I usually wait until a tomato is fully ripe (fully red) before picking. There is an opinion that picking when the tomato is starting to change color and letting it complete ripening after picking works just as well with less chance of splitting and other types of damage.
5 Likes
That’s interesting. Good to know. Thank you.
If true, this is useful information; but has anyone actually scientifically tested this idea? It should be very easy to pick a fully ripe specimen and one at color break from the same plant and measure their brix levels. The article didn’t offer any evidence for the statements provided, only opinions by the author. Yet, I’ve read comments many times that fully ripe tomatoes taste sweeter than underripe ones. Who’s right?
1 Like
From what I’ve read and watched, you are not supposed to eat them at colour break (underripe). Just pick them and let them ripen on the shelf or with aid of ethylene.
I always ate tomatoes when they were fully ripe until I moved to Italy and my wife’s family would eat them at about 80% ripe. They are more firm and still taste great.
I prefer it that way now
2 Likes
I do, too. Mainly when it comes to pure red varieties. A ripe San Marzano or Roma, for instance, is the equivalent of a very ripe Red Delicious apple. But a Black Russian is a different thing.
2 Likes
I read the article the same way @Tana did. Per the person in the interview, you can pick tomatoes as soon as they change color. These early-picked tomatoes will continue to ripen on a counter at room temperature. Once they ripen on the counter, they will taste the same as those vine-ripened tomatoes.
Leaving tomatoes to vine-ripen carry more risks for possible damage by various factors.
1 Like
my father always picked his as soon as they started to yellow. then he ripened on blankets indoors.
1 Like
Makes sense—at the end of the season before too cool of weather I generally pick a lot of tomatoes before ripping out the vines and let them ripen on the counter for weeks after harvesting. Without any brix or other testing—just my recollection—we ate many tomatoes this way at the end of the year that tasted similar to what we ate during the summer. I even had a couple this year that accidentally came loose when picking ripe ones and we let them ripen this way and taste was the same. Cracking has been a big issue for us this year so this would help on that front.
3 Likes
Cracking prevention is a great point. There’s no greater disappointment with varieties that take ages to ripen then when they spoil almost ripe for no other reason than that the rain finally came in autumn.
yes…i pick most of mine if they get a little pink on the bottom…sometimes once they kind of get lighter i pick them…i spread them on the counter and they will ripen in the house and be just as good…been doing this for 30 years or more…if i let them get red on the bush some animal comes along and takes a bite or they split…this really works and we get to eat so many more tomatoes…
4 Likes
Craig LeHoullier has said in interviews that he’s done blind taste-tests and hasn’t been able to differentiate vine-ripened from counter-ripened tomatoes.
An additional benefit of picking early that the article didn’t mention is that, in most scenarios (with indeterminate tomatoes), it should increase yield. That also applies to peppers. And since the fruit is fully mature at “break,” it’s not necessary to allow them to over-ripen on the plant prior to collecting seed (unlike, say, cucumbers).
2 Likes
There is a really good gardening channel on you tube. The “millennial gardener” if I remember correctly. He has an episode a few weeks ago, he quoted two university studies that show the tomato plant grows a barrier to the tomato when it is between 30 and 50 percent ripe and the plant stops providing any nutrients to the tomato at that point. As discussed earlier, pick them and allow to ripen inside in a protected environment.
4 Likes
I didn’t believe it when I first read, many moons ago, that you didn’t need to fully ripen on the vine. I tested it for myself, and it was true. Zero difference between picking them when they start ripening and leaving on the counter to fully ripen vs leaving them to ripen on the vine. I will never go back. Fewer cracking issues, fewer stinkbug issues, no more bird pecks, etc. I pick at the first sign of color.
Don’t believe me- try it yourself.
2 Likes
I pick all my tomatoes right before first frost, even the grass green ones. While it may be true that vine ripened are sweeter the tomatoes that are green take up to 4 weeks to ripen and still taste amazing. The difference in flavour from a vine ripened one is small.
3 Likes
right before frost I pull the whole plant up cutting off the roots and leaving them, I hang the thing in the basement or greenhouse and pull the tomatoes as they “blush”. even grass green will keep blushing if they’re attached to the stem.
for picking I try to let them get full ripe on the vine but 99% of the time something wants to eat em, so I pick early and let them ripen on the counter. last ones I pull go in a cardboard box to ripen, greenest ones on the bottom, newspaper between layers.
2 Likes
That was the first thing I thought of when looking at this topic. This is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR1S3hPZEps
The clickbait title is annoying and it seems like he oversimplifies a bit or maybe doesn’t understand the science 100%, but I think his argument makes good sense.
When they are ripe to turning. This way you can table ripen, puree the ripe ones in batches, cook them down and can them at the peak of ripness.
2 Likes
You can also pick them when they are green (not yet turning) to make up a batch of roasted green tomato verde salsa to can.
When you puree save the skins and seeds to be ground into tomato powder (powerful stuff… a little goes a long way).
We’re doing the same with our tomatoes: ripening them indoors and canning 7 liter (quart) batches. We’re also trying out a new processing method; instead of cooking and then straining the tomatoes, we’re now just blending raw tomatoes and bringing the puree to a boil before putting it through a pressure canner. There’s no waste, no mess; and it’s a lot faster.
2 Likes