Quote:
Originally Posted by barkeater
Picking a tomato a few days early will not affect the taste whatsoever. From what I see the biggest negative to taste is leaving the tomato on too long. Dead red ripe is overripe and the tomato has already started losing acids and its texture.
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I concur with bark.
I rarely leave tomatoes on the vine until dead ripe or even close unless I just happen to unintentionally miss some hidden in dense foliage when picking. About the only time I'll do it intentionally is if I really need something to ripen up very quickly in a certain time frame - like for our annual tomato tasting and such.
In addition, my routine is to pick before waterings or expected rains whenever possible. This also cuts down quite a bit on cracked tomatoes and helps with flavor to some degree.
When I pick (usually every 2-3 days or so, at least) whatever has any significant blush at the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the fruit gets harvested.