Even if the cold is coming, do you still have some tomato plants hanging on? Instead of waiting for those green tomatoes to ripen outside, bring them inside! Compared to vine-ripened tomatoes, the quality, taste, and texture of fully developed green tomatoes are unaffected by indoor ripening. My top three strategies are as follows.
There are undoubtedly still some tomato plants growing in your garden as summer draws to a close. If your plants are anything like mine, they typically begin to look a little disheveled this late in the season: the leaves become a little crispy or splotchy, and perhaps a mystery disease starts to appear, but despite everything, there are still green tomatoes obstinately hanging on the vines. In climates where there are still a few weeks until the anticipated first frost, you can hasten the ripening process and help your tomatoes turn red much sooner by putting the plants “in distress.” This tells the plants to begin ripening the fruits they have already produced and to cease producing new stems and blooms.
There are three methods to bring those green tomatoes over the finish line sooner if you’re concerned about whether your plants will survive this week’s early frost warnings.
Green tomatoes that are completely formed come first
To ripen those tomatoes indoors, you must first select them early.
Even if someone lives in a moderate area, I occasionally advise them to pick tomatoes early. This is due to the fact that a tomato is not necessarily best picked when it is red and ripe; if you keep it on the vine for an extended period of time, you run the danger of losing it to pests, illnesses, severe rains, or other environmental conditions.
Picking green tomatoes when they are completely developed, however, is crucial.
Babies that are still half the size of their potential should be forgotten; they will never reach adulthood. Only fully matured green tomatoes should be harvested.
When are they completely matured, and how can you tell? Slice off a sacrificial fruit from a cluster of green tomatoes growing on a vine and examine the flesh. The cluster probably has a chance to ripen after harvest if it appears gelatinous.
Don’t worry about the commonly held belief that tomatoes grown on vines are better than those grown indoors.
A tomato undergoes a natural and systematic ripening process after reaching full size, during which its color changes, its flesh softens, and its sugar content rises. It makes no difference whether this occurs on or off the vine!
(However, I believe that we are all psychologically conditioned to prefer a warm, juicy tomato that has been ripened by the sun right off the vine.)
Depending on how much color they had at first, the tomatoes should ripen in one to two weeks if you place the bag in a warm location.
Technically, you could use a zip-top bag or a plastic bag if you’re wondering why you couldn’t. This will trap more ethylene, but it will also hold moisture, which makes mold more likely.
The Newspaper Approach
If you have a bountiful harvest at the end of the season, this method, which is comparable to the Paper Bag Method above, is a terrific way to ripen a batch of tomatoes in quantity.
Collect only healthy, unbruised tomatoes. Look for a big, shallow cardboard box (think cardboard trays, banana boxes, etc.). Start with a single layer of tomatoes at the bottom, cover with a few sheets of newsprint or newspaper, then add another layer of tomatoes and additional newspaper.
If you have a big stack of tomatoes, it might be laborious to check for maturity, so I don’t advise going above two or three levels.
The ethylene released by the slowly ripening tomatoes promotes the ripening of the other tomatoes. They will mature more quickly in a warmer environment.
On the other hand, they will ripen more slowly in colder climates. Consider placing the box of tomatoes in an unheated garage or basement to allow them to mature over a few weeks if you struggle to keep up.
The Method of Hanging
When I’m cleaning up the garden in the fall and there are still a few tomato plants that are surviving, I prefer to utilize the Hanging Method. I locate a vine with an abundance of green tomatoes, cut off the entire stem, and then wrap a string around the stem’s base to create a little loop for hanging.
Anywhere there is room in the house or garage, the stem—complete with the bunch of tomatoes—is hung. It may be on a utility hook, the back of a door, or even a hanger in an extra closet.
Since some of the tomatoes might not be completely formed, not all of them will ripen in this manner, so make sure to check on them every week and get rid of any that exhibit rot right once.
You may successfully prolong your fresh tomato season by one month or more by hanging the stem in a cooler location away from direct sunshine! Pull a few half-ripe tomatoes off each week and place them on your kitchen counter to ripen more quickly when you need them for your meals.
The ideal indoor temperature for tomato ripening
For tomatoes to mature, they require warmth rather than sunlight. By ripening your tomatoes in different parts of your house according to when you want to utilize them, you may take advantage of this.
The tomatoes will mature more slowly if you keep them between 50°F and 65°F. This may be an unheated garage, a closet on the north side of a house, or a basement.
For most people, this means simply leaving the tomatoes on the counter or in a pantry, and if they already have some color, they can ripen in as few days this way. Store tomatoes in a warmer area to speed up ripening; normal room temperatures of 68°F to 75°F are ideal for moving things along quickly.
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