Still have green tomatoes?

[naturewoman]

I have tons of green tomatoes, and was searching for some info on what I can do to get them to turn before the cold weather hits, and I found this:

By Carl Wilson, Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Agent, Horticulture

Ripening Tomatoes
Here are some answers for gardeners asking whether the large number of tomatoes set this summer will ripen before frost and what they can do to speed the process.

Though October 7 is the average first fall killing frost date for Denver, cold weather and even killing frosts can come weeks earlier in late September. Standard sized tomatoes require 40 to 50 days after blossom set to reach maximum green size. Newly setting blossoms, small and very green fruit won’t mature in the remaining growing season and are best pruned off.

New, vigorous shoots also may be clipped back. Don’t prune off an excessive amount of fully formed leaves as these supply nutrients to fruit. Pruning directs plant resources to fruit that has a chance of maturing.

When the fruit set is heavy, it can work against gardeners. Ripening numerous fruit takes a lot of energy from the leaves and tends to delay the whole crop turning red. If there are only a few weeks before frost and fruit is not ripening, try removing some of the mature green fruit to ripen what’s left on the vine.

Cooler September temperatures help fruit to ripen because the red tomato pigments, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above 85 degrees F nor lycopene below 50 degrees F.

As late September approaches, gardeners often try to extend the life of their plants by covering with cloth or plastic. Covering plants works well for nearly red tomatoes, but not as well for mature green ones. Though foliage may sometimes be saved, research shows that chilling injury on green fruit occurs at temperatures of 50 degrees and decay losses rise markedly on fruit exposed to 40 degrees F. Red ones well on their way to ripening tolerate colder temperatures.

Before frost hits and plants go down, pick and bring fruit indoors to ripen. Extended exposure to cool temperatures interferes with ripening and flavor development. Clip fruit with a very short stem piece left on but one that’s not long enough to punch holes in other tomatoes. Stems ripped out of fruit will open them to decay.

Eliminate green fruit, as research shows it’s more likely to spoil than ripen and never develops the flavor consumers want anyway. Mature green fruit will develop good flavor. Mature green tomatoes are well sized and have turned light green to white. If cut open, seeds are encased in gel and no empty cavity space is present.

In addition to mature green, sort and store fruit by these groups as they will ripen at similar speeds. Fruit may be "turning" with a tinge of pink color showing, "pink" with 30 to 60 percent color showing, "light red" with 60 to 90 percent color present, and others "fully red" but not soft.

Store mature green tomatoes at 55 to 70 degrees F. Once fruit is fully ripe, it can be stored at 45 to 50 degrees F with a relative humidity of 90 – 95%. Recommended refrigerator operating temperatures of 40 degrees are certainly too cool to ripen mature green tomatoes and are colder than desired for ripe ones. Ripening enzymes are destroyed by cold temperatures whether in the garden or in a refrigerator.

Ripen tomatoes in well-ventilated, open cardboard boxes at room temperature checking them every few days to eliminate those that may have spoiled. Mature green tomatoes will ripen in 14 days at 70 degrees F and 28 days at 55 degrees F.

Ways to use green tomatoes:
Tomato pickles, Tomato relish, Green tomato mince meat, Stewed tomatoes, Green tomato pie, Green tomato marmalade.

[Ravenlost]

Don't forget fried green tomatoes. They're yummy!

And you can ripen underripe tomatoes in brown paper bags as well.

[nandmsmom]

Last year I brought in all the good sized green tomatoes and wrapped them loosely in newspaper. I checked them every few days and we ate tomatoes for weeks like that.

[moonwolf]

I'm gonna have a few hundred pounds of green tomatoes this year. Frost date here is early September, and looks like for sure it is to happen Sept. 14 according to the meteoeorologist 'predicters'. Last time I had so many, we brought them in and kept them covered with whole sheets of newspapers without the 'maters touching each other in a room about 60 degrees. They slowly ripened and we had lots and lots to process and eat into late October.

[Phantomfyre]

With September right around the corner, and folks mentioning 40* and frost, I just ran a search to remind myself how far out from first frost I should pinch back my tomato plants to get them to work on ripening the fruits. I found this thread, and think there's a lot of good info in the OP. It answered my question, and I figured that a lot of folks could use the reminder this time of year, so I'm bumping it.

[Lucy]

My favorite :
Green Tomato Salsa
You can also use tomatillos.

