Green Tomato Pie
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What is a Desperation Pie?
My grandmother used to talk about green tomato pie. I never got to try hers, although she was an amazing baker!
This pie was a “desperation pie”.
In desperate times like the Great Depression, apples were not readily available. Therefore, green tomatoes were used to make a delicious pie.
This pie was found in a recipe book called: Buckeye Cookery, from 1877 and is very reminiscent of an apple pie. You can however, taste the tomatoes well, so keep this in mind if tomatoes are strong to you.
In the Buckeye Cookery Cookbook, the suggestion is to stew the tomatoes. This recipe is a little simpler and a lot sweeter! However, you could try stewing the tomato filling before baking if you really wanted to.
How to Make The Pie
You will need a double pie crust. You can use a double recipe of my Easiest Pie Crust recipe – one for the bottom crust and the other for the top lattice. To make the top lattice crust, here is a post that I recommend.
First put your bottom crust into your pie plate. My Easiest Pie Crust makes a 9″ pie crust.
Slice up 3-5 green tomatoes (about 3 cups). It is not necessary to peel them.
Mix together the 1 cup brown sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon apple pie spice. If you don’t have apple pie spice, you can use a mixture of ½ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp cinnamon, and ¼ tsp ginger. Toss this mixture gently with the sliced tomatoes, coating them in the mixture.
Add this filling to the bottom crust, layering the tomato slices over one another so there are no open places.
Take the 2 tablespoons butter and slice it up. Dot the filling with the butter.
Top with the lattice crust.
Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for about 1 hour, until the tomatoes are tender.
Serve with a dollop of ice cream!
Green Tomato Pie
Ingredients
- 3-5 green (unripe) tomatoes, sliced (enough to fill a 9" pie shell)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice or a mixture of ½ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp cinnamon, and ¼ tsp ginger
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Mix together the 1 cup brown sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon apple pie spice.
- Toss this mixture gently with the sliced tomatoes.
- Add this filling to the bottom crust, layering the tomato slices over one another so there are no open places.
- Take the 2 tablespoons butter and slice it up. Dot the filling with the butter.
- Top with the lattice crust.
- Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for about 1 hour, until the tomatoes are tender.
