Our fall frosts always sneak up on us. It still feels like summer now, but autumn is right around the corner. If you’re like us, when Jack Frost comes knocking, your garden will still be full of green tomatoes. Thankfully, it is possible to ripen many of these tomatoes indoors.
What Happens If My Tomatoes Get Frosted?
Unfortunately, tomatoes are highly frost-sensitive. If you get a good frost, your plants will wilt, and the fruit will darken and turn mushy. Watching the weather for frost is critical.
Harvest all your tomatoes before frost threatens and bring them indoors for sorting. Those that are ripe or almost ripe are ready for quick use. The green tomatoes will need to be stored, ripened, or processed.
Will My Green Tomatoes Ripen?
Many of the green tomatoes on your plants will ripen if picked and stored properly indoors. For tomatoes to ripen, look for those that are at their mature size and light green. It’s tough to tell, but compare them to other tomatoes on the plant and those you have previously harvested.
Tomatoes that have already reached the breaker or blushing stage with tinges of pink or yellow on the bottom, are also perfect for ripening indoors.
Picking green tomatoes is a great way to have fresh tomatoes further into the autumn. Did you know that there are storage tomatoes bred specifically for this purpose? Storage tomatoes produce fruit that reliably ripens off the vine. Typically, we plant storage tomatoes one to two months after the main tomato crop, timing the harvest for fall.
Storage tomatoes aren’t quite as tasty as a summer tomato fresh from the vine, but they are far better than their grocery store counterparts.
How to Store and Ripen Green Tomatoes
To ripen green tomatoes, begin with unblemished fruit. Store the fruit somewhere cool so that none of it is touching, and it’s out of direct sunlight. We’ve found that old apple boxes with their fruit dividers are great for this. Some folks also have luck with wrapping them individually in newspaper.
Never refrigerate your tomatoes.
Check your tomatoes at least once a week to look for ripening and remove any bad ones that have begun to rot. Turning tomatoes often can also help them ripen more evenly.
How to Speed Up Ripening
If you have a lot of tomatoes, you probably want to ripen them slowly over time, but if you need some tomatoes to ripen quickly, there are a couple of steps you can take. First, move your tomatoes somewhere warm, like your kitchen. They ripen well between 68°F and 77°F (20°C to 25°C).
The second thing you can do is take advantage of the tomato’s natural ethylene gas. Tomatoes produce ethylene gas as they ripen, and the gas speeds up the process. Large growers typically harvest under-ripe tomatoes and will ripen them when needed by exposing them to ethylene gas so that they’re red when they hit the grocery store shelves.
You can increase the ethylene gas around your tomatoes by placing them in a paper bag or lidded cardboard box. Just remember to check them regularly.
What Do I Do With Immature Green Tomatoes?
Dark green tomatoes that haven’t reached their mature size won’t ripen well indoors. For these tomatoes, we recommend using them green or preserving them. You can make fried green tomatoes, chow chow, pickles, and more. Find our five favorite ways to preserve and use green tomatoes.