish. Whatever you may call it, in my family it is known as green tomato catsup. So there!
I have written a lot today just to get to the story I want to share. You see for years my mother actually made green tomato catsup each year when the tomatoes were about to end. But she made it by herself and nobody else knew her recipe. When she died at the early age of sixty-four none of us in our family knew that recipe. She took it with her. My two sisters and I were devastated. Now what would we do? No more green tomato catsup.
Then one happy Christmas Eave (I was singing that) I got a wonderful surprise in the mail from my sister Bette. It was a pint bottle of green tomato catsup. And it was just like Mom’s! What had happened? Well, Bette had been talking to a friend and telling her about how our family had been torn away from the real recipe. The friend laughed and told her that Mom had given her the recipe several years before she died. The friend had never tried it. I highly suspect she was educated beyond her intelligence. But Bette tried it and sent me a pint. And the recipe. We had now all come to life again.
So we all got together and made a massive decision. We were to all meet at Bette’s house and form an assembly line and make several pints of this fine condiment. We agreed on twenty pints, plus or minus. My job was to bring the green tomatoes, enough for the planned number of pints. I went to our local homegrown store and asked them how many tomatoes did they think we would need. I was told that it would probably take about two bushels. Unless math is in feet and inches those kinds of answers didn’t mean much to me. So I got the two bushels.
Others had procured the rest of the needed ingredients. And they were really good at math so they all had the right amounts. I was assigned as the chopper. Or more like a grinder because that is what we used. Why? Because that is what my mother used. What did you think? As the day went by my nephew made many trips back to the store to get even more ingredients, each of us trying our best to keep up with that two bushels of tomatoes. At the end of the day we stopped and counted hoping that we had our goal of twenty pints. We did. And more. A lot more.
All in all we had sixty-six jars. But not all were pints. Nine of them were quarts. A couple were left over. Two buckets full. Big buckets! We discarded them with a closing prayer.
We are going to do that again next year. You see that was three years ago and we all still have some. Would you like a taste? Or a pint to take home. If you like it we will have some more to share next year.
But one thing that we all agreed on. Someone else will bring the tomatoes. I get to bring the salt. We don’t use that.
This has been my yummiest blog. I think I am going to ask Linda to cook some white beans for tonight. We seem to have plenty of green tomato catsup.
