As temperatures get low at night our tomatoes will ripen more slowly and when the season has ended there will likely still be green tomatoes. There are tasty dishes you can make with green tomatoes but you can also ripen them indoors to prolong the season. Tomatoes need warmth and not sun to ripen.
So, how do you get green tomatoes to ripen indoors? It’s really very easy.
HARVEST: Before frost hits, pick the mature green tomatoes. Mature green tomatoes are those that are at their full – or nearly full – size and have turned light green to white. Research shows that green fruit that is not mature is more likely to spoil than ripen and doesn’t develop good flavor.
Clip fruit to leave a very short stem piece, not so long as to poke holes in other tomatoes. Stems ripped out of fruit will open them to decay.
INSPECT: Inspect the tomatoes and remove damaged, soft or spotted tomatoes. You can attempt to ripen them but keep them away from your good tomatoes as they may rot rather quickly. If you have picked both mature green and partially ripe fruits you may want to group them by colors that will ripen at similar speeds and store each group together.
STORAGE CONTAINER(S): If you have only a few fruits you can simply enclose them in a paper bag or place them on newspaper or paper towels on your kitchen counter. If you have more, however, select a wide flat container so tomatoes can be spread out without touching. The container should be liquid proof or made of a thick absorbent material (a cardboard box works well).
PACK AND STORE: Line the bottom of the container with an absorbent material, such as newspaper, so that if a tomato rots the liquid from it will not contact other tomatoes. Spread tomatoes in a single layer so they are not touching and cover with a layer of newspaper. A second layer of tomatoes can be added but do this only when necessary as tomatoes tend to bruise easily. You don’t need to wrap each tomato in newspaper as you may have heard. That’s done to slow down moisture loss but the same thing is accomplished more conveniently by layering between newspapers. And this sandwiching between newspapers will aid the ripening process as the ethylene gas released from fruits as they ripen will stimulate other fruits to ripen. Store the box in a cool dry area. Good air circulation and low humidity will prevent mold from forming. High humidity typically causes more rot.
CHECK: Check the tomatoes every few days for signs of rot and remove any rotting tomatoes. To slow ripening, sort out tomatoes that are 50% or more red to ripen on your kitchen counter. To speed ripening you can leave the ripening tomatoes in the box or place a ripe tomato, a banana or an apple in the box to increase the amount of ethylene gas. Mature green tomatoes will be ripe enough to eat in about 2 weeks if kept at 65-70 degrees. Cooler temperatures slow the ripening process and at 55 degrees the quality may suffer.
Whether you choose to ripen them or use them green, enjoy the fruits of your labor!