TOMATOES

It's almost that time...

Harvest and Storage

• Leave your tomatoes on the vine as long as possible. If any fall off before they appear ripe, place them in a paper bag and store them in a cool, dark place (never refrigerate or store on a windowsill).
• The perfect tomato for picking will be very red in color, regardless of size, with perhaps some yellow remaining around the stem. A ripe tomato will be only slightly soft.
• Harvest tomatoes when they are firm and are at peak color.
• If your tomato plant still has fruit when the first hard frost threatens, pull up the entire plant and hang it upside down in the basement or garage. Pick tomatoes as they redden.
• Store tomatoes at cool room temperature (around 55ºF) out of direct sunlight. Never refrigerate fresh tomatoes.
• To freeze, core fresh unblemished tomatoes and place them whole in freezer bags or containers. Seal, label, and freeze. The skins will slip off when they defrost.
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• Recommended Varieties

• ‘Amish Paste, Mom's Paste’: Large paste tomatoes, good slicers.
• ‘Brandywine’: A beefsteak with perfect acid-sweet combination. Many variants are available.
• ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’: Foolproof in any climate, cherries bear