Tomatillos are also known as Mexican Ground Cherry or Mexican Husk Tomato. They are an edible fruit native to North America with green or brown husks around a green fruit that matures to yellow. They harvested green though, just when they are starting to soften. Husks are removed before eating or cooking.
Tomatillos are popularly used in a variety of Mexican dishes including salsa verde.
Toma Verde Tomatillos produce 2-4 ounce fruit that are medium green when ripe in a brownish-green paper husk. They are an early, heirloom variety, and its fruit is a little bit bigger than a cherry tomato when mature. They have a sweet, tangy flavor. The flavors tastes like a mixture of a lemon, pineapple and tomato. If left on the vine and they turn more yellow, they lose their unique flavor.
Plant Toma Verde Tomatillo in full sun 24-36″ apart. Plants grow 16-18″ tall. They do better when planted in a tomato cage or with some other support structure. The semi-determinate* plants are bushy and will spread out.
Avoid watering from the top to help prevent any foliar disease. Drip irrigation is recommended or if you must water from the top make sure you do it earlier in the day so that the foliage can dry out before nightfall.
Toma Verde Tomatillos mature in 70-80 days.
We grow Toma Verde Tomatillos in our #4 Charley’s Vegetables size category.
Tomatillo were first grown domestically in Mexico and have been used in Mexican cuisine for hundreds of years. You may have seen strange looking green orbs in a green or brown husk in the grocery store and wondered what they were. However, they are a rare find in a lot of stores. Farmers markets would most likely be more apt to have them.
Tomatillos are related to tomatoes and can grow any place where tomatoes can grow. Toma Verde can grow in a wide variety of climates and can withstand drier conditions. They can also take a bit more heat than tomatoes.
Tomatillos can be stored in their husks for up to two weeks in a paper bag in the refrigerator or 3 months out of their husks. They can also be frozen or canned like a regular tomato.
*As applied to tomatoes, determinate refers to the growing habit of plants that are bushy, whose fruit ripen over a 3 to 4 week period, and generally do not need staking. Caging is usually recommended.