Like A Good Neighbor . . . State Farm is There . . .

Like a Good Neighbor . . . State Farm is There!!!!

We're a State Farm family and have been since the 50's when my parents chose State Farm as their insurance.    When we married, we chose State Farm as well.    And when Daughter Sarah married, her father in law was a State Farm adjuster!     

Our State Farm agent is not just our agent but our friend as well.    We attend the same church and last Sunday after service, he asked if we'd like some tomatoes.

Thus, the story begins!

There with this grocery bag . . .

Like a good neighbor . . . a good neighbor is a green neighbor!

Which were full of tomatoes . . .

Full to the brim

At least 25 pounds of tomatoes . . .

Lots of varieties of tomatoes

Big. . . Small . . . Cherries . . . Yellows . . . and even green ones . . .

And what did I do with all of those tomatoes?

Sixteen jars of tomatoes.

I canned 16 quarts using the French canning method.     Sixteen quarts of summer goodness in a jar -- ready to be made into tomato sauce or soup.

And the "little guys" -- the cherries . . .

I decided to make jam --

Cherry tomato and cinnamon jam

Tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon sticks

For each two cups of tomatoes, you use one cup of sugar and a cinnamon stick.     You let them macerate for an hour, then put them in a pan and bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

Strain and put the syrup back into the pan and cook for another 5 minutes more or until thick.

All boiled down and ready to be jarred.

Then add the tomatoes and cook an additional 5 minutes.     I did add a pinch of cinnamon to the batch so that it would be more "cinnamony".

After that . . .

Good for morning toast but also as a condiment.

put them in a jar.   (And tuck the cinnamon stick in a jar.)     I made a double batch and got three jars plus a little extra.   I did a second batch and got three more jars.     Tomato jam will be our jam of choice for a while!

And what did I do with the green tomatoes?

Fry them, of course.     Dipped first in a mixture of buttermilk and egg and them dipped in a mixture of flour and corn meal.     Fry until nicely golden and serve with a buttermilk dressing (made up of buttermilk and mayonnaise, fresh basil and Green Goddess herbs).     Had the tomato jam been finished, a dollop on each one would have been perfect!


I'm joining Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.   For what is more outdoor and summery than tomatoes!