Salsa verde season
The Solanaceae family casts a wide net. Subscribing members include 90 genera comprised of maybe 3000 species of plants such as belladonna, petunias, tobacco, mandrake, all the peppers, potatoes, eggplants and tomatoes.
Also present at family reunions are tomatillos, known as husk cherries. The fruit looks like small green paper lanterns with a ball inside. Records show it was a regular in gardens for Aztec and Mayan families at least 2800 years ago, which was the same time Vikings invaded Russia and algebra was invented.
The invading Europeans who visited Mexico did not like tomatillos much, so its cultivation retreated to rural gardens. They thrived wherever they were planted because they acclimate to all moderate summer microclimates, even to the point of becoming a wild and frisky invasive. Kenya declared tomatillos a weed in certain areas because they can be notorious reseeders.
If a gardener does get some volunteers in the spring (seeds get around, they don’t discriminate, and they might sprout anywhere) and in spots contrary to your inclination, they handle being transplanted well if you know what you’re doing.
Back in June, I was way overdue transplanting some spindly tomatillo seedlings, but they have survived by sprawling on the ground like the wild things they are. This weekend I saw the first instance of a paper lantern husk turning brown and beginning to split meaning the fruit is almost mature. That means there is salsa verde in my near future and, if I let a few tomatillos fall naturally to the soil, I might be having the next generation salsa verde a year from now.
A healthy tomatillo plant in happy soil in a good year when the moon shines bright and rain falls once a week all summer, might command a square yard of a garden bed by autumn if left to its own devices. This means your busy autumn schedule will include regular salsa verde processing, and that’s okay.
A gardener should treat tomatillo plants like tomato plants. You can start seedlings from seed and transplant them where you want. Engineering skills might be required to make sure plants grow mostly vertical and stay somewhat contained. Three or four tomatillo plants in a row might constitute a tomatillo thicket. How much salsa verde does your household need?
Just to be clear, tomatillos are berries which are usually green but sometimes purple, and the paper husk around the berry is called the calyx. Write that down. It will be on the test. Also, the plants are self-incompatible which means it takes two to tango.
Tomatillos are usually identified with Mexico and Central America, but northern India, South Africa and Australia have adopted them, and there is a yellowish variety from Poland. I like them too, and they grow well around here because they can handle the summer heat and autumn chill plus our rocky soil drains well.
So, enough science! Here’s what to do with them. Once the calyx has turned brown like fragile paper, harvest the fruit. Sometimes they just fall on the ground when ready. The skin of the tomatillos will be sticky, so rinse them. They are unappealing raw, so steam or gently boil them a bit to bring out the sweetness and the tart, citrusy taste. Some folks who watch cooking shows on satellite TV will just cut up the tomatillos and add them to sauteed garlic, onions and a mild pepper and put the whole mess on beans, for example.
If you really want to show off, roast them briefly before adding them to your enchiladas. Was it the Aztecs or Mayans who invented enchiladas? Whoever it was deserves a day off and a back rub.
Tomatillos are another healthy source of vitamins A, C and K plus your favorite flavonoids and choline, which comforts your nervous system… another reason to make salsa verde. I feel calmer just thinking about it.