Afternoon all

My tomatoes are still green, not had a single one ripen yet! I think it’s getting to the point where I need to pick them and either make loads of chutney or ripen them in the house.

Anyone got any tips for ripening OR know of any good green tomato chutney recipes?

Ta very much
jon

Mrs BP has loads lined up on the sunniest windowsill in the house. Seems to work all be it slowly.

Leave them next to some bananas.

bananas +1. Ethylene is the answer! Stick em in a dark drawer with a banana and they’ll come out bright red in a few days.

Tried, tested & successful, this year & last:
• Place on baking tray
• Cover with tea towel
• Put underneath your bed (if room)
• Ripe (tomatoes)in 5-6 days; 3-4 days with underfloor central heating

Keith T

sounds like a window sill job
for next year:

comfrey goo
cut comfrey
put in the biggest bin/bucket you have
add water
leave for a week (or more)
pour onto the roots of the plant
try not to get it on you as it reeks

I also tried burying cut comfrey plants with compost before planting tomato plants out. did a test with and without for outdoor tomatos. I got great results using this method (in west wales! 😀 )

ours are slowly going – but bursting their skins!

My grandad recommends the banana thing so i’m going to try that after they’ve been watered.

We had a fair old crop this year but not all at the same time.. however I did roast a load which smelled delicious, to make pasta sauce. I put them in the blender though but ended up pureeing them which made this nasty pink slop instead of lovely pasta sauce 🙁 Ruined the whole lot I think.

Vapour exchange bag (you can get them from Lakeland for storing veg) with a banana, sealed, couple of days later Bob is a blood relation of some sort.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I’m thinking of bringing the whole lot in (mature-ish toms anyway). The spot where I’ve got them isn’t so sunny anymore and most of the plants are having serious issues with blight. Gonna try to save what I can now and leave the smaller (blight-less) toms on the plants for a bit longer.

My wife, who’s a Biology teacher and appears to know about these things, keeps the green tomatoes in the drawer we keep our dish towels in until they ripen.

I’ve had the same problem.

Alys Fowler from Gardener’s world, says: put them in a cardboard box with a bunch of bananas.
It seems to be working.

Once an unripe tomato is removed from the plant it will not ripen, it might go soft and turn a bit red but will never ripen.
Tomatoes need to be on the plant and in sunshine to ripen.

Chutney:

I used something along these lines:
http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/906/green-tomato-chutney-recipe/

Only with a fiar whack more spice and white wine vinegar not malt. Then left for at least 2 months to ‘mature’. It has a LOT of kick. Makes utterly amazing welsh rarebit, especially if you top with a mix of cheddar and some blue veined cheese.

Macavity our’s ripened from green to bright even red in a bowl with a bannana after being cut from the plant.

Once an unripe tomato is removed from the plant it will not ripen, it might go soft and turn a bit red but will never ripen.
Tomatoes need to be on the plant and in sunshine to ripen.

In my recent experience that isn’t the case.

We have quite a few green tomatoes on the plants so my other half picked two and stuck them on the windowsill (sunny kitchen location).
One of them started going red within a couple of days and was fully ripe in about 5 days. The other stayed green.
The non-ripening one had it’s little leafy bit attached (the other one didn’t) so I removed it and then next day it showed signs of ripening. 5 day later and it too had ripened.

Don’t know what effect the little leafy bit has, but it does seem to make a difference.

Once an unripe tomato is removed from the plant it will not ripen, it might go soft and turn a bit red but will never ripen.

Out of curiosity, what’s the difference between going soft and turning a bit red, and ripening? (genuine question ) 😳

Looks like I’m in the market fro a green tomato chutney recipe, as well.

I you like Tex-Mex then Chutney isn’t the only option for green tomatoes = you can make Green Tomato Salsa which is perfect for Nacho’s etc…

just google it – there are plenty of recipes out there.