Tomatillos are Weeds

I don't know if anybody else here raises Tomatillos (Mexican Husk Tomatoes). I do, as they add a great flavor when used as an ingredient in my garden salsa.

This year I mail ordered my seeds early, and I planted the whole pack of Tomatillo seeds in about an 8-foot section of a row. Then we had a couple of weeks of rainy weather, and the crabgrass got ahead of me. The Tomatillo plants came up, but they were about 2" tall surrounded by 4" tall thick crabgrass in the row. There was no way to pull the crabgrass without pulling the Tomatillos, so I just cleared it all out and expanded my row of okra instead. Figured I'd have to do without Tomatillos this year.

Still fighting the crabgrass wars in early June, I was tilling between rows and pulling weeds out of rows when I noticed that a whole bunch of those weeds looked familiar. Then I noticed that there were hundreds of them grouped in just two places - where I grew yellow Tomatillos last year, and where I grew purple Tomatillos the year before. Finally, I realized that those "weeds" were Tomatillo seedlings.

I transplanted some of both the yellow and purple varieties to the ends of my corn rows, gave them some support, and they took off. Wow - apparently I've been buying and planting Tomatillo seeds every year and tilling under hundreds of Tomatillo plants that were already up. Well, as long as I'm using this same garden I've bought my last Tomatillo seed. They're on their own now, because I know they'll re-seed themselves every year.

I've read that before Tomatillos were grown for markets in Mexico, they weren't cultivated at all. They were just a weed that comes up in corn fields, and people knew that the fruits were good in all kinds of sauces. If you haven't grown Tomatillos, they're real easy to grow and we enjoy them a lot.

i threw some seeds on a bare spot in the yard and they have sprouted but they dont seem to be groing that fast. i hope i have ur "problem"

funghi2 - Just keep them watered, and they'll grow like weeds. It seems like they kinda sit there until they're about 10" high, then they start growing real fast.

We've always liked La Victoria green taco sauce, which I think is available nationwide. I always figured it was made from green tomatoes, but 4 or 5 years ago I read the label and found there are no tomatoes in it. It's made from tomatillos. That made me plant tomatillos for the first time, and we like them so well in sauces I've grown them every year since.

any recipes for ur salsa's?

also, i have the purple ones, any difference in taste?

I can't tell any difference in taste between purple and yellow tomatillos.

Garden PICO DE GALLO SALSA recipe:

It's not a recipe, it kinda depends on what you've got. I've found that you really need to hand-chop everything up fine with a knife. Food processers just don't do.

Six or seven big ripe garden tomatoes.
3 or 4 big garden onions.
Green onions if you got.
Lots of sweet peppers, you can't have too many sweet peppers and their juice.
A big bunch of tomatillos, if you got.
A big bunch of supermarket Cilantro, fresh. You can't have too much Cilantro, either.
Hot peppers to taste. When your nose runs, your forehead sweats, and you need a glass of ice water - it's right.
A couple of spoonfuls of lemon juice.
A couple of spoonfuls of sugar - BUT ONLY if you're using supermarket tomatoes and they're not sweet.
A good-size shot of red wine.
Seasoned salt, to taste.

Chop everything up together, put it in a closed container in the 'fridge, and it'll get even better in a few days as the flavors blend. It'll keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, but it'll be gone long before that. I like to eat this as chips-and-dip with white corn tortilla chips.

my mouth is watering....

thanks for the advice - i will try these next year

Under "little known facts and who cares", I read up on tomatillos several years ago when I started growing them. I think it's an interesting story.

Both tomato and tomatillo seeds were brought to Europe by the first expeditions returning from Mexico - starting with Cortez. Both vegetables were new to Europeans, but the Aztecs and the civilizations that preceded the Aztecs had eaten them for thousands of years.

The Aztec word for ANY small, edible fruit or vegetable is "tomatl". So at some point a Spaniard asked an Aztec "Hey, what do you call this thing?" - and the answer was "Tomatl".

If it had been a lemon, a melon, a peach, or a berry, the answer would have been the same - "tomatl". So the Spaniards introduced both vegetables to Europe, calling the one "tomato" and the other "tomatillo" (little tomato).

Both of the new veggies were widely grown within a few decades, starting in Spain and Italy and spreading everywhere from there. The most useful by far of the two, the "tomato", eventually developed into thousands of sub-varieties - first through natural mutations and later by intentional crossings by gardeners. The "tomatillo" is less prone to mutation and there are only a handful of sub-varieties.

So, we don't really know what the first "tomatoes" were like - they were probably small and not very good by today's standards. But we're growing the same "tomatillos" the Aztecs grew.

Another simple, simple recipe for salsa
can stewed tomatoes, small can tomato sauce,half onion,a couple jalapenos,garlic salt, black pepper
chop jalapenos and onions in blender, add cans of tomatoes and pulse once or twice just to mix and chop up a bit, you don't want to blend too much or salsa will be too mushy. Add garlic salt and black pepper to taste. You can also add lemon or lime juice if you like.

*drool*

Can't wait for things to get ripe to try those recipes...

I have 2 purple and 2 green tomatillo plants that have been blooming for awhile, but are just starting to get the puffy little husks that will (hopefully) have fruit in them.

I'm growing tomatillos for the first time here in Seattle, and it's working out great! They're fruiting like crazy. I have them in a sunny spot next to a south facing wall in well loosened and composted soil. I water them once every 5 days or so, on drip for 15 minutes at a time. So they seem to work in the northwest as well, as long as you have a sunny spot.

I started a vegetable garden for the first time last years (just north of Seattle), and included tomatoes and tomatillos. They did fairly well last year, but I lost interest in tomatillos, so didn't buy any seeds this year. Well, long story short I had tomatillos popping up everywhere this year, pulled all but around 10, transplanted them to various places around the yard, and they are going crazy, crowding out some of my shrubs and other plants. So yes, they have become somewhat of a weed, but hey, at least they will make a fine salsa!

Will they crowed out Burmuda grass? (I'm only half-joking)

Hey, I'm enjoying the ultimate batch of salsa right now. It's the best ever - until I make the next batch, of course.

I kept track of the "recipe" this time, though every batch is different and depends on what's available. This is a REAL good one, though.

18 small-to-medium ripe garden tomatoes, Big Beef, Steak Sandwich, and Lemon Boy. Yeah, I know Lemon Boy doesn't have much flavor, but I grow one plant because I like the color.

6 home-grown medium size red onions. These turned out strong.

14 big ripe sweet peppers, Carmen, Flexum, Gypsy, and Sweet Spot.

12 little Aji Dulce peppers. These are very mild Habenero-type peppers with hardly any heat but great flavor. I've never had these available as a salsa ingredient before.

14 Tomatillos, none ripe yet.

1 bunch of fresh Cilantro from the market.

13 little Maui Purple Peppers, for "heat".

A dash of Lemon Juice.

A bigger dash of Red Wine (Merlot).

Seasoned Salt, quite a bit.

I chopped everything up fine with a knife, but used a food processor for the sweet peppers and tomatillos. The only ingredients that weren't home-grown were the cilantro, lemon juice, wine, and salt. This made about 6 quarts of salsa, and it's GOOD.

I love tomatillos !!
yes they grow like a wild thing don't they
mine this year are slow due to our cold ?? but i got a good batch for salsa to can some .
i will try your fresh salsa it sure sound good
wish my cilantro was still growing :(