What Is a Tomatillo? How It Differs From Green Tomatoes

You’ve no doubt seen baskets of tomatillos when perusing the produce aisle at the grocery store. The nearly neon green fruits and the light, papery husks that surround them are not easy to miss. They are sometimes mistaken for green tomatoes—in fact, their name, tomatillo, means “little tomato” in Spanish—but they are not the same. You could describe them as distant cousins—they have a few similarities and many differences, from flavor profile to texture. Learn how to choose and use tomatillos and what makes them decidedly different from tomatoes.

What Are Tomatillos?

Annie Jesperson, co-owner of Deep Harvest Seeds, gave us the scoop on these bright green fruits—yes, they’re fruits! Members of the nightshade family, tomatillos are round, golf ball-sized fruits that are distinguished by their lime green color and thin, papery husks. They are commonly identified as a vegetables, but much like bell peppers, tomatoes, and avocados, they have seeds, which technically classifies them as fruits.

Native to Mexico, tomatillos are resistant to widespread plant diseases. As such, farmers across the continent have begun to grow them in abundance. Tomatillos are in season in the summer, just like tomatoes, and the harvest continues into the early part of fall.

Taste and Texture

Tomatillos have a tart, bright, and mildly acidic flavor—that’s why they play such an essential role in making green salsa. The riper the tomatillo, the less acidic and milder the tomatillo will taste. When cooked, much of their acidic bite is replaced with a mellow sweetness.

While they may look like tomatoes, they will never reach the plump, juicy phase that you expect to see from ripe tomatoes. Their texture remains dense and firm when raw, but when cooked, they break down into a texture similar to tomato sauce.

Tomatillos vs. Green Tomatoes

Tomatillos may look like smaller versions of green tomatoes, but they’re actually more closely related to ground cherries than tomatoes. Tomatillos and green tomatoes share a few similarities, like their green skin and squat shape, but they differ in a few ways, too:

• Growth Habits: Jesperson says that tomatillos have a much wilder growth habit than most tomatoes. “They grow low to the ground, splayed out on branches,” she says. Tomatoes, on the other hand, tend to grow upward on their vines.
• Acidity Levels: Tomatillos are slightly more acidic, while green tomatoes have more natural sweetness. Either of these fruits can be used in dishes like salsa, but you’ll notice the difference in sharpness and acidity.
• Flesh and Seeds: According to Jesperson, tomatillos have thicker flesh and oftentimes more seeds than tomatoes. This is part of what makes them the perfect texture for salsa verde.
• Water Content: Tomatillos are much less watery than tomatoes. If you compare a tomatillo salsa to a tomato one, the green salsa will end up much thicker because tomatillos are much more dense.

How to Choose Tomatillos

When choosing ripe tomatillos, there are a couple of things to look for. Start by giving the tomatillo a gentle squeeze. It should be firm but not too hard. If it’s too firm to the touch, it means that the tomatillo is under-ripe and might be a little bitter. Too soft or mushy, and the tomatillo is over-ripe and won’t have a great texture.

Next, look for intact husks. The husks on ripe tomatillos don’t have to fully cover the tomatillos, but they will be attached pretty tightly to the outside of each fruit.

Storing Tomatillos

Jesperson recommends storing tomatillos the same way you would tomatoes. Store tomatillos in your refrigerator’s crisper drawer for maximum freshness and lifespan. Stored this way, tomatillos will stay good for up to three weeks.

Tomatillos can also be stored at room temperature, but will only last one week this way. If your tomatillos are underripe when purchased, keep them at room temperature until they ripen, and then transfer them to the refrigerator.

Preparing

Tomatillos don’t need a lot of prep, but before you use them, you need to remove the husks. Soaking the tomatillos in hot tap water for a few minutes helps the husks to slip right off. Heads up: The skin of the tomatillos will probably be sticky after the husks have been removed, so run them under cool water again to rinse off any remaining grit.

How to Use Tomatillos

Tomatillos are often used raw; bright green salsas might be the most popular use. They are also good cooked, whether stewed, braised in a pozole verde, turned into soup, or roasted. Sometimes, their sharp flavor even makes its way into a refreshing and colorful cocktail. Here are a few tomatillo recipes to try: