Shorter days and cooler nights mean Maine’s gardening season is rapidly coming to an end. So what do you do with all of those tomatoes that never ripened?

You might make green tomato relish or green tomato mincemeat or try baking a green tomato chocolate cake. There’s also green tomato pie. It sounds like a trick but it’s actually an old-time Halloween treat.

Like any other pie, it starts with making pie dough in the usual way. You’ll need about a dozen or so medium-sized green tomatoes and a lemon of about the same size, flour and a little white or brown sugar. Start by making your pie dough. There are lots of different ways to make dough; if it’s your first time stick with a basic method. When you’re finished gather the dough into a small ball. While it’s rising, rinse your tomatoes and dice them skin and all into small pieces.

Next chop up a medium-sized fresh lemon, rind and all.

Roll the dough into a ball and flatten it with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter and roll the dough thin with a rolling pin until you have a 12-inch circle. When that’s done, carefully place it into a round, nine-inch pie pan to make your crust. Leave a lip all the way around at the top and trim away any excess dough.

Add five heaping tablespoons of sugar. Next, add a layer of tomatoes, dust them with flour and then add about a third of the chopped lemon, spreading the pieces all around.

Now place a second layer of tomatoes and sprinkle five more heaping tablespoons of sugar over it.

Add your top crust, crimping the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts together. Some people brush the top of their pie with milk or an egg wash to help with the browning of the crust. Another method is to dust the top with flour and sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar over it.

Before popping the pie into the oven, poke a few holes in the top with a fork. Bake the pie for 50 or 60 minutes at 375 degrees; when the crust is golden brown it’s done. It’s best to bake the pie on a cookie sheet because it’s apt to be juicy.

The recipe has been around a long time, at least as far back as the 1930s. It varies from one part of the country to another, except for the tomatoes.

Now about the taste– well that’s the treat!