It’s just days away from the first frost, and you’re looking at your green tomatoes wishing they would just hurry up already. I’ve been there…we’ve all been there! Fret not, for there is plenty you can do with your green tomatoes to turn them red and tasty off the vine.
Near the end of the gardening season, gardeners watch the weather like hawks. Every day, we check to see if the dreaded first frost is coming.
For many of our plants that require a long growing season, every second counts! Sometimes, we can harvest in time, and other times, we just don’t get enough growing days and sunshine to get there.
Tomatoes are one I’m always keeping an eye on. I harvest them beginning in August, and can have a couple months of garden fresh tomatoes if I’m lucky. But nearing the end, I cross my fingers at the small green tomatoes and hope they can make it.
If you have a frost coming, and you’re worried your tomatoes won’t ripen in time, there is hope for your green tomatoes. In fact, some gardeners actually prefer to harvest them when they’re green!
Let me tell you why and how you can actually ripen your green tomatoes off the vine.
How a Tomato Ripens
When tomatoes first begin to grow, they’re vivid green. As they slowly reach mature size, they become pale green. Once a tomato has reached its full size, the flavour development is mostly done.
Tomatoes will begin to blush, which is known as the breaker stage. At this point, they are about half green and half red. During the breaker stage, the tomato has sealed off its stem from the plant, and nothing is moving from the plant into the fruit.
When the tomato reaches this breaker stage, it can be harvested off the vine. It will ripen and taste the exact same as if it had been left to ripen on a vine.
Many people like to harvest at the breaker stage to prevent insects and birds from feasting on their tomatoes and stop the tomatoes from splitting themselves or sunscalding.
Can I Harvest Green Tomatoes?
For many gardeners, they don’t have time to let the tomatoes even get to the blushing breaker stage. If a frost is imminent, you’ll want to get tomatoes off the plant.
You can absolutely harvest tomatoes that are green but full-size. These will ripen off the plant. Those that aren’t full-sized won’t ripen once picked because they weren’t fully developed yet.
Tips for Ripening Green Tomatoes
Once you have your green tomatoes off the plant and inside, there are a few things you can do to help them turn from green to red.
Temperature
Tomatoes like to develop best in warm temperatures. Anywhere from 24-29 °C (75-85 °F) degrees is best for indoor ripening. Placing them on a sunny windowsill can help.
Add Ethylene Gas
Tomatoes naturally produce ethylene gas as they mature and turn red. Many commercial growers will actually ripen tomatoes by exposing them to ethylene gas. They’re picked when they’re green and then they use controlled exposure of ethylene to turn them red in time to put on grocery store shelves.
You can use this same method at home by placing your tomatoes in a paper bag or a cardboard box and closing it up. The tomatoes will naturally produce ethylene themselves and slowly ripen, but you can speed up the process by placing a ripe banana alongside them. Other fruits such as mangos, apples, or avocados also work.
Check on the tomatoes regularly. They will ripen at different speeds depending on what stage they were picked at. Remove any that are ripe or may show signs of spoilage.
Leave Them on the Vine
Keep the stem intact. When harvesting your tomatoes, leave a little bit of stem rather than pulling just the tomato off. This will help the tomatoes ripen better.
Storing Your Tomatoes
Do. Not. Put your tomatoes in the fridge. Once you put the tomatoes in the fridge, you completely halt the ripening process. You’ll also notice a reduction in flavour, as the aromatic compounds in the fruit will break down when exposed to cool temperatures.
Of course, if you’re storing them for a while, you can move them into the fridge to help make them last longer. But you want to keep them on the counter or fruit bowl if you can help it!
When storing, it’s also a good idea to put the tomatoes upside down with the stem on the bottom. The shoulders of the tomato help to distribute the weight evenly, and your tomatoes will last longer.
Eating Green Tomatoes
Of course, you can also eat your green tomatoes! This is a completely different experience from eating a ripe red tomato. Green tomatoes are quite crunchy and have a tart taste.
The most common way to enjoy green tomatoes is to fry them. Cover them with a breadcrumb coating with spices and fry them in a pan until they’re golden brown.
You can also try pickling them. I haven’t tried this myself, but I would probably do it in a similar way to how I make my pickled shishito peppers.
FAQ About Green Tomatoes
Once a tomato freezes, it will turn to mush when it defrosts, and the plant itself will wilt and turn brown. So, it’s important to pick those green tomatoes off the plant if a first frost is on its way!
It’s going to depend greatly based on the type of tomato you have. Indeterminate tomatoes (the vining ones) will fruit at different times, so you could enjoy some tomatoes now, and others two months later from the same plant. Determinate tomatoes will all fruit at once, giving you one large harvest.
Most tomatoes need 65-90 days from seed before you’ll begin to see any tomatoes. Once you see a flower, that will turn into a tomato fruit in about 15-20 days.
The best way to tell if a tomato has reached full size is by its colouring. Compare it to other tomatoes on the vine. If it’s starting to change colour ever so slightly, such as yellowish-green or has a slight pink hue (usually begins at the bottom of the tomato), it’s ripe and can be picked to turn red inside.
