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hank

By Hank

Cheshire, United Kingdom Gb

Due to gettong a poor start with my tomatoes this year I now have numerous left on the plants which are almost ripe but not quite. Should I leave them on, bring them in the house or give up waiting and make chutney with them ?



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Answers

 

It's best to leave them on the plant as long as possible, but not too long that they go over. I see several that are ready for harvest. The red ones should be picked so the plant can 'focus' on the others.

18 Sep, 2018

 

I made a green tomato cake on the weekend, wasn’t sure we’d like it but it was delicious. Very similar to carrot cake.

18 Sep, 2018

 

Thanks B. Green tomato cake ? If the recipe’s not too difficult I’d try it.

18 Sep, 2018

 

Don't forget that they will ripen up in the house. We have had them sitting round for weeks after they have finished in the greenhouse, getting riper by the day.

18 Sep, 2018

 

Hi Hank I’ve just taken a couple snap shots of the recipe I used, i’ll Put it on here as a blog for you.

18 Sep, 2018

 

Thanks OB, that sounds good. And thanks Pd for the recipe, I hope it’s easy.

18 Sep, 2018

 

If you pick them and lay them on a clean sheet, towel, newspaper etc (on a spare bed?) they will ripen. You can pick whole bunches at once -no need to pick them individually. Even green ones will ripen this way as long as there are one or two ripish ones among them.

19 Sep, 2018

 

Thanks S, I was going to bring them all in and risk making soup with them, but I’ll do as you suggest and make soup once they’re ripe

20 Sep, 2018

 

H, better to leave the green ones on until they ripen naturally on the vine, unless you like green tomatoes, which some people do. Fried Green Tomatoes is popular down South, but I'm a Yankee Boy! The plant is still transferring natural sugars to the fruit through photosynthesis which is done in the leaves (7th grade Biology Class). This makes them sweeter & more delicious. Putting them in a brown paper bag or with a banana simply changes the color to red, but essentially it's still unripen. This is why the tomatoes at the market are blah tasting. They were picked unripened, chilled, then sprayed with ethylene gas so they look pretty at the market.

20 Sep, 2018

 

Thanks again B, I’ve now taken off all the toms that were almost ripe and now have enough green ones to make my green tom chutney which I do every year.

21 Sep, 2018

 

That sounds good. I was never a fan of green tomatoes, but I never had green tom chutney.

22 Sep, 2018

How do I say thanks?

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