Green Tomatoes: Storing & Ripening (6225)

With the threat of frost in fall, you may have to harvest most of your remaining garden produce with perhaps a few hours’ notice. Tomatoes are especially sensitive to frost, and you’ll want to make sure to pick all of your ripe or near-ripe tomatoes when frost is in the forecast.

But what about all those full-size green tomatoes? What can you do with them? Harvest and store them for later ripening. It does not take much time or effort and avoids losing them to frost damage. The tomatoes may not taste as good as garden--ripened tomatoes, but they taste as good or even better than tomatoes from the store.

How do you save all those tomatoes? First, watch or listen to the weather forecast each day in early fall. When the forecast predicts frost, pick all of your ripe and near-ripe tomatoes and all the full-sized green tomatoes.

Wrap each green tomato individually in a sheet of newspaper, pack them all in a paper bag, cardboard box, or bushel basket, and place them in a cool place that won't freeze. Basements, garages, or unheated porches work well. After you use the red tomatoes, start ripening the green tomatoes. To ripen them, unwrap a few and place them in a dry, 70-degree area. Unwrap only what you plan to use in a few days.

Use cut or bruised green tomatoes first. They do not keep as long in storage as undamaged tomatoes.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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