It’s common knowledge—tomatoes are infuriating. For months, they sit there, refusing to turn colour, doing absolutely nothing exciting. Then, just when you’re about to give up they decide to throw themselves off the vine in a dramatic, juicy death spiral.
Heirloom Tomatoes: The Colorful Assassin?
Heirloom tomatoes, with their kaleidoscopic of colours and flavours, are trying to kill you, right? I know. Me too. They haven't even come close to accomplishing this but the intent is there.
You spend all summer worrying that you won’t get any tomatoes. Then, just as September hits, bam! They’re all demanding your attention at once, and you’ve developed a stress twitch—a case of tomato tremors, if you will.
What To Do With All the Tomatoes
(Or Die Trying)
1. Pick Them. Now.
Cold nights are coming and so is frost. Decreased light and heat outdoors means indoors is now a better environment for ripening your tomatoes.
Tomato nerd alert: This post outlines exactly how a tomato ripens and when the optimal time to pick it is.
2. How to Store Green or Red Tomatoes After Picking
- Lay your tomatoes in a single layer, grouped by ripeness. If you have several stages of ripeness, use different boxes or crates to keep track.
- Leaving a bit of space between each tomato will hugely reduce the chance of one tomato transferring blight or other disease to others.
- Store tomatoes in a cooler spot (55–60°F or 12–15°C) to slow down ripening.
- Store tomatoes in a warmer room (65–70°F or 18–21°C) to ripen them faster.
- Check them every few days for any signs of disease or rot. If you see a dark spot on the tomato (even a very small one) remove it immediately.
- To speed up tomato ripening add a banana or another ripe tomato to your box of unripe tomatoes.
TIP: If you want your tomatoes to ripen at the same time store blushing tomatoes in a cool area and green ones in a warm one.
Once a tomato is mature it doesn't need light to change colour - however the warmth of a sunny windowsill will be appreciated.
3. When They’re Ripe, Refrigerate
That's right. Exactly what everyone says not to do. But if the choice is refrigerate or let them liquify on the counter the better choice is to refrigerate obviously.
Preserve them
Then, USE them. Here’s how:
- Roast Them: Roasting is easy. Toss them in the oven (add onions, herbs, garlic if you want). Roasted tomatoes are perfect for soups, stews, and sauces.
- Freeze Whole: Don’t feel like roasting? Freeze whole tomatoes. When thawed, the skins slip right off, and they’re ready for soups or stews.
- Canning: Every couple of years, I can liters of tomato juice from my Plum Regal tomatoes. It's a pulpy juice made with a tomato press that removes the skins and seeds. This juice is perfect for my making any type of tomato sauce like oven-roasted spaghetti & meatballs or homemade pizza sauce.
4. Make Soup
Extra tomatoes = soup heaven. Whether you enjoy it right away or freeze it for a chilly February evening, you’ll thank yourself later.
- My favourite is Fire Broth soup with hot Italian sausage and a TON of vegetables.
- Or of course you could make a batch of easy tomato soup and freeze it for later.
Preserve Those Suicidal Tomatoes
There are plenty of ways to deal with your end-of-season tomato flood, but these are my go-to methods because they preserve the tomatoes for the longest time.
Favourite Tomato Tip?
Fried. Green. Tomatoes. Just slice then dredge in plain flour, beaten egg or buttermilk (or both) and a 50/50 mix of cornmeal and flour. Fry until golden and dip in a mixture of mayo with a dash of Sriracha sauce.
What's your tip for saving soon-to-be-out-of-season tomatoes?
p.s. Now I'm thinking of serving fried green tomatoes as an appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner. Opinions?
Here in Central East Texas the tomatoes have been done since early July, but I’m hoping my fall crop makes before frost….if I can find those sneaky horn worms before they dash those hopes. My family and I would absolutely LOVE fried green tomatoes at Thanksgiving. You have given me a goal! Thanks and keep blogging! I love your sense of humor!
Hi Karen, this has nothing to do with tomatoes. And nothing to do with me either, as I live a thousand miles away from this. But still, it seems like the kind of thing you’d want to know about
https://www.127yardsale.com/
With or without Betty. I mean, you did Graceland sooo…
I make chow with the green tomatoes. It’s basically a relish and I got the recipe from the east coast. It’s hard to make cuz no one sells green tomatoes so you have to know someone who has some! It goes on everything and is sooo good. I guess it’s the old “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” lol
Karen, you asked for the "secret recipe for getting dehydrated tomatoes to the exact right amount of dryness while still being pliable".
