I love growing tomatoes. When it comes to tomatoes, I find that container gardening works best for me. And the results are the best! Fresh-picked tomatoes are one of the most delicious vegetables out there, but if you’re anything like me, you find that you just can’t eat all the tomatoes you grow before they start going bad. Canning is a good option, but if you want to keep your tomatoes fresh, knowing how to store tomatoes can make all the difference. The way you store your tomatoes depends on their stage of development. Green tomatoes picked near the end of the season will need different care than very ripe tomatoes nearing the end of their shelf life. Here’s what you should know.
How to store green tomatoes
Usually, near the end of my growing season, I’ll have a tomato plant bursting with beautiful red tomatoes, but there are also a fair number of green tomatoes still trying to ripen before the first frost. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to ripen on the vine, so I always just go ahead and pick them as late as possible. What happens next will determine whether they ripen or not.
Don’t put green tomatoes in your refrigerator. Chilling tomatoes halts the ripening process, so green tomatoes simply won’t ripen in a refrigerator. Instead, keep your tomatoes at room temperature. You can simply place them on a countertop until they ripen. This can take a few days to a week. Occasionally, a green tomato won’t ripen before it starts going bad.
How to store ripe tomatoes
Knowing if your tomatoes have ever been refrigerated is an important factor in storing ripe tomatoes. If your tomatoes have not been refrigerated, for example, if you freshly picked your tomatoes from a vine at your home, you can leave them out of the fridge for a time. You can keep them on your counter, still on the vines if you like, for about a week. If you think it may take longer to get around to eating them, you may want to refrigerate them.
If your tomatoes have been refrigerated, it’s best to continue refrigerating them. Note that the longer they stay refrigerated, the more flavor they’ll lose with time. Tomatoes stored in cooler conditions will typically stay good for about 2 weeks.
Storing very ripe tomatoes
So let’s say you have a big, juicy red tomato that’s starting to get a little on the overly ripe side. It may feel soggy or squishy to the touch. If it hasn’t gone completely bad yet, you can slow its ripening process by placing it in your refrigerator. The refrigerator will have the same impact on a very ripe tomato as it does a ripe tomato – reducing its overall flavor. If you refrigerate your tomatoes, leave them out on your counter for a few hours before consuming them.
