[foodnfoto]

Does anyone have experience growing this vegetable? I saw a small plant at my local garden store last spring and on a whim, decided to add it to my vegetable garden.
It's been growing like crazy and is a beautiful plant with tons of lovely little yellow flowers. However, there is no fruit at all. The bees love this plant and there are hundreds all over it, so I don't think pollination is a problem.
It occurred to me that this might be a plant that reproduces sexually, AHEM! meaning, that you need both male and female plants to yield fruit. Clearly, if this is the case, I have a female with lots of flowers, but no male nearby with the needed pollen buds.

Should I leave my little nun of a tomatillo just to grow in her beauty or am I missing something?

I love those little husk tomatoes and was looking forward to some nice fresh salsa verde.

Maybe you will chime in here KYheirloomer?

[DC Sunshine]

Did a quick google on tomatillo germination and came up with this:
The Tomatillo - Salsa Plant

It sounds like your plant needs a friend or two nearby.....definitely needs two to tango in this case

[foodnfoto]

Yeah, I did a long search only to find that while tomatillos are asexual pollenators, they are self-sterile, meaning an individual plant cannot pollenate with its own pollen. Bummer.

It's a beautiful plant though, and I'll let my lonely little girl grow until the frost kills her. She is strong and immune to the soil fungus that seems to afflict my regular tomatoes year after year.

Next year I plan to plant 2 or 3 and look forward to making my special fresh salsa verde.
Here's the recipe in case you are interested-it's really yummy:

2 cups finely chopped fresh tomatillos
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons minced serrano chilies (I like to use red ones when I can find them)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
Combine all ingredients except the avocado and chill for 1 hour. Just before serving, stir in the avocado. Serve with chips or as a pretty garnish for burritos, quesadillas, tacos, or chili.

This salsa lends itself very nicely to seafood dishes, especially fish tacos!

[DC Sunshine]

Mmmm sounds delicious - can't get tomatillos here for love or money - do you think cherry tomotes would be a good substitute (tiny little very sweet round tomatoes with a great aroma)?

Do you use pepper in the salsa verde? Or do the chillies do the job? Thanks for the recipe

[foodnfoto]

If you make the salsa with cherry tomatoes just skip the sugar. Raw tomatillos are very tart and the sugar calms that down a bit without making it sweet.
Your cherry version would be like a traditional style salsa, but very good too.

[john_torras]

where cai I find these tomatillos?

thanks.

[DC Sunshine]

Originally Posted by john_torras

where cai I find these tomatillos?

thanks.

If you let us know where you are, maybe someone in the area can advise.

We just don't get them at all.

[kokopuffs]

Just an fyi tomatillos are an ingredient in chili verde.

[Powderdog]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

Mmmm sounds delicious - can't get tomatillos here for love or money - do you think cherry tomotes would be a good substitute (tiny little very sweet round tomatoes with a great aroma)?

Do you use pepper in the salsa verde? Or do the chillies do the job? Thanks for the recipe

OK, my babies, here's the deal on tomatillos: there are different varieties and they don't all taste the same. The best thing to do is start raising them. Most every seed catalog company has them. I don't plant them any more; I just wait to see them come up as volunteers along a sidewalk where the seeds from the previous year's left over fruit that I just raked into a pile along with the vines and left over the winter come up. About 4 plants will give me more than I can use. I use them primarily in a chili verde recipe that calls for 2-1/2 lb. I husk and rinse them (don't put the husks in the garbage disposal; they'll plug 'er up sure as h___!) and freeze them raw in 2-1/2 lb. packages. When I use them, I just thaw them out, put them in a blender and pulse just enough to chop them up and toss them into the kettle. I have four 2-1/2 lb. pkgs. in the freezer now and I've made a batch of chile verde in addition so that's 12-1/2 lb. that I got from 4 plants and there must have been several pounds left on the ground.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

Mmmm sounds delicious - can't get tomatillos here for love or money - do you think cherry tomotes would be a good substitute (tiny little very sweet round tomatoes with a great aroma)?

Do you use pepper in the salsa verde? Or do the chillies do the job? Thanks for the recipe

Hi DC Sunshine

Do you have a garden? If you like I can send you some seeds (I'm going to be buying some new seeds soon for spring time). I'm limited in my knowledge of growing tomatillos...but I've found them to be extremely hardy.

Send me a pm if you want>>>

dan

[GhettoRacingKid]

Ok i got a new addition for the garden this spring!!!