Texas drought

[semi_lucid]

Ted

This has been a strange year.

I was hoping to see some fruit set in September but for some reason the plants just kept dropping blossoms. Then at the end of September and early October, the plants set a lot of fruit. Especially the Brandywines.

It depends on the weather, but if I could get the Brandywine fruit up to a size where it has a chance to ripen, I could pull the plants up, and put the roots in a tub of water, inside a building.
Maybe use some lights on them. I have some 8 foot high output florescent fixtures I could use.

I may decide its a lost cause and give up at some point, it depends on the weather. I've still got 10 days with no freeze in the forecast.

But using lights to ripen fruit might be practical, if I don't mind the work.

John

John,

I pick my greenies before the first frost and fill five gallon buckets with them. I store them in a cool, dry, low light area in the buckets. I remove them from the buckets as they ripen. We are usually eating ripe tomatoes for about a month after the plants are dead in the garden. A few do rot in the buckets and are tossed, but most ripen and are used.

Ted

[semi_lucid]

But is there a size limit to the ones you would pick? Would you pick a Brandywine that is only 1.5 or 2 inches? Or even 1 inch?
?

Originally Posted by semi_lucid

But is there a size limit to the ones you would pick? Would you pick a Brandywine that is only 1.5 or 2 inches? Or even 1 inch?
?

I pick everything down to about an inch in size. I don't suppose some rule applies, but it seems even the small ones eventually ripen. Some are simply too small to use even if they do ripen.

[BW_AustinTX]

This was going to be my first summer of trying to grow.. but all my seedling vaporized. Will have to try again... unless we are expecting another 100 days above 100 here in Austin TX..... oh yeah .. with no rain.

[Dewayne mater]

Ted - what type of taste/texture do you get out of the green ones you pick and allow to ripen indoors? Are the pretty much only sauce worthy? Thanks.

Dewayne Mater

Dewayne,

The greenies when ripe are not as flavorful as the spring tomatoes, but they are still better than store bought. The texture is firm, but can become soft depending on the degree of ripeness when used. We use them mostly for sandwiches with a few used for cooking around the holidays. Many folks have recipes like fried green tomatoes or pickled green tomatoes which would put the greenies to good use. When I was growing up, everyone made what was called " chow chow" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow-chow) which was a pickled green tomato relish with a lot of other finely chopped vegetables in it. It was really good. If I remember correctly, my mother would use one of the old meat grinders which screwed to a table top with a handle you turned to grind the tomatoes and other vegetables.

Ted

[Dewayne mater]

I get a Monday morning email from Dave's Garden and this week it contained an article that was right on point with the what to do with green tomatoes discussion that has become a rabbit trail in this post. I guess it is ok to post a link to it here. Quite a bit of good info on getting the most of your fall tomatoes before winter wins. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3435/

Dewayne,

Thanks for posting the link. Daves is one of the links I hit the unsubscribe button on recently to clean up my daily inbox. You can only read so much stuff in a day and some of Daves stuff seemed a little redundant. I am a little surprised they didn't mention Chow Chow. It was a staple around our house when I was growing up. It was the perfect condiment with Red (pinto) Beans and ham hock with cornbread. Most of the recipes today include cabbage. Mom didn't put any leafy vegetables in her recipe. She only used green tomatoes ground almost to a pulp and finely chopped hard or firm vegetables like carrots, peppers, and other stuff. Most families had heirloom recipes which they traded. Mom kept all her recipes in her head. She would occasionally write a recipe to trade for another recipe, but I don't have her Chow Chow recipe and I wish I did.

When I was eight years old, I got a job at a produce stand unloading watermelon and tomato trucks. When no trucks needed unloading, my job included "running" the green tomatoes from the crates. We had a table with a heavy canvas top which sagged in the middle. I would run the tomatoes over the table twice per week separating the ripe, pink, green, and rotten tomatoes. Often some tomatoes would be really ugly making them unsaleable. I would carry those tomatoes home. Mom would cut out the bad spots and run the good parts through the grinder for her Chow Chow. I've still never eaten fried green tomatoes, but I always include pickled green tomatoes on my plate when we eat from a salad bar in a restaurant.

Ted