Ingredient Introduction: Tomatillo

I was a bit intimidated when standing in the produce department of my grocery trying to buy these for the first time.  I've never been big into cooking or adventurous eating, so I never really learned how to tell how to pick out ripe produce, even the things I'm pretty familiar with!  Add to it that no one I knew cooked with tomatillos, and you had a clueless redhead frantically searching the internet from my phone (while standing in the middle of the produce area) looking for some help on purchasing them.

Here is what you need to know...

What is it?

• Cousin to both tomatoes and gooseberries
• It is small (about the size of a plum or plum tomato) and wrapped in a husk that feels like paper...ish.
• Like the tomato, it is technically a fruit that we use as a vegetable.
• It is very tart and can be considered similar to a green tomato.

Purchasing:

• They should be firm.
• The husk should be tight to the fruit or slightly open/bursting.
• Avoid the ones with mildew (duh?)
• Green is better than yellow.  Yellow is beyond ripe and starts to lose the tartness.
• Smaller is better.
• Husk should be pliable and not dry or brittle.

Preparing:

• Remove the husk and pull any remaining stem along with it.
 



• If the stem doesn't pull away with the husk, just use a knife and cut it off.
  
• You will notice that the flesh is sticky.
• This really freaked me out the first time I cooked with them - but don't panic.  It's normal.
• Rinse the sticky off!
  
• Cut or chop or roast as your recipe directs.

Reference @ CooksInfo