How to Ripen Tomatoes
Whether picked from your garden or bought at the store, tomatoes often enter our homes a little greener than expected. Although there are several recipes that do call for our tomatoes to be green and unripe, most prefer them ripe.
Luckily, you can quite easily ripen tomatoes at home so that they will be ready sooner than later. The following guide will explain all you need to know as well as the process involved in ripening tomatoes at home.
Things Required:
– unripe tomatoes
– newspaper
– storage container to fit the unripe tomatoes
– dark, cool and dry place
Instructions
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1
Wash and Dry
Wash your green tomatoes well and allow them to dry completely before moving on to any of the steps outlined below. Make sure that you get all of the dirt or any potential chemicals off the tomatoes by washing them properly. Use a cloth or leave the tomatoes outside so that they can quickly dry. -
2
Individually Wrap
Use 1 page of newspaper (once read) to wrap each tomato individually. Be careful not to squeeze the tomatoes hard during this part of the process. Take your time as you wrap each tomato with the newspaper. Try to use newspaper that does not have huge colour ads taking up the entire page as you this ink might get on the tomatoes.
Once you have wrapped all of the unripe tomatoes, move onto the next step. -
3
Contain and Store
Place all of the wrapped tomatoes into a container for storage. The ideal storage conditions are cool and dry. Ideally, the container should be kept out of direct or strong sunlight. Also, make sure that the container can close properly as you do not want to have any mold to start growing. -
4
Check Ups
Check on the tomatoes every 3-4 days as required and remove them for use as they ripen. Remove any tomatoes that may have rotted or spoiled as they may effect their neighbouring fruits. It is a good idea to check the tomatoes daily to see which ones are ripe. Make sure that you take the ripe tomatoes out immediately or there is a good chance that they might get spoiled. -
5
Picking the right tomato:
It might be a good idea that when you go to purchase your tomatoes that you get some help from your local grocer. He or she will be able to guide you on the age of a particular batch of tomatoes that you can purchase and quickly ripen yourself.
