How do I store underipe tomatoes to make them last.?

Question

I have been harvesting orange tomatoes from my plants and I have more than I can use up. I don't want to freeze or can them. What can I do to prolong the life of them. How should I store them. I have been picking them off of the vine when they start turning orange.

Answer 1

At the end of season when I expect a frost I always pick my remaining tomatoes from my plants and wrap them in newspaper. If you put them in a cool dark place they will ripen on their own and you'll have tomatoes for quite some time.

Answer 2

Canning whole tomatoes is the best way to concentrate the nutrients and provide a long shelf life.

If a tomato drops below about 50 degrees, certain flavorful and nutritious flavenoids "turn off" and never reactivate, so you do not want to let your tomatoes get cold and never store them in the fridge or the freezer if you want to preserve taste and maximum nutrition.

Yes, canning tomatoes will deplete most of the Vitamin C but many other nutrients will be preserved and the heat will actually bloom certain phytochemicals which actually makes them MORE nutritious.

P.S. The reason frozen pizza sauce has a tomato taste is because of MSG and other chemicals.

Answer 3

If I have a lot, I just keep mine in a box and go through them every 5-7 days, using the ripe ones, or putting them to the top or in a seperate box in only one layer.

At the end of the season, I even glean all the green ones before the 1st frost and they will eventually ripen up to a pretty red just as if they had ripened on the vine.

Answer 4

Once they lose their deep green color they are mature. Eventually (on the vine or in your kitchen) they will reach their final color.

Why not try giving some to your neighbors? Why not make some fresh salsa which will keep a few weeks in the fridge. Why not try pickling the green ones? Why not donate them to a local food pantry?

Answer 5

you may rather slice tomatoes only before serving if possible, till you will prepare dinner with them. Tomatoes are appropriate saved out of the refrigerator. in the refrigerator, they are in a position to get mealy, or grainy textured if the cells in the tomato integrate with others. save them in a container, like a tupperware form of container with a paper towel on the backside. place them in one layer, on their 'shoulders' or upsidedown. they have extra even weight distribution that way, extremely than all of the load of a sizable, fat tomato on the backside, makes it squishy.

Answer 6

Sweet sister
the ones that you do keep for yourself can be wrapped in brown paper and ripen in a dark place. I do that for avocados too and they ripen nicely. The gentleman who answered second also had some very good tips too.

its great that you plant your own food. :)
ur sis
sandy

Answer 7

My mother used to wrap each one individually in newspaper or paper sacks and keep them for a long time.