Summer residents often have situations when they urgently have to harvest crops from the bushes. And it doesn’t matter whether the vegetables have time to ripen. Many people are upset about this because they think that green vegetables are no longer suitable for consumption. In the article, this myth will be completely dispelled; we will tell you how to properly store the harvest so that the tomatoes picked green turn red.
There are several ways to store unripe tomatoes - we will talk about each of them in detail.
Why is it necessary to remove unripe tomatoes?
Since premature harvesting of tomatoes is a necessary measure, it is necessary to understand why summer residents resort to it. There are several reasons for picking tomatoes early.
Reasons why tomatoes do not have time to ripen
The reason may be an incorrect selection of varieties. Quite often, summer residents, especially beginners, choose late-ripening varieties for growing in open ground. In this case, ripening occurs in the fall, when the cold weather begins. Until this time, the bush grows slowly, slowly forms ovaries and becomes overgrown with greenery. And only after all these stages the slow ripening of the fruit begins.
Such tomatoes begin to ripen only in the fall, when the air temperature no longer allows them to ripen on the bushes. If they are not harvested green, there is a risk of losing the harvest completely. Remember: late varieties are optimal for growing in greenhouses.
Attention ! To ensure that vegetables ripen before frosts in open ground, choose early and mid-ripening varieties.
Another reason is improper care of bushes. If you want to get the harvest in a timely manner, it is necessary to pinch and shape the plant during the intensive growth of the bush. Regular feeding is needed, but during the ripening of the fruits, do not overdo it. Choose fertilizers that are high in potassium.
Late planting may also be the cause. As a result, the harvest will have to be harvested prematurely so that the cold does not destroy the standing crop.
When to pick tomatoes for ripening
Tomatoes growing in open ground are harvested before the first frost. If the fruit begins to turn brown near the inflorescence, this means that it will no longer grow, you can safely pick it. If the weather is too damp and rainy already in August, it is worth collecting all the green fruits. From excess moisture they begin to rot.
If tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse, you can remove the fruits for ripening later. Depending on weather conditions and variety, harvesting begins at the end of June and continues until the beginning of October. But when the temperature in the greenhouse drops below +9°C, you need to collect all the fruits.
Types of varieties for storage
Not all tomatoes can be stored. But don't be upset about this. There are many varieties that will last until maturity.
Crops with long shelf life:
- almost all varieties of yellow tomatoes;
- Giraffe;
- Vasilisa;
- Zhanna;
- Gift of autumn;
- Orange ball;
- Snowfall F1;
- Long keeper;
- New Year;
- Khrustik F1;
- Lounger F1;
- Rio;
- all winter tomatoes.
This is not a complete list of varieties and hybrids that can ripen green.
But varieties such as Oak or Japanese can be stored for no more than two months.
Gorloder: boiled recipe, canning
For preservation, you can use the following recipe.
Interesting: How to Melt Butter at Home
- tomatoes - two and a half kilograms;
- apples - half a kilo;
- sweet pepper - half a kilo;
- garlic – one hundred and twenty grams;
- dill - fifty grams;
- vinegar - two large spoons;
- hot pepper – one hundred grams;
- parsley - fifty grams;
- sunflower oil - one glass;
- black pepper and salt to taste.
- Sterilize and heat the container before storing.
- Wash vegetables under running water.
- Remove seeds and core from peppers and apples.
- Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
- Grind the remaining ingredients in a blender or meat grinder.
Pour the resulting mass into a container, add vinegar, spices and vegetable oil. Place the pan over medium heat and cook for at least 2 hours. Dill and parsley can also be ground in a blender or finely chopped, then added to the sauce before the end of cooking.
The hot seasoning is poured into jars and rolled up.
Jars can be stored in a pantry or basement.
Conditions necessary for long-term storage and ripening of green tomatoes
To keep your tomatoes as long as possible, follow a few simple recommendations. Compliance with them will allow the fruits to maintain freshness and aroma. When properly stored, the taste remains the same as that of those fruits that you were able to pick ripe.
At what temperature should it be stored and for how long?
Temperature is the most important indicator for proper storage. The warmer it is in the room where the green fruits are located, the sooner they will ripen. Accordingly, the lower the temperature, the slower the fruit will ripen. Summer residents recommend storing unripe tomatoes at an air temperature of at least 20°C.
It is necessary to place all the tomatoes in boxes and cover with paper. This will protect the tomatoes from direct sunlight. It is best to place the container in the kitchen. It is there that it is always warm and there is no dampness. Store the tomatoes until they are fully ripe and acquire their characteristic red color. How quickly this will happen depends only on what conditions are created and whether the care of the tomatoes is carried out correctly.
