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Green tomatoes team with fresh citrus for early winter salsa

Recipe: Green tomato-mandarin salsa with lime and jalapeño

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 7, 2025

A light and bright salsa features mandarin oranges and green tomatoes -- a delicious convergence of winter and summer growing seasons. Debbie Arrington

Three weeks ago, I thought I’d have ripe tomatoes for Christmas. One of my vines (Early Girl Bush) had healthy bunches of green tomatoes that seemed to be maturing nicely.

Alas, that thick and chilly fog that settled over Sacramento stopped my green tomatoes dead. Before the whole vine browned in our recent 30-something overnight temperatures, I reluctantly brought those last tomatoes inside – and turned them into salsa.

Green tomatoes combine nicely with fresh mandarins and limes, our earliest citrus. This light, bright salsa works well as an accompaniment for chicken, pork or fish or enchiladas, tamales or chips.

Green tomato-mandarin salsa

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 mandarin, peeled, seeded and separated into segments

1 cup green tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup onion, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon paprika

Instructions:

Cut mandarin segments into pieces. In a medium bowl, mix mandarin pieces, chopped green tomatoes, chopped onions and lime juice. Mix gently. Add jalapeño and mix again. (For hotter salsa, include jalapeño seeds.)

In a small bowl or cup, mix together olive oil, white wine, sugar, salt and paprika. Pour over green tomato mixture and mix gently to coat.

Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.

Note: Cilantro and/or chile flakes can be added if desired.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes salsa tomatoes green tomatoes citrus appetizer fall December seasonal cooking farmers markets backyard produce Sacramento gardening

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Oct. 6: Hummingbirds love California fuchsia

Sept. 29: Pineapple sage is a fall bright spot

Sepr. 22: Ginger can flourish in Sacramento

Sept. 15: Plant seeds soon for fragrant spring blooms (sweet peas)

Sept. 8: A must for fall gardens, asters are little powerhouses

Sept. 1: Yarrow an easy-care, sturdy flowering plant

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Oct. 4

* October is the best month to plant perennials in our area. Add a little well-aged compost and bone meal to the planting hole, but hold off on other fertilizers until spring. Keep the transplants well-watered (but not wet) for the first month as they become settled.

* Now is the time to plant seeds for many flowers directly into the garden, including cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca, sweet pea and stock.

* Plant seeds for radishes, bok choy, mustard, spinach and peas. Plant garlic and onions.

* Set out cool-weather bedding plants, including calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.

* Reseed and feed the lawn. Work on bare spots.

* Dig up corms and tubers of gladioli, dahlias and tuberous begonias after the foliage dies. Clean and store in a cool, dry place.

* Treat azaleas, gardenias and camellias with chelated iron if leaves are yellowing between the veins.

* Clean up the summer vegetable garden and compost disease-free foliage.

* Harvest pumpkins and winter squash.

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