Meatless Green Tomato Mince

I cannot take credit for this recipe.  The inspiration came from the book Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt.  Her recipe is called Green-Tomato Mincemeat, but the primary ingredient in her recipe is apples - go figure.  Since apples are in short supply this year, and face it I have trouble leaving a recipe unaltered, I changed it a bit (by switching the quantities of tomatoes and apples, increasing the brine salt from 3 tsp to 4 tsp, adding 1/4 cup more vinegar, substituting 1 cup white sugar and 3 cups dark brown sugar for 4 cups light brown sugar, substituting raisins for currants, simplifying the citrus zest quantities, doubling the ginger and allspice amounts, and substituting smart balance light for butter).

Yields approximately 8 1/2 pints; I'm not sure where she got the estimate of a 10 pint yield.  Every time I made the recipe, it came out consistently at 8 1/2 pints.  (Even with switching the tomato quantities and apple quantities, the total volume should remain the same.)

Ingredients and procedural components:
10 cups chopped green tomatoes
4 teaspoons canning salt
5 cups boiling water

8 cups apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
1 cup white sugar
3 cups dark brown sugar
4 cups raisins
3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
zest from one orange, chopped fine
zest from one lemon, chopped fine
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons butter or smart balance light

Place the chopped green tomatoes in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, stir well, and let sit for one hour.  Rinse and drain well.  Return to bowl and pour 5 cups boiling water over the tomatoes; let sit for 5 minutes, then drain really well.

While tomatoes are brining, peel, core, and chop apples.  (The original recipe did not even specify if the apples were to be peeled.)  Sprinkle the apples with fruit fresh to keep them from browning.  Gather other ingredients.  I usually "zest" the citrus carefully by slicing the colored skin off with a paring knife and then chopping it finely.  Combine all ingredients except the butter in an 8 quart stock pot, stir well.  Over medium high heat bring mixture to a boil, stirring to avoid mixture burning to bottom of pan, then reduce heat to a high simmer/very low boil and set lid on at an angle to allow some steam to escape.  Cook until apples are tender and starting to mush.  Add butter/smart balance and stir well.

 What it looks like at the beginning of cooking.

What it looks like when done.

Honest, it tastes better than it looks.

Ladle hot mince into hot sterilized jars, remove air bubbles if there are any, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Make sure jar rims are clean.  Cover with scalded lids and apply rings tightly.  The original recipe calls for processing pints or quarts in a hot water bath for 30 minutes at 200 deg. F.  My electric stove refused to maintain a constant temperature of 200, so I had to settle for a very low boil instead, better a little hot than too cold!

It works well on toast and pancakes.  It might make a tasty topping for pumpkin cheesecake at Thanksgiving.  Then there are the usual mince pies and tarts.  Hubby even enjoys it as a condiment along side steak or roast.  Enjoy!