"I have a lot of tomatillos in my garden," said my friend Thurid Clark. "You should do an article about them."

Since I'd never tried cooking with tomatillos, I was immediately intrigued. Thurid is an amazing gardener, and I knew her tomatillos would be wonderful. She gave me a bag of them to take home so I could experiment.

Tomatillos, or Mexican tomatoes, are a staple in Mexico. They are used as the base of a classic green salsa, and are used in many other meat and vegetable sauces, too.

Other common names include husk tomato, jamberry, husk cherry or ground cherry. They look like a small green tomato, except there is a loose, papery husk surrounding the fruit. (Tomatillos are related to gooseberries, which sometimes also have a husk.)

Underneath the husk the tomatillo's surface is covered with a sticky, oily substance that tastes a little bitter and is washed off before using. Different varieties of tomatillos can be other colors, ranging from yellow to purple.

Their flavor is typically tart, though it can vary considerably among individual tomatillos. One might be quite sour, while another is milder, and even be slightly sweet. When you use tomatillos in a dish, you should taste it frequently. The overall degree of tartness can be controlled by adding more or less honey or other sweet ingredients.

Tomatillos can be used raw, boiled, roasted or grilled. The husk is always removed first and the sticky surface underneath is washed away. Used raw, you can chop them fine or puree them with other ingredients. Alternatively, boiling them for about five minutes tames the sourness and the tomatillos are then pureed as part of a sauce.

I'm a firm believer that roasting enhances the flavor of almost anything, so I decided I wanted to try making a salsa in which the tomatillos are roasted first. There are several ways to roast tomatillos: Under a broiler, over an open flame (grill, gas burner or blow torch), or dry roasted in a hot pan on top of the stove.

Broiling is quick and easy to control, so that's the method I used. It's important to preheat the broiler or grill before roasting so the tomatillos don't become overcooked and too soft. You just want the outside to start to char. The charred bits will add a nice flavor to the final dish.

Traditionally, tomatillo salsa includes serrano peppers and cilantro. I couldn't find any serranos, so used a combination of poblanos (for the rich pepper taste) and dried habanero powder (for the heat).

I also didn't have any cilantro, but I'm one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes a little like soap. I just left it out of my version of the recipe, though I've listed it in the ingredients below in case you're one of those people who love it. Cilantro is definitely a traditional green salsa ingredient.

In other locavore roaming, I visited Half Acre Farm, 6211 Northwest Road, Ferndale, last week for their final day of u-pick this season. It was sunny and beautiful - a perfect finale weekend for farmers Dan and Hannah Coyne.

I came home with lots of gold potatoes, tomatoes, red cabbage, basil, thyme and sage. I'll dehydrate the herbs for use over the winter, can or freeze pasta sauce and salsa with the tomatoes, ferment sauerkraut from the cabbage, and freeze the potatoes in various forms. (Watch for an upcoming article here about how to freeze potatoes.)

If you're lucky enough to have a root cellar or other cool ventilated place, you can store fresh potatoes for several months. I don't have a cool storage place, so freezing is the next best option for me. Potatoes take a little preparation before freezing, but it saves time later when you're ready to eat them.

Over the weekend I made another gallon of refrigerator dill pickles. My family has already eaten half of the first gallon I put up, so I'm working hard to stay ahead of them. I used a recipe I found in a book called "Favorite Pickles and Relishes" by Andrea Chesman. This time I used lemon cucumbers that a friend gave me from her single greenhouse plant that is producing wild numbers of cukes. (She keeps warning me that her four spaghetti squash plants are also overproducing - another upcoming article in the making, I suspect: "100 Ways to Use Spaghetti Squash!")

I also finally got some beets pickled; the recipe is on my blog at whatcomlocavore.com/quick-pickled-beets-and-eggs. I also froze some Anaheim and jalapeno peppers (just cut them in half, remove the seeds, and place in a freezer container), and I'm still trimming and freezing the last of my broccoli florets and stems.

We resubscribed to our (Community Supported Agriculture) share with Red Barn Lavender Farm for another three months of eggs. Now it's time to think about preserving apples and cider.

It should be an easier than ever this winter to eat local!

ROASTED TOMATILLO SALSA

Ingredients

11/2 pounds fresh tomatillos (friend's garden, Lummi Island)

2 fresh poblano chile peppers (Rabbit Fields Farm, Everson)

Small pinch of dried habanero pepper powder (to taste)

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled (Half Acre Farm, Ferndale)

1 large red onion, coarsely chopped (Full Bloom Farm, Lummi Island)

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon of honey (Guilmette's Busy Bees, Bellingham)

Optional: 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Directions

Preheat broiler.

Peel back outer husks of the tomatillos by starting at the blossom end and pulling toward the stem end. Remove and discard the husks, and rinse tomatillos under warm water to remove stickiness.

Broil chiles, garlic, and tomatillos on the rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.

Peel the roasted garlic and poblano peppers. After peeling, halve the peppers and remove top stem and seeds. Chop the pepper halves coarsely. Do not peel the tomatillos.

Purée all ingredients in a blender.

Makes about 3 cups.

LOCAL RETAIL FOOD RESOURCES

Appel Farms Cheese Shoppe, 6605 Northwest Road, Ferndale; open Mondays-Saturdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m.;

Artisan Wine Gallery, 2072 Granger Way, Lummi Island; open for tastings Thursday-Fridays 4-7 p.m., Saturdays 1-5 p.m.;

Bellingham Farmers Market, Railroad at Chestnut, Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Boxx Berry Farm Store and U-pick, 6211 Northwest Road, Ferndale; open Mondays-Saturdays 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.;

Cloud Mountain Farm Nursery, 6906 Goodwin Road, Everson;

Community Food Coop, 1220 N. Forest St., or 315 Westerly Road, Bellingham;

Everybody's Store, 5465 Potter Road, Deming;

Ferndale Public Market, Centennial Riverwalk in downtown Ferndale, Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m.;

Field of Greens, corner of Kale and Everson roads, Everson; open Wednesdays-Fridays 2-6 p.m., Saturdays-Sundays noon-4 p.m.;

Grace Harbor Farms, 2347 Birch Bay Lynden Road, Custer; open Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.;

Green Barn, 8858 Guide Meridian Road, Lynden; open Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.;

Hopewell Farm, 3072 Massey Road, Everson; open Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.;

Lynden Farmers Market, grounds of Third Christian Reformed Church in downtown Lynden, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.;

Pleasant Valley Dairy, 6804 Kickerville Road, Ferndale; open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.;

Red Barn Lavender Farm (eggs), 3106 Thornton Road, Ferndale; Saturday at the Bellingham Farmers Market; or call for availability during the week, 360-393-7057;

The Islander, 2106 S. Nugent Road, Lummi Island;

The Market at Birch Bay, 8135 Birch Bay Square St., Blaine; open daily 7 a.m.-10 p.m.;

The Market at Fairhaven, 3125 Old Fairhaven Parkway, Bellingham; open daily 6 a.m.-11 p.m.;

The Market at Lakeway, 1030 Lakeway, Bellingham; open daily 6 a.m.-midnight;

Terra Organica, 1530 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham.

Reach Nancy Ging at 758-2529 or nancy@whatcomlocavore.com. To follow her day to day locavore activities, "like" Whatcom Locavore on Facebook, www.facebook.com/whatcomlocavore. For complete weekly locavore menus, recipes, and more resources, read her blog at whatcomlocavore.com.