5 cups chopped green tomatoes or tomatillos
1 1/2 cups seeded long green chilies
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalpenos
4 cups chopped onion
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T. ground cumin
3 T. dried oregano leaves
1 T. salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a pot. Stir frequently and cook over high heat until mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Ladle into hot half pint or pint jars. Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in water bath canner for 15 minutes. Makes approx. 5 pints.

[Use Less]

Yes, off to the garden to trim back the plants some, and pinch away little bitty tomatoes. Ditto winter squash vines and blossoms, which have been cut back once but keep on growing. I have put green tomatoes in the basement for years. I don't mess with wrapping them. My trick is to use cardboard boxes cut down to make trays and slide them on the rungs of an old, heavy wooden laundry rack, making a temporary shelving unit. We ate the last Roma's in January the last few years. Not like tomatoes in August, but way better than the store, and not the extra work for those of canning & freezing. Sue

[cindy-e]

I don't know about ripening them, but they are a main ingredient in pickle relish. I always just make pickle relish out of the green ones that are left when the weather is about to turn, and the last of the cukes. (Or I did in TN- tomatoes are not as easy to grow here. I haven't tried them yet.)

Cindyc.

[MaineFarmMom]

I picked the Prudens Purple that are at least 25% coloring yesterday. They're in the seedling house to finish turning. This weekend I'll the next batch and every four or five days after that I'll pick again. I have the green house doors and sides closed at night if it's going to be 50* or below and don't open them again until it's 70* inside. Fall came early this year. First (and killing) frost was September 6 last year. The 10 day forecast says we'll be ok at least until September 5 this year.

You can prune roots to shock tomatoes into ripening. I push a spade in 12" from the stem.

[mightybooboo]

Ive had luck trimming off leaves,I just did so starting last week.

I took off 50% on my beefsteaks and they went right to ripening, and still the golf ball sized growing.

For my hydroponics which have tons of greenery along with tons of green maters I took off 75% of green leaves.They too have seriously shifted into ripening mode.

I dont know why this worked or if it will work for others but I'll be dogged if it isnt working here.I figured I was just making plants think winter is coming on fast and they need to ripen up NOW,seems to be just what is happening.

[dixiecaveman]

I trimmed about half the outside stems from my plants about a month ago.Mine were started late for this area and had really made some huge bushes that were loaded with very small green tomatoes.After I trimmed the plants back the tomatoes started getting big quicker and I have been getting a few red ones off for about a week now.The bushes are still loaded with green ones but with our long season and warm fall temps I think they should be alright a while longer.When the frost does kill the vines if they still have green tomatoes on them I'll pick them off to turn the bigger ones in the house and pickle the smaller ones.

[Kim_NC]

Mature green tomatoes will ripen in 14 days at 70 degrees F and 28 days at 55 degrees F.

Hmmmm, maybe our root cellar experiment will work out well then. We hung a plant with green tomatoes down there to see how well they would ripen. It's a consistent 55-60º. I was hoping for 6-8 weeks to ripening though, looks like it'll be faster than that.

Ditto on the Green Tomato Relish. We make that at the end of each season. It's our favorite relish.

I read on another forum that if you take green tomatoes and wrap them in newspaper, put them in the basement or root cellar you can have fresh tomatoes until December depending on your zone. I have not tried it personally but in your case it might be a fun expirement.

[Homesteadwi5]

we've already had frost so we have 4 bushels of green tomatos in large paper bags.

[fretti]

I found this short but informative video on ripening tomatoes (also talks about upside down plants). She recommends pinching off the leaves covering the tomatoes, pinch off the flower buds, and withhold watering to force ripeneing.

http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregoni...xperiment.html

[MaggieJ]

Great thread! Thanks for all the info. Here's my grandmother's recipe for Green Tomato Relish, which uses about 3 dozen green tomatoes.

Green Tomato Relish

Ingredients:

36 good-sized green tomatoes, minced
6 good-sized onions
2 sweet green peppers
2 sweet red peppers
1 hot red pepper
2 cups cider vinegar
6 cups granulated sugar
5 tsp. pickling salt
5 tsp. curry powder
5 tsp. celery seed


Method:

Mince tomatoes, draining off excess liquid. Put in large preserving kettle and add minced onions, sweet peppers and hot pepper. Add vinegar, sugar, salt, curry powder, and celery seed. Cook all together, stirring to prevent sticking, for about 25 minutes and bottle in sterilized jars.

[Macybaby]

Thanks for bumping this thread. We just had a very light frost, and looks like we're in for about 10 - 15 days of nice weather with highs in the low 80s and lows in the upper 40's. I trimmed some plants yeasterday, and will finish up today (ran out of daylight).

Cathy