55 Days, Green-to-Use, Ripe Tomatoes

[digitS']

Was it wrong to turn this very nice, but bland Thessaloniki tomato (and another one) into cream of tomato soup, yesterday? It was very tasty with the sauteed onion, crumbled bacon and black pepper .

There was only a half a box of green tomatoes because a late frost allowed nearly all to ripen in the garden before the first frost . They have been indoors at room temperature for nearly 2 months!

I kind of wanted to see how long I could keep the Thessaloniki going even tho' I knew that the flavor wouldn't improve once they were ripe. What variety is your long-keeper?

Steve

 

[Organics North]

I would take that tomato about now..

One always feels like a super hero protected from everything in the hoop house... Well, I waited to long to harvest the small amount of green fruit... and it got frostbit.. We have a couple golf ball size tomatoes on the window cell ...

To be honest I am still working on staggered plantings concepts and the longer season potential in the hoop house. For us Wisconsin 55 has always kept OK. (Not great by any means)

ON

 

[lesa]

Took a moment to start typing- had to wipe the drool off my chin!!! I cannot imagine a tomato that would stay ripe and not rot for 2 months at room temp! I have kept green ones that were ripening for that long, under newspaper in the basement. But, a great many of them end up shriveled or rotted...Soup sounds wonderful!!

 

[ninnymary]

I had to harvest all of my green tomatoes about 3 weeks ago because of rains. Sadly to say, most are rotting or shriveling and I'm having to toss them away. Still have a few left and I'm hoping they ripen so I can make my last fresh salsa.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

No Steve, not wrong , just kinda mean to post the picture

 

[digitS']

I am trying to remember when I first saw a blush on that tomato. It probably took about 3 weeks after picking.

Green tomatoes are not the way I like to harvest the fruit. First of all, I have never found a use for green tomatoes that isn't better filled by eggplant. Now . . . if I could just keep the potato bugs off the eggplant !

A vine-ripened tomato is wonderful! Even tho' I don't grow paste tomatoes, I like to wilt halved cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and green onions (even the cilantro) under the broiler and then pulverize them into a salsa. I don't know if I can call the salsa "fresh" or if "wilt" and "pulverize" are culinary terms . Still, this makes good use of fresh, sun-ripened produce.

Counter-ripened . . . I just don't know. The ones that ripen the 1st week or so, aren't really different from what was out there in the garden. Prejudice enters the picture , maybe just a little.

After awhile tho', they get as bland as the store-bought, I swear! You don't suppose that some of those store-bought are 55 days old, do you??!


Anyway, our technique for using the green tomatoes is just to go thru the baskets very, very regularly. Sandwiches and salads first, salsas continuing, but after awhile - it may as well be soup!

And for an heirloom, Thessaloniki does real well just going on and on even after it turns red! Gleckler Seed Company introduced Thessaloniki from Greece in 1958, Gleckler says. (That could well mean that I am older than this heirloom :/!) It never has a huge amount of flavor and actually has a kind of oddly, herbal aftertaste, like parsley . . . I like it! Imagine a nice red slice with a dollop of your favorite mayo and a sprinkle of fresh herbs .

A big deal for me is that Thessaloniki can ripen (most of its fruits) in my garden and tends not to split despite porous soil, arid climate and overhead sprinklers. A 55 day life-after-frost is just an added bonus.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I haven't developed a loyalty to one variety of tomato yet, probably because I have garden ADD (or maybe it's ADHD) and I'm a sucker for the catalog descriptions , so I'm always trying something different. Have you grown Cherokee Purple and if so did you like it?

 

[vfem]

That is awesome! I got a bunch of Italian Market green tomatoes to go ripe in about 4 weeks. It was so worth it. I still have 3 small ones I moved to the fridge... the skin it too tough for sandwiches, but I'm going to peel them and chop them and make a quick salsa with some lime juice & onions for a snack. Healthy & juicy!

 

[digitS']

. . . I'm always trying something different. Have you grown Cherokee Purple and if so did you like it?

I can't remember now how many varieties I had this year . . . things got real confusing in the tomato patch because of that later-than-expected spring frost. And really, I started the seed too early.

Cherokee Purple has been very tempting to me. At first, I thought, "No way is that heirloom from Tennessee going to have any chance of ripening here! It will just be another disappointment." Now, I'm not so sure.

One reason that I might give Cherokee Purple a "go" sometime is the luck I had with Gary O Sena in the garden this year. Gary O Sena is a cross between Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. You wouldn't think it would be earlier than its parents but it is supposed to be and I got my first ripe one on September 29th!

Now, along with the late spring frost, we had a late fall frost. Often, the tomato vines would be dead by September 29th. So . . .

Amongst the half dozen or so new-to-me varieties I tried this year was Kimberley. I go the seed from a guy in Calgary. Kimberley is from Kimberley, British Columbia. I figured it was a safe bet for a little open-pollinated plum tomato.

What I got was lots of ruffled tomatoes from those plants! I even wrote the guy and asked, "Why!?" He didn't have an answer.

They were quite early, tasty, didn't split and I bet some of those funny-looking tomatoes that I harvested green were Kimberley (or, supposed-to-be-Kimberley). I may have more Kimberley in 2011! I wonder what seed I should use .

A big pink heirloom that might work for you, Thistlebloom, is Prudens Purple. It just barely ripens in my garden but I was quite impressed by it a few years ago - very productive with real nice fruits. Orange Minsk was a new-to-me 2010 variety but I only got 4 to ripen and that plant didn't have any to bring in green.

Still, I think those eastern European types might be worth a try for you. DW really liked the Orange Minsk and we will have to grow another plant in 2011 but I completely lost Market Miracle in the spring!! As best as I can figure, it died under a bucket during that frost and was replaced by something else! That one is also known as Chudo Rynka which means, Market Miracle. It comes from Minsk, Belarus.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Here is the Kimberley (behind some SunSugar cherries):

They weren't terrible looking but these developed a little more evenly than most of the others.

(Do you have garden soil like that Thistlebloom? )

Steve