Let tomatoes ripen indoors and outdoors properly and preserve the rest

Tomatoes are plants that keep producing until the very end. That means, if tomato plants are not killed by mildew or diseases, which has been quite common in recent years, you may have unripe tomatoes until the first frost. Tomatoes love warm weather and will not survive frost of course, and you should make sure that even those that will not have enough time to ripen fully will not go to waste.

There are several ways how you can do that. You may let tomatoes ripen on the plant untill the very end, or you can let them ripen at home. It is up to you.

Greenhouse

If you have tomatoes in boxes or pots, you can easily transfer them to a greenhouse, winter garden or protected veranda, where they should ripen well. Clip off any flowers to force the plant to concentrate on fruits only. Water until you pick the last tomato.

Photo: Pixabay

Ripening on plants hung upside down

If the plant is healthy and tomatoes are firmly attached, pull the entire plant out (including the roots), clip off leaves and hang the plants with the roots up in a warm, ventilated room. Tomatoes will ripen and last longer when attached to the mother plant.

Ripening on the tree

If the plant is infested or you do not have a suitable space to hang the plants, cut off tomatoes with the stem and place them on a tray or in a box lined with paper. Make sure the stems are up. Place the tray or box in a dark room. If you put tomatoes on a windowsill, for example, they will turn red, but they will not ripen and will lose taste. Check tomatoes often and remove any fruit that shows sign of a rot or damage.

If you do not have a suitable dark room, cover tomatoes with a paper. You may also wrap each fruit individually in a wrapping paper and place them next to each other. However, you cannot check wrapped tomatoes reliably. This method is usually used for small quantities.

To speed up the ripening process, put an apple or banana in the box. Apples and bananas release a large amount of ethylene, which speeds up the ripening process.

Aromatic tomato sauce

If you cannot eat all tomatoes, make a great aromatic tomato sauce. You are going to use fragrant spices, just like people did the old days.

Here is what you need

• ripe tomatoes 1 kg
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• beef broth – 250 ml (approximately)
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• fragrant spices: bay leaf, allspice, pepper, ½ roll of cinnamon, 3 cloves, ½ anise pc
• salt
• sugar
• 1 tablespoon of whipping cream

Procedure

1. Cut tomatoes into smaller pieces, dice the onion and slice the garlic.
2. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and fry onion and garlic for a while and then and tomatoes. Simmer everything until soft. Add a little water if necessary.
3. Take a larger saucepan and melt the remaining butter, sprinkle with flour and make a brownish roux. Pour in stock, stir well with a whisk and cook for at least half an hour until the sauce thickens. At the beginning of the boil, put all spices in a tea strainer or wrap them in a cloth and drop it in. Stir the sauce constantly to make sure that it does not stick.
4. Add the soft tomatoes to the cooked sauce, remove the spices and mix well.
5. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve add season and salt, sugar and finally, and cream to make it smooth.
6. Serve with bread dumplings and boiled beef.

Source: https://www.ireceptar.cz/vareni-a-recepty/rajska-omacka-pohlreich.html, https://prima-receptar.cz/blizi-se-podzim-a-rajcata-nestihaji-dozrat/, https://www.dumazahrada.cz/clanek/nedozrala-rajcata-nemusite-vyhazovat-mame-tipy-jak-je, nechat-krasne-dozrat-20210.html

Preview photo: Pixabay