BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...

Subject: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 12:41 AM

This year I planted a cherry tomato in our heated greenhouse (this is Alaska, after all). It did fine. I had fresh tomatoes from the end of August on. I would pick the handful each day and munch them as I walked the dog.

However, it has definitely become winter here. Our days are short (just over 6 hours of daylight) and the sun shines rarely.

So now, I have maybe 15 tomatoes remaining hanging on the vine. All green. Is there anything I can do with them?

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 04:30 AM

The usual advice is to put them in a drawer or paper bag with a ripe banana.
Another possibility would be to make a very small jar of green tomato chutney.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 04:54 AM

Fried green tomatoes (at the Whistle-Stop Café)?

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Musket
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 05:05 AM

I grow cherry tomatoes and they carry on well into late Autumn but would stay green if I kept them in my greenhouse.

I pick them, keeping as much vine as possible and put them on a windowsill in the warmth. If your variety are yellow rather than red, you might be lucky?

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 06:10 AM

They may change colour but they won't taste brilliant raw. Put them in a small ovenproof dish with a glug of olive oil and a finely-sliced clove of garlic. Season. Put into hot oven for ten minutes. Just before the end, throw in a handful of torn fresh basil leaves. That makes a very nice side-dish for something that needs a bit of moisture, some bacon or sausages for example. I know this because we had it last night (with a bunless burger). Or you could throw them into your chili sauce ten minutes before the end.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 11:43 AM

Put your tomatoes somewhere warm, on a tray covered with paper.

It's warmth, not light, that makes tomatoes ripen. I have had green tomatoes on the ledge in my dining room since late October. They are just now getting to the point where we don't want them for salad- they are losing water and shriveling.

Soon I will make them into tomato sauce.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 11:46 AM

It's an orange rather than red or yellow variety. I'll bring them in today. And Steve's dish sounds great. I shall try it. Thanks, guys!

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 11:47 AM

Next year I'm going to try a standard size tomato. These were good but just too sweet. Almost as though sugared.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 06:00 PM

I made 3 gallons of green tomato relish this year, so I'll be giving a lot to people as gifts (I processed it in pint jars). I still have a bunch of tomatoes in the house and they are in a box with a piece of newspaper over the top and every couple of days I look in and pull out the pink ones to finish ripening in a bowl with other pink ones. I usually use these in cooking since the sometimes get a little shriveled before they are really ripe, though I did process several pints of sauce and diced from those house-ripened tomatoes right before Thanksgiving.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 06:46 PM

A good tip for ripening anything unripe (I even use it to good effect with rock-hard avocados when I'd forgotten to buy them several days before I needed them) is to put it/them in a warm place next to some ripe bananas. Or even in a plastic bag with the bananas, or in a drawer. The bananas give off ethylene gas, which sounds a bit nasty but which is actually a natural plant hormone that accelerates ripening. It works!

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 06:53 PM

Like I said . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 08:03 PM

Gosh, topsie, I'm sorry about that. I've been on my flippin' iPad all evening looking up hifi systems as mine went kaput this afternoon, and my eyesight has gone all jaded on me and I'm not reading as thoroughly as I ought to. Note that I'm Steve here and not Guest Steve, which shows that I'm back on my laptop in this freezing cold room, and I can see the text much more clearly. Good old Windows, eh? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Non-ripening Cherry Tomatoes...
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 11 Dec 14 - 04:24 AM

That's OK, Steve - and you added the explanation, which is a bonus.