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| Photo taken October 25, 2014 by E.J. Bennet |
Speed Ripening
If you want to maximize your tomato output through the first frost, follow these steps in late August or early September to speed-ripen them on the vine:
- Stop watering or at least reduce water by a third or more. This encourages ripening.
- Root prune the plant. Dig straight down with your shovel into the soil 6-8” deep and cut around a circle 6-12” from the stem. Shake the plant but don’t dig it up. This will stress the plant and the fruit will ripen faster.
- Pinch off any flowers, small fruit, new shoots, and suckers. It’s too late for them to become anything. Leave only the tomatoes you think have a chance of maturing before first frost. Do this now and all the plant’s energy will go toward ripening.
- Don’t add fertilizer to speed up the process. It simply encourages new foliar growth and won’t help the fruit already hanging on your vines.
- Pick tomatoes when they show the first blush of color and let them finish ripening inside. This allows the plant to put its resources into the remaining green fruit. Once picked, they won’t continue to add sugar content, but they will mature, add color and soften.
- As the weather cools, cut remaining foliage back so the sun strikes the remaining fruit during the day. The additional solar heat will help them mature.
When Frost is Expected
- Cover the plant completely at night and anchor so the wind doesn’t blow it off. Use old blankets, thick plastic, or anything similar and make sure it goes all the way to the ground providing the plant with trapped warmth.
- Once day-time high temperatures are consistently in the low sixties, it’s time to throw in the towel and bring in the crop! Tomatoes won’t grow in very cool weather.
- Harvest the tomatoes by pulling the plant from the ground and hanging it upside down in a garage or other shelter. Check often for ripe ones.
- Fruit must be brought in before the first frost. For fruit that has already started to color, sitting on your counter for a few days is generally enough to finish ripening. Picked tomatoes don’t need sun to ripen.
- Pick the green tomatoes and store them in a shallow tray lined with newspaper. Bring in only fruit at least three-quarters of its adult size and only attempt to ripen unblemished fruit. They need a cool (60-70 degrees) and dry place and no light. Personally, I put my green tomatoes in a shoe box (one or two layers) and lay waxed paper on top (held down with a section of newspaper. This method works well but does require some regular checking to ensure that the tomatoes are ripening and not drying out or rotting. Each variety of tomato can ripen at different rates, so putting the box so it is accessible and can be regularly checked is advised. For faster ripening, place a banana in with the fruit, as it releases ethylene gas, which is a ripening agent.
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| Photo by Joyce D'Agostino |
For more tips on tomatoes, refer to these CSU Extension
bulletins:
https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/vegetables/1832-harvesting-ripening-tomatoes/
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| Photo by Carol King |
Ingredients: green tomatoes, eggs, milk, flour, cornmeal,
salt, pepper, vegetable oil for frying
Wash and dry the tomatoes.
Slice about ¼ inch thick.
Salt each slice on both sides and set aside.
Beat egg(s) with a splash of milk making a batter
Put cup or so of flour in a plate, pepper it a little and
mix with a fork
Put cup or so of corn meal in a plate, pepper it a little
and mix with a fork. I prefer Bob’s Red Mill medium or coarse ground.
Put ½ inch of good vegetable oil in skillet. An iron skillet
is the best. Heat to 350 degrees or a good frying temperature. You may have to
discard the oil and add new if you are frying a lot of the tomatoes.
Dip salted tomato slices into flour, then into egg mixture,
then into cornmeal.
Plop in the skillet and brown both sides.
Good with a nice chardonnay or cold beer of choice!