I agree. You are right on the money! Ed PS I think you will like the way Big Beef keeps.

Thanks Ed,

This thread did nit get muck attention. I reckon, lot of people don't keep tomatoes very long. Some do it at the end of season.

I sliced my last tomato today and put them on my hamburger. I had picked it on Oct 28, Just about 30 days ago. But It was fully green then. I think it was a Big Beef. So there are some long keepers.

Sey

I just started soaking my Persuasion seeds--supposed to be a long keeper. I'll let you know in 6 months!

Burpee's Long Keeper does keep for a long time. Not the greatest for eating tho. Good for bragging rights.

Thanks farmerdill and Mariann,

By "Long Keeper" I mostly meant actually that have a long shelf life and low spoilage, when you cannot use them right away. Those with cracks and thin skin seem to have shorter shelf life. And as I mentioned , some blk/brn varieties naturally get soft too fast.

But a trick to extend shelf life it to pick them in such a way that are bot bruised and cut the stem rather than disconnecting.

Sey

Sey - I am not sure it is worth the effort for me from the results of my first try at ripening totally green tomatoes?! Maybe I should try just setting them on a shelf next year and see what happens - that would not require much effort at all - haha. I certainly wouldn't select a tomato variety for planting because it is supposed to be a long keeper - unless I were selling on the open market or shipping - unless, of course, it tasted as good or better than the short keepers?

We ate our last green tomato to ripen last Sunday that we picked green about November 14th. Brandy Boy is ripening fine for us too - although it is a thin skinned tomato. But only about 25% of our green Brandy Boys are worth eating. Most of the tomatoes are not ripening evenly so one side of the fruit is aging quicker than the other - they are loosing too much moisture and the skin shrivels - Some crack worse and some don't crack - the taste, although better than store bought, is not up to expectations! We stored them in a box with the larger tomatoes wrapped in newspaper and the medium sized laid on top of the larger ones and just covered with newspaper with the box lid shut at 50 - 60 degrees F. There are still some left in the box (10 or so) that haven't ripened yet but are turning. Here are some that we recently did eat.

Hudson... I think newspaper can say 2 purposes : One: it cushions , reducing contact pressure and prevent bruises. Second , it provide air. I can accomplish those by putting very soft kitchen towel just under the tomatoes on the counter.

Ripening takes time. In cooler temps it take longer while the fruits don't get dried out fast. I have seen them change color in the veggies compartment in the frig. So if you want to extend shelf life keep them in cool temperature. That is why a cellar is a good place.

Sey

Sey - Maybe ripening them quicker will keep them from drying out? If you just have them on the counter on a towel - the temp must be 65-70 degrees? I stored them at 50-60 degrees in my basement (high humidity) as suggested by several web searches and most of my tomatoes were dehydrating significantly - placing them at cooler temps - like in the veggie compartment or cellar may take even longer to ripen - but how will they store?

I guess defining my goal would help. My goal is to slow down the ripening process as much as possible while maintaining quality eatable fruit - whether that is 1 wk or 4 wks. I would like to find the best storing method to achieve that goal. I only scored with about half a dozen of the tomatoes I stored this year - I obviously did not have the best storing method this year - unless one can only expect 20% success on the tomatoes stored?!

What percent of the tomatoes you store ripen and are good eatable fruit? To clarify - your method is nothing more than cutting the green tomatoes from the plant - setting them on a towel on your living area counter at room temperature - then eating them as they ripen. Is that what you do?

Hudson, I am late answering your post.

Here is What I picked :

If I did not have the grey mold problem I could get them all ripen.

I have to add that I just picked the bigger ones , not everything on the vines.

I am convinced that once a tomato gets to mature size and better yet shows a hint of color, it does not need the plant to get ripe. From there on ripening takes place internally. So if you choose to leave it on the vine, then you are using the vine as the counter.So when you pick them "Vine Ripe" they have already spent part of their shelf life.

Sey

Thanks for your explanation and photos Sey ! A couple of more questions. When you say "choose to leave them on the vein" - do you mean pull the plant and leave the tomatoes on the vein while you are storing them? If you pull the plant and leave them on the vein - do they store longer - ripen more successfully - than when you just pick the green tomatoes? At what temperature do you store the tomatoes that you do not put in the fridge?

You had similar results that I experienced with rot/mold. I read if you wash each tomato before storing the rate of rot goes down - I did not go to that effort but maybe that would help?

From the photos - you had a good batch of green tomatoes - one hates to just throw them away !! At least you were able to use about 50% of them!

I grow Candito (f2) for a long-keeper.

The photos below show what this cherry tomato look like: yellow on top changing to an orange bottom. This truss was harvested at the end of August. It's now approaching the end of December and there is no change in quality.

This tomato is very crunchy, not too sour and slightly sweet.

Daren