Storing green tomatoes

[Woodland Woman]

Does anyone know the best way to store green tomatoes so they don't ripen quickly? I finally had to pick them all and I have about 15 - 20 lbs. I'd like to use them as fresh as long as possible.

 

[Farmfresh]

I just place them in a roaster and spread them out as much as possible. (or at least keep a close eye for weepy ones) I just let them do their thing under a roof window in our cool upstairs. As they start to color I move them down to the kitchen where I keep a closer eye on them. When they are finally ripe they are ready to use or I freeze them.

This process usually takes a couple of months to go through all the tomatoes giving me a good extended season.

 

[Zenbirder]

I use my guest room with an open window at night and a closed door. I cover the bed with a tarp, then newspapers. The tomatoes keep best in a cool dark place. So this year the queen size bed is FULL!

 

[patandchickens]

Don't try to store any that aren't 100% perfect, or that have had even a touch of frost... use them for fried green tomatoes or whatever.

Spread in a spaced-out single layer on trays (some people dip in a weak bleach solution first, some people half-wrap each one individually in newspaper; I'm too lazy and don't think either makes a giant difference). Store somewhere 50-55 F (-ish) and reasonably dim and neither extremely dry nor extremely humid. I use my basement, but a cool lower shelf in the kitchen may work better for some, or a cool disused spare room on the non sunny side of the house.

Inspect them every few days or twice a week for any that are starting to go funny (remove) or ripen (put in kitchen to finish ripening, preferably not in direct sun). You will not be able to get them quite as ripe as you would with garden tomatoes (at least, not without risking losing quite a few on the way) so better to eat them a little too early than a little too late.

With luck and a good enough storage system you may be eating the few last ripe ones near christmastime

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Woodland Woman]

Thanks everyone. I put the unblemished ones spread out in cardboard boxes in the garage where it is cool. Hopefully we will have fresh tomatoes for a good while.

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks everyone. I put the unblemished ones spread out in cardboard boxes in the garage where it is cool. Hopefully we will have fresh tomatoes for a good while.

Just a note - you may want to put them on something else inside of (or instead of) the cardboard boxes. Reason being, when one of them goes south unnoticed -- and it probably WILL happen no matter how good anyone's intentions -- the cardboard will wick the moisture laterally and my experience is that it's likelier to affect adjacent tomatoes than if they're on a hard nonabsorbent surface. (On a hard nonabsorbent surface you will get a little puddle but it will basically stay put)

Good luck, have fun, enjoy your tomatoes ,

Pat, with only a dozen or dozen and a half left now (it was a terrible year, plus I put them inside about a month ago now)