If your tomato plants look anything like mine (refer to the photo above), chances are they are full of green tomatoes! In a perfect world, all of them would vine-ripen before that first frost hits, but sadly, that’s unlikely to happen. In the past, I just chalked it up to a loss, and said “oh well,” but this year I’m really working to be resourceful in my garden.
I thought I’d do a little research and share with you three things you can do if you have the predicament of green tomatoes.
Option #1: Cook with Them.
(Image credit: Hav n Knit Lover)
Upon Googling “green tomato recipes,” I did not come up with any shortage of ideas! Of course, you have the classic Fried Green Tomatoes (recipe: the Kitchn) that might well remind you of the movie…. but I found many additional, inventive recipes across the interwebz for using green tomatoes.
From what I read, you want to choose tomatoes that are large in size – the small ones may be bitter.
Here are some that stood out to me:
Pickled Green Tomatoes (canning recipe)
Green Tomato Chutney (canning recipe; Food in Jars)
Chicken Thighs with Green Tomatoes, Ginger & Basil
Roasted Poblano Peppers & Green Tomato Chili
Green Tomato Jam with Ginger & Vanilla
Grilled Green Tomatoes Caprese
Green Tomato Pie (Paula Deen)
Green Tomato and Vidalia Onion Gratin
Pictured above: green tomato relish makes a festive holiday gift idea! Image credit – peppergrass.
Option #2: Try to Ripen them.
Some fruits will only ripen on the vine or tree, but not so with tomatoes! Here’s what you need to do: pick tomatoes that are close to ripening (either light green, some red, starting to blush in color, etc) and free from disease and insect damage and bring them inside.
(Image credit: Satrina0)
Put them in a brown paper bag and add a banana, which releases a gas that will speed the ripening process. If you have lots of tomatoes, you could try putting them in a single layer in the bottom of a box in a cool, dark spot and check on them every few days. Apparently, the tomatoes do not need sunlight to ripen off the vine.
I have also heard of people digging up the entire tomato plant (or snipping off big sections) and hanging it upside down in their garage to get the little guys to ripen.
Another school of thought is to place them in a sunny windowsill.
I also appreciated this blogger’s advice for getting tomatoes to ripen off the vine: just bring them inside and set them on the counter! (Simple ideas always resonate with me.)
I would love to know if any of these techniques have worked for you, or if you have others to share.
Option #3: Protect your plants.
The other way you could approach the pending frost is to protect your tomato plants. The idea here is to keep the plants warm – kind of like giving them a “coat.”
Here’s one way to do this I adored for its frugality: simply envelop the plant in bubble wrap! Simply wrap it around your tomato cages to create an insulating layer. There is more specific instruction for this over at About – Organic Gardening
(In the image above, floating row covers provide tomato plants from the threat of frost. Image credit – Baha’i Views.)
As for me, I’m not sure yet what my approach will be! I’ve never eaten a green tomato as they are certainly not sold in stores near me, so this could be one of those golden gardening opportunities to try something new and homegrown! I think I will also try ripening some indoors. I need to do a garden clean up before winter, so I don’t know that I’ll be leaving any tomato plants in the ground this year.
What about you? How do you handle green tomatoes? Any other tips you’d like to share?
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My husband picked one too soon and it ripened just fine on the counter. It took a few days but turned a lovely bright red and it was tasty.
So happy to see these recipes. I googled recipes before but wasn’t sure if the results were yummy or not. I will report back after I give a couple of these a try.
I think I am going to try covering them to keep them warm. I planted a ton this year, yet the rewards were pretty small, although there are a lot of green ones on them. I want to enjoy fresh tomatos as long as I can!
Green tomatoes is something that Colombians (South America)eat all the time…
Sliced with Olive oil and Salt or Lime and Salt
We also eat Green Mangoes peeled with lime and salt they are really good too!
It seems like we have to deal with this every year. We’ve tried several methods to get them to ripen, but the best way I’ve found is to just cut the vines in large pieces and keep them in a narrow box on top of my freezer. I’m not totally sure why, but they do better up there than on the counter. Last year we ate the last ones on Thanksgiving and they were as tasty as if we had just picked them!
One other thing I discovered this year with my grape tomatoes is if I picked them a little early while they were still green they will ripen on the counter and the skins seemed thinner and not as tough as they are if I let them ripen on the vine.
Thanks for the post I have already had a bunch of yummy red ones but have a ton of green ones still on the plant and with the weather changing now I was wondering what to do. You mentioned getting your garden ready for winter, what type of things do you recommend? I read if you do a final weed clean up then as the leaves fall rake them into your garden beds to help prevent weeds in the spring, let your plants go and they are a natural mulch just mix them in when you plant. Do you do anything special to prepare for next year’s garden?
I would say CLEAN STUFF UP. Leaving old plants in the ground could subject the soil to stress and disease so clean stuff up. We also left some old wood over the winter in one of our boxes and that’s a bad idea too. Don’t give pests or disease a chance to incubate over the winter
One year I grew a cover crop in my boxes – so this is another route you could go. If you look at a company like Territorial Seed.com, you can find several different things you can grow that enrich your soil and protect it from weeds.
THis year I need to add in more soil! So much has compacted and eroded from our boxes, it’s ridiculous. We need more top soil and compost and then I’m going to let it sit. THat’s it, until the spring.
I planted a ton if tomatoes this year too. BUT ………… They all did extremely well because I actually put in a drip line 10 inches below the ground. They were watered so well and regularly (on a timer) and I did not ever do a thing all summer but WAIT! Now it is Oct 22nd and we are due for our first freeze and snow. I picked all and have more than I ever dreamed and now will have to decide what to do. Have you ever frozen green tomatoes?
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