Ripening Green Tomatoes

This post might come way out of season for some of my readers. Just remember that this info is available here, though, and come check it out again during the appropriate season!

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Sometimes the end of the road for our tomato plants comes before all the fruit currently growing can finish ripening. Whether your plant is shutting down because of an impending frost or simply reaching the end of its lifespan, you can salvage all those green tomatoes!

1. Remove all viable tomatoes from your plant. Cut them off with just a centimeter or so of vine attached. If they are too small or too hard, compost them or enjoy a serving of fried green tomatoes. If they are whitish, however, you can make a go of them.

2. Sort your tomatoes by color. Divide them roughly into "slightly pink/orange," "light green/whitish," and "solid green."

3 a. Put the "slightly pink/orange" tomatoes in a brown paper bag and place it somewhere warm. These tomatoes will ripen on their own nicely, probably in just a few days.

3 b. Wrap each of the "light green/whitish" and "solid green" tomatoes in newspaper and place them in a shallow cardboard box. (Alternatively, you can fill the box with shredded paper or straw and place the tomatoes directly into the box, leaving room between each tomato.) Put the whiter tomatoes together and the solid green ones together. (The whitish ones will reach an orange tone faster, so you'll want to be able to easily locate them without looking at every tomato.) Put the box someplace cool and dark.

4. Check your tomatoes every 2-3 days. Remove any that show signs of rotting or other problems. Move any tomatoes that turn orange from your box to your bag. Take any that turn [optimal color for the type of tomato you're dealing with] from your bag to your kitchen counter, and enjoy!