When frost is in the forecast and you still have a garden filled with green tomatoes and peppers, follow the guidelines below to ripen as many of these vegetables as possible:
Selecting and Picking
- Pick ripe, nearly ripe and mature green fruits before frost occurs. Mature green tomatoes are those with a glossy, whitish green fruit color and mature size.
- Select fruits only from strong, healthy vines and pick only those fruits free of disease, insect or mechanical damage.
- Remove stems to prevent them from puncturing each other.
- If dirty, gently wash and allow the fruit to air dry.
Storing
- Store tomatoes and peppers in boxes, 1 to 2 layers deep, or in plastic bags with a few holes for air circulation.
- If you have a cool, moderately humid room, simply place them on a shelf.
- Keep fruit out of direct sunlight. They may be stored in the dark.
- As tomatoes ripen, they naturally release ethylene gas, which stimulates ripening. To slow ripening, sort out ripened fruits from green tomatoes each week. To speed up ripening, place green or partially ripe fruits in a bag or box with a ripe tomato.
Ripe tomatoes keep in a refrigerator for about 1 week but will lose their flavor. Green peppers keep for 2 weeks. Green, mature tomatoes and peppers stored at 65-70 degrees will ripen in about 2 weeks. Cooler temperatures slow the ripening process. Temperatures as cool as 55 degrees will slow ripening and results in inferior quality.
If tomatoes and green peppers are stored where the humidity is too high then the fruit molds and rots. If the humidity is too low, the fruit shrivel and dry out. Since homes vary in humidity levels, you will need to learn by trial and error what works best.
Tomatoes and green peppers are ripened indoors are not as flavorful as vine ripened fruits. However, compared to store bought, you will be delighted with your own home ripened tomatoes.
Ref: Info U and UMN Extension service 2009