I'd recommend an experiment with Alton Brown's dehydrating hack: He just uses cheap window fans instead of a rarely-used appliance which takes up space and serves no other purpose. It's easy to find his demonstrations on the net, and, after it works for you, it might make a very good topic for your own website, as it can be used for many other foodstuffs, not just tomatoes.
If you can't find Mr. Brown's presentations on the technique alone, you might do better by netsearching his name and "BEEF JERKY", as he demoed the technique on a show he did on that subject.
P.S.; The other advantage to the window fan technique is that it's heat-free. Food dehydrator appliances use heat, and that heat deactivates many (though not all) enzymes and vitamins in the food you're dehydrating.
Thanks Scotty I'll have a look! But I already have a dehydrator (which I use all the time for all sorts of things, Mr. Brown) and don't have a window fan. And after spending a month decluttering that window fan is going to have to be able to also make ice cream to justify the space it would take up. ~ karen!
This is the perfect guide to using tomatoes- the ripening suggestion is great. I just recently discovered the roasted tomato sauce method as the easiest sauce preparation ever, despite roasting tomato soup this way for a few years- duh
I do make sun dried tomatoes (sans sun) in my Excalibur. I don’t find there’s any trick to it. I just check often once they’ve been drying for awhile and take out those that are the right consistency and leave those that need longer.
I actually dove deep into dehydrating tomatoes this fall, judging the perfect time to take them out by consistency. The hard part is knowing what that right consistency is. :) Very dry, but not hard. No squishiness, but still pliability. (not that you need to be told, you obviously know this) ~ karen!
How do you store the roasted tomatoes? Do you roast, then can; or can I just freeze them? Thank you!
Hi Mary. I roast them along with onions, garlic and some spices then blitz them with the hand blender or put it all in the Vitamix. Then I pour into baggies and freeze flat so they take up very little space. ~ karen!
Recipe for dried tomatoes: https://alexandracooks.com/2007/09/09/oven-dried-tomato-bruschetta/
I have to admit I haven’t tested it yet but I’ve never had a fail from one of her recipes.
Thanks Shauna! It's more the experience of knowing exactly when they're the proper amount of dryness that I need. It's very hard to get dehydrated tomatoes to that exact place they need to be where they're still chewy. But I'll give her technique in the oven a shot with the paste tomatoes I have ripening. ~ karen
You might want to take a peek at the new comment I posted about three minutes ago on this very subject.
I never get more than a few handfuls of tomatoes. I'd really hoped to get enough for at least one pot of sauce. I guess 3 sauce tomato plants and 3 cherry tomato plants are not enough?
No, seriously, how many plants minimum do I need to get enough for a good size pot of sauce?
I don't know how much sauce you want to make. A good sized pot? I can tell you for a standard stock pot you need about 16 paste tomato plants. And I wouldn't use equal parts of sweet cherry tomatoes with paste tomatoes. It would make a very sweet sauce! ~ karen!
I think my pot is only 3 quarts. I guess that's not really a "good size" pot lol. I wasn't planning on on adding the cherries, though last and this year I had hoped to get enough of those to "sun dry." Hasn't happened yet, only get a few handfuls total (average of 2-4 cherry plants). Do cherry size also take 30 days to ripen? The picture on that episode only showed slicers, so I've been meaning to ask. Thanks. 🙂
What is an average stock pot size? I have an 8quart and a 4. Maybe 12 or 20 is normal?
I would say 12 is about a normal sized stock pot for in the house - as opposed to in a restaurant. I'm not actually sure if cherry tomatoes ripen more quickly! I've never paid attention. If they do ripen faster I wouldn't think it would be any sooner than by a few days, but I'm basing that on nothing at all. ~ karen!
Crunchy squiggle indeed - perfect description.
Taking the season off growing for market means I have a very manageable amount of excess tomatoes...for once.
So this year my favourite way to deal with extra tomatoes is to give them to non-gardener friends.
(I will be making salsa and a batch of tomato soup this week though, too)
Yesterday I did sauce and today I'll be roasting. I wish I could be bothered to make salsa this year - but I can't be bothered, lol. ~ karen!
