Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Discover How To Ripen Tomatoes The Right Way

By Mattie Knight


The tomato is largely grown in backyard gardens or containers and it belongs to the Solanaceae family. Its fruits normally get ripe on the plant in mid summer to late summer. This however depends on the variety. In a situation where a hard frost is likely to fall or the fruits have fallen from the plant before they get ripe, they can be placed in the right conditions for ripening. The following are tips on how to ripen tomatoes.

In order for fruits to get ripe, one of the factors that play an essential role is temperature. These fruits do not ripen well if the temperature is outside the range of fifty to eighty five degrees Fahrenheit. Harvesting them at the right time is therefore important. They can decay if the prevailing temperature is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to prevent decay, you may leave a small piece of stem on them.

Another factor to consider when ripening these fruits is light. If you place them in too much light, their skin may toughen. They ripen well if you place them in a warm place, away from direct sunlight. Along with bananas and apples, tomatoes release a gas known as ethylene. Utilizing the natural ethylene supply stimulates the ripening process of fruits which are harvested before maturing.

You can capture the ethylene that tomatoes produce in several ways. One of them is pulling up the whole tomato plants and hanging them upside down in a warm place. This strategy allows the fruit to remain on the plant during the entire ripening process.

Another way to capture ethylene gas is placing fruits in warm areas in a cardboard box, which is lined with newspapers. You may also ripen these fruits by placing apples or bananas along with them in a brown paper bag. The ethylene produced by apples and bananas stimulates the ripening process. You should check the fruits regularly and replace the apples or bananas if necessary.

The flavor of the indoor ripened tomatoes is determined by many factors including how you treat the fruits in their final maturity stage and the way you pick and store them. You should pick them before the temperature is cold enough to cause freezing. In addition, you should only pick the fruits that are shinny green or mottled green and pink. Since the fluted, white and smaller fruits perform poorly indoors, you should leave them on the vine.

Sorting the fruits is also essential. Separate the riper fruits so that they will not be bruised by the harder green. You should not overcrowd them because this can lead to bruising and decay. The ripening process should be complete within a period of one to two weeks.

After fourteen days, you should take an inventory of the unripe tomatoes. If there are many green tomatoes, you can set them aside and store them at 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The slight effort involved in proper curing will be rewarded when you bite into a succulent and flavorsome tomato.




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