Tomatillo

[recruiterg]

Stupid question, but how do you know when a tomatillo is ripe or ready to be picked? I am growing tomatillos for the first time this year.

Pat

[DeanRIowa]

Here is a nice description of when to pick tomatillos at http://growingtaste.com/vegetables/tomatillo.shtml

If you want to pick earlier than at full maturity, select fruits about 1¼ inches in diameter; by harvesting before full maturity, you can spread the harvest period out over perhaps two months. Commercial growers try to harvest when the fruits are well-formed and have substantially filled the husk, but are still bright in color (overmature fruit are light in color or yellowish, and it is said that those should be avoided as being sweeter and thus undesirable for most standard tomatillo uses). The purple varieties are said to grow significantly smaller fruits, but they grow more and so produce about the same net weight per plant--but use your head with respect to picking sizes, depending on the type you're growing.

I have always picked mine before they are fully mature.

Dean