The absolute Best way to use up fresh homegrown tomatoes is to EAT them now. (In a sandwich with a little mayo,preferably)Thats the whole point of growing them for the past 6 months. I eat mine for breakfast,brunch,lunch and dinner. My neighbours get some. And the rest roasted and frozen, and some canned. Dehydrated, then ground into powder. But really, Seize the moment, with salt and pepper, now .
I didn't know where all the tomatoes were going, and thought it was too much loss to blame the squirrels. Then I caught the yellow Lab sneaking into the garden to chow down on the tomatoes!!!
So much more flavour in home grown tomatoes.
My mother-in-law taught me to make Green Tomato Chow pickle. It's a delicious relish that keeps for ages. She won a blue ribbon for her GTC pickle at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in the 70's.
I've already decided that I'm going to start entering fall fairs. Someone at my garden did it and he cleaned up in ribbons! So the thought of your mother in law's green tomato chow winning a ribbon at the Royal is impressive! :) ` karen
I have made green tomato chow chow for years with extra apples and onions and mustard seeds.
The top photo of all those tomatoes in a gradient from red at the top to the green at the bottom is a masterpiece! Beautiful!
Thanks Patti! I like it too. ~ karen!
One way to use a bunch of tomatoes is to simmer down in large roaster until very thick, drop by blobs onto parchment and flash freeze then store in freezer as tomato paste for when you want that yummy spaghetti!
I’m definitely going to try roasting some this year. I make restaurant style salsa! After all it is football season, so you can eat more chips and salsa ha!
I forgot about salsa! Thanks! I haven't made any for years. A fellow gardener of mine makes jars and jars of it. ~ karen
recipetineats.com, el bulli bean soup with tomato passata! You will love this, with or without clams.
One thing I've done in the past is dehydrate them, put them in a zip top bag and freeze them. They're great as a snack or in salads. Another thing we enjoy is tomato salad - heirlooms combined with fresh mozzarella, red onions sliced with a mandoline and dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. My husband also likes some small pieces of pepperoni mixed in. I assemble the salads ahead of time (minus the tomatoes) and chill them and when we're ready to eat, I add the chunked up tomatoes along with the dressing. French Grey sea salt is added at the table per our individual tastes. And, of course, a nice bottle of red wine (malbec is our favorite with this salad) completes this meal.
Pepperoni salad? I'm kind of intrigued and kind of trepidatious. I dehydrate as well but haven't figured out the sweet spot in terms of making them dry but still pliable. I think I need to cut bigger chunks. ~ karen!
I cut them into slices rather than chunks. And I don't add very much pepperoni at all to the tomato salad so it's mostly tomatoes, mozzarella and the onions with the dressing.
Thank you 🙏
I’m going to do the roasting. I haven’t done it before, and I think they’ll be more delicious that way, frankly!
One thing I’ve always wanted to do w tomatoes, but have never been courageous enough, is to dry them and then preserve them in olive oil. (No vinegar).
I don’t know how to do this safely, but tomatoes are incredible this way - especially in Winter! In salads, as appetizers with mozzarella and olives (I DO make those and preserve in oil!), etc…
If you know how w tomatoes, please post on this !!
Thanks 🙏
Hi Tuffy! I'm not an expert on making "sun dried" tomatoes but I have done it. It's tricky to get them dried to a safe level but still soft enough to be edible! When I figure out the sweet spot for doing that I'll let you know. I'll even add it to the end of the post in case someone else IS an expert on this because I want the answer too, lol. ~karen!
I tried to come up with a really clever and amusing comment that you would simply adore... and I got nuthin'. But I DO stand in near awe of your gardening fortitude and perseverance. Skilled gardeners, and you are truly one, are an impressive breed.
I find your desire to amuse me entertaining so it all works out. ~ karen!
I live in Calgary where I don't grow, or have, as many tomatoes as you do in ON - I do have about 16, with about 10 producing what I think is great - ok, pretty good. The weather here is kinda like ON these days but it won't last - but, I still leave them on the plant for as long as I can, putting sheets over them when there might be frost. When I HAVE to, I bring them in and hang them upside down from my curtain rods. They last quite a long time. Next year, I'll start them way earlier.
That's a good way to deal with pepper plants too! ~ karen