When to pick tomatoes for ripening
Harvest time for ripening is largely determined by the characteristics of the variety . Depending on the degree of ripeness, tomatoes can be divided:
- for green ones - usually used exclusively for culinary processing, they are eaten quite rarely;
- blanzhevy – need to be collected at the moment when the fruits begin to acquire a greenish or orange color;
- ripe - you need to watch how the tomatoes turn red; pink ones can already be collected for storage.
The blanzhes ripen quite quickly after harvesting, but the green ones do the opposite. They will need to be stored from several weeks to several months. Experts advise not to take small tomatoes or those that are damaged for long-term storage. You should not store those that have already been exposed to even slight frosts.
Choosing the optimal storage location
When choosing a storage location, there are several important factors to consider:
- optimal temperature +20–23°C;
- low humidity;
- the room should be dry;
- There should not be bright sun where the fruits will be stored.
Artificial light
To ensure that tomatoes ripen as quickly as possible, artificial lighting is used. An ordinary lamp can become such a light source. It must be placed above the boxes of tomatoes and turned on periodically. Under artificial light, tomatoes ripen quite quickly and intensively.
How to properly store green tomatoes so they turn red and ripen at home
There are certain rules that should be followed for ripening tomatoes at home. Let's take a closer look at ways to accelerate ripening on branches, in stacks, etc.
How to speed up maturation
These tricks will speed up the ripening of picked tomatoes:
- place the tomatoes in paper bags and put a banana between them, it will release a special enzyme that will speed up the growth process;
- fill the box with fruits with sawdust;
- To prevent the fungus from infecting the fruits during storage, they are treated with alcohol;
- Place the boxes of tomatoes in a dark cellar for several hours, then take them out and put them in a warm room, so they will turn red faster;
- some summer residents put tomatoes in felt boots;
- Place several already ripe ones in a box with unripe tomatoes.
Ways to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes on branches
For this storage method, it is necessary to dig up all the bushes that have unripe tomatoes. This must be done as carefully as possible without damaging the root system. After this, hang the bushes in a dark, dry room with the roots facing up. The air temperature in the room should be no lower than +20...+23°C, otherwise the vegetables will wither.
Ripening in stacks
This method is suitable if there are a lot of unripe tomatoes left on the bushes. The bushes are cut off at the very base and stacked in a warm, dark room so that the tops are in the middle. Then the stacks are insulated with fabric or bundles of straw.
How to store green tomatoes so that they turn red?
There are unripe fruits hanging on the bushes, but the autumn cold is coming, and the tomatoes need to be picked green. How to store green tomatoes so that they turn red and ripen?
Towards the end of summer, during the tomato harvest period, as a rule, sharp changes between night and day temperatures begin, air humidity increases, and with it the risk of developing fungal diseases in tomatoes.
Vegetable growers try to preserve the harvest by removing unripe tomatoes from the bushes and storing them at home, so that the tomatoes ripen from green to brown, pink or red.
Tomatoes have the ability to ripen when picked from the bush; the fruits are ripened indoors, and the taste of vegetables picked green is not inferior to tomatoes ripened in the sun.
After removing unripe tomatoes from the bushes, vegetable growers have many questions. How to ripen green tomatoes, where to put them to ripen faster, and how to store green tomatoes so that they turn red?
Green tomatoes picked from the bush should be stored indoors. But experienced gardeners have several ways to store and ripen tomatoes.
- You can ripen tomatoes without removing the fruits from the bushes. For this method, use pieces of fabric to cover the entire bed, carefully wrapping the tomatoes on the sides from frost. Modern summer residents often use covering material to preserve and save their tomato harvest.
- The second way to save green tomatoes that did not have time to ripen due to the onset of cold weather is to carefully tear the bushes out of the ground along with the tomatoes hanging on them and hang the plants with their roots up from the ceiling in the room. As tomatoes ripen, they will feed on the juice from the plants and gradually ripen.
- The most accessible and widespread method for ripening green tomatoes among vegetable growers is storing them at home in a dark and warm place. Favorable conditions for ripening tomatoes are considered to be a room temperature of at least 20 o C.
Before placing the tomatoes indoors for ripening, the vegetables should be sorted out and each tomato wiped with a dry cloth to remove the soil from the skin in order to protect the harvest from rotting.
Question: Are unripe tomatoes edible?
Tips and tricks
It is not recommended to eat unripe tomatoes, as they contain specific enzymes. These substances, once in the human body, can cause poisoning. However, there are many canning recipes that use green tomatoes. In pickles, toxic compounds are neutralized.
If you want to have ripe tomatoes all year round, you can start growing tomatoes at home. Hybrids that do not require intensive care are suitable for this. They can be grown in small pots.
