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Frost nipped

12 years ago

Well, I don't know how bad it will be, but it looks like we've gotten the first frost/freeze of the year, and an early one to boot! Some things were covered, but it was a mad last minute dash in the dark (isn't it always!)

My question, if the ripe tomatoes get frost/freeze a bit, they are still good to use for canning as long as I get to them right away? And to wrap the green ones for hopefully fresh eating later as well as green tomato relishes etc...

It's too early to know how bad it will be, so, maybe it's not bad, but... the grass was "crunchy" in places.

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Comments (2)

John__ShowMe__USA
12 years ago
Not your question, but do you hose off the frost with water before the sun hits the plants?
macybaby
12 years ago
What I have read - getting frost nipped does something to the enzymes of the fruit and changes the acidity levels, making tested recipes and methods no longer valid.

Which means if you want to be safe according to Standards, do not use them in canning, if you follow other standards, then it's up to you.

John - my sister had a PYO berry patch, and the only reason to put water on was to keep them from freezing in the first place. Though she was doing this in the spring, she would often be up very early running the sprinkler system on the berries to keep the fruit from getting frost bit.

Waiting until after the fruit was frosted would have had no effect. Though if you got to them right away, you could keep the frost from doing more damage, and usualy the coldest temps are right before sunrise.
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