saving your green tomatoes

They will ripen quicker if you put them all together in an enclosed space with a banana skin or a ripe tomato. Ripened fruit produces ethylene gas and this encourages unripe fruit to ripen. They do need picking over and checking every day, though. You can also make a good chutney with green tomatoes. It's just as good as any other chutney.

The newspaper is a way to produce ethylene. An easier way is to stock your green tomatoes with apples, or other fruits producing ethylene, like kiwis, figs, etc.

I've done that same thing many years. Usually did it at season's end when the vines still had a lot on them, but a frost was expected and I didn't want to waste them. A really old article (Depression era) said to make sure that they don't touch each other, even while in the paper, and to turn them each day. I hardly ever had any of them get moldy or spoil doing it that way. I think what that's doing is letting any moisture that is on the bottom of the paper (from the tomato) evaporate so it cannot start to mold. I kept mine in rows so that I could keep track while I was turning them every day lol. Enjoy those tomatoes!

How about fried green tomatoes? You prepare them as if you were making chicken cutlets. In the egg with spices and then breadcrumbs, then put them in hot oil. They are delicious. We are down to our last two avocados which we had longer then anyone around the neighborhood. I will miss them. We still have tomatoes and we are now getting starfruits which are great made into a smootie. We have plantain just about all year round and breadfruit is now coming back. We ate our last mango about a week ago which they have been gone for months now. We don't understand how things linger on in our yard but we are definitely grateful. This is one of many reasons I love living in Puerto Rico, you have something growing in your yard all yearound. Happy harvest back to you and yours.

In my village, everyone have their own vegetable garden at the back of their homes or at the agricultural fields. We have the tomato plants at my home and at my agricultural fields. We have no problem for vegetables, we will rarely buy the vegetables in a shop. Natural vegetables are healthier than hybrid.

It is good to know that you are harvesting vegetables in your garden. I love gardening. We have just started vegetable harvesting in our garden. I think your tip will be useful to us at times. Thanks for the information.

My friend would do the bleach step. Then she did not wrap them, but got the "banana boxes" from the grocery store and filled them, gently, with green tomatoes. She could then see which ones were ripening at a glance and use those. The bleach really does work. I imagine peroxide would also work, but most people have bleach on hand.

Have you ever made Green Tomato Relish? It is real good with New England Baked Beans. If you would like a recipe for Green Tomato Relish or New England Baked Beans please PM me here and I will be glad to send you either or both of them.

I have never heard of this. I have just started growing tomato plants, four of them. I wondered what I would do with left overs. I have heard there is a chutney one can make out of green tomatoes.

In general we don't plant our own vegetables but rely on the market supply for our vegetables.

Hi pat, we make curry by green tomatoes. It tests fine. If tomatoes are ripen in natural way that means in the garden the test remain intact.

Hi savypt, Last Summer Msdianait gave me an easy recipe to use green tomatoes. You might try them. I made them and posted here a picture of the dish I made. Msdianait said " I also use them together with red and yellow peppers and white onions to make 'pepperonata' which I then use both as a sauce for pasta or as a vegetable with meat or fish." I used the pepperonata over zuchinni, with a piece of pork and some bacon over it. It was awesome!

I've never heard of wrapping each one in newspaper and then putting them in a cool place to ripen. Instead, what I've always done to force ripen my produce, anything from fruit that I've gotten at the grocery store to tomatos that I have to save from frost is to put them in a brown paper bag on my counter and letting them ripen for a night or two there. It has always worked for me and I've never lost any of it to mold.

If too many of the tomatoes ripen at once and you can't eat them all, then you could try making spaghetti sauce or chili out of them. This gives you variety and allows you to use up the tomatoes rather than having them go to waste. Also, you can freeze the spaghetti sauce or chili and have ready-made or quick meals for times when you do not feel like cooking.

None of you like green tomatoes? I can't blame you became many don't really care for green tomatoes. But me no, I love green better than the read ones. Today I have pureed them to make real healthy refreshing juice for the entire family. They love the taste. Just added honey to neutralize the sour taste. Wanna try?

Wooo great idea and thanks to share it. Still I not know about it but now I will do it. I think green tamatoes are good than red.

It is winter here and it sounds funny to hear you are still picking tomatoes. Since you have so many green tomatoes have you ever tried making fried green tomatoes? They are really good. Plus after they are fried and set on paper to drain. The cooled ones you can freeze in freezer bags with some parchment paper or waxed paper between the fried slices. Enjoy what you reap!