Indoor ripened tomatoes?
 

Hi growers,

I managed to recover a decent harvest very late into the season but a lot of them are green, or just starting to turn colour.

What is everyones experience? How much will the flavour suffer compared to fully vine ripened?

Those that are just about to turn colour should be fine. We often harvest tomatoes early if rain is in the forecast, or if there's a chance that critters may get them!

The green ones may not taste so great (although when I end up with green ones at the end of the season, it can be very cold which may have a detrimental effect). Still, it's better than tossing them isn't it?

Linda

I pick all of mine at the first hint the tomato is turning colors. I do this to beat the squirrels, birds, bugs and rain from getting them. When a tomato does ripen fully on my vines, I really cannot tell the difference in taste from those that I pick early.

Let us know what you determine from your experience, sometimes the green ones will ripen, sometimes not.

This topic comes up every once in a while. Many years ago I would not pick tomatoes until they were fully ripe. Many times several fruits were lost because I did not get back into the garden in time to beat the overripeness factor, or bugs or other pests.

For maybe ten years of reading results about this topic and folks saying no loss of flavor from early picking and ripening off the vine, my results mirror that. I now pick when color shows a nice blush all the way up to and including ripeness...no hesitation and very little loss, either of tomatoes or flavor.

I lost a beautiful green one last year, and it was just meh once it finally ripened.

[url]http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=51472[/url]
(go to post #17).
The ones that are changing color should be fine.

I noticed that late season tomatoes had less flavor than early and mid season, and it didn't matter if they were picked with a slight blush or fully ripe. In the summer there is no difference picking at first blush to ripen on the kitchen counter or red on the vine. The plant stops sending carbohydrates to the fruit at the blush stage, iirc.

I would also pick everything in the garden the day before the first frost and was surprised that even some of the pre blush green ones would ripen weeks or months later but the flavor was bland. I would rather freeze the green ones to use sauteed with onions over top of porkchops than try to relive the glory of summer flavor.

I disagree with several of the posted opinions, but with some qualifications. Tomatoes continue to accumulate sugar during the ripening process. Other flavor components stop accumulating just after the fruit turns from pale green to blushed pink. But sugar continues to accumulate. This is especially true for heirloom varieties that have high chlorophyll levels in the fruit. Commercial tomatoes with the ug (uniform green) gene don't seem to get sweeter. Ripening tomatoes on the counter with some light exposure gives reasonably good results. The light permits sugar to continue to be produced until the chlorophyll is mostly converted to lycopene.


So qualified statement, a fully vine ripe tomato will brix higher than a counter ripened tomato. For most, the flavor difference is not enough to matter. People like me who are very sensitive to sugar content, will be able to taste the vine ripened difference.

Thanks for all the opinons.

I couldn't tell much, if any difference with the few i've picked before but i had to take some a little early because it's the end of the season, even if i would have preferred to leave them for another week or so.

After a more careful reading of the initial post, I will modify my above statement. My post was an indication of early and mid-season harvest. Late season tomatoes, in my gardens, tend to be smaller and less flavorful than the peak season fruits. Those at the very end of the growing year that are still green or slightly blushed can ripen off the vine and are less flavorful than their predecessors but still better than a hybrid from the grocery store.

There's one variety that I find does not taste good when ripened on the counter and that is Sungold!!!!!

Linda

It also depends on early season or late season. Late in the season tomatoes lose a bit of flavor, which is magnified if picked early. Early season tomatoes seem to ripen better indors.

This year I have picked every one of my 30 plus tomatoes at first blush. My tomatoes are smaller than last year and there are not as many on the vine as last year, [B]but the taste this year has been better than last year.[/B]

I prep my beds the same way each year, I do not know why they taste so good this year. If the squirrels and the rain will let me, I will have to let a couple of them get ripe on the vine and see if I can tell the difference in the taste of vine rippened tomatoes.

I only water when absolutely necessary, which may effect the size and taste???? We have had a couple of storms with heavy rain and some have split and cracked but survived and a couple have had BER.

As was mentioned in a previous thread by others, the pinks, are the best tasting, Stump of the World, Marianna's Peace and Rebel Yell with a slight edge to Rebel Yell for the best flavor. Still waiting of Brandywine Suddith to get ripe, another pink that has good flavor.