Aren't tomatillos and green tomatoes basically the same?

Question

They have the same texture and similar flavor. Could I substitute green tomatoes for tomatillos in chile verde?

Answer 1

Not exactly -- neither botanically nor culinarily. Botanically, the tomatillo is related to the gooseberry, while the tomato is a nightshade (same family as peppers, eggplants, and other interesting plants). Tomatillos grow in a papery covering that you need to peel away before washing, mincing/dicing and cooking; they are meatier than tomatoes, with more and smaller seeds.

Culinarily... well, if you can't find tomatillos near you, green tomatoes are sour and green, at least, so a sauce made with them will be a similar color and somewhat tart. You could try adding some lime juice to make your green-tomato sauce a little more piquant, but there's another component to the flavor of a tomatillo-based salsa verde that I can't quite put my finger on.

If you have to substitute, add roasted green chiles, garlic, onion, cumin, salt, and cilantro (coriander leaf on the east side of the Atlantic) and it'll still be good. Not quite the same, but not bad at all. I have made a sauce (from a recipe suggested by a friend from New Mexico) with red tomatoes and roasted green chiles, both picked from our own garden; we simmered the sauce with chunks of lamb, and the result was FANTASTIC. Fortunately, chiles and tomatoes taste really, really good together pretty much whatever you do with them, so you'll end up with something tasty either way.

If there's a Latin American market near you, you should be able to find canned tomatillo sauce if fresh tomatillos aren't available.

Answer 2

Green tomatoes are unripe red tomatoes with the exception of a few varieties of tomatoes that are a green or yellow color even when ripe. You cannot buy green tomatoes in the store. They are what is still on the vine when the summer is coming to a close and there may be a threat of frost soon and rather than let them rot, you make fried green tomatoes or pickles or? Tomatillos are not green tomatoes. They are in the same family but not a sub and can be quite tart. They have a husk and are sticky.

Answer 3

You could, although green tomatoes are a little more tart.

I would stick with the tomatillos. Try to find a bottle/can of them, rather than the fresh ones.

Answer 4

tomatillos are usually the small red tomatoes.

Answer 5

good answer,scott e , but somebody please give-
armando q -a book on culture !!!

scott e -the missing link is cummin - either whole if cooking the tomatillo's or ground as to season the dish,

Answer 6

You could certainly do so. It might taste slightly different, but it would still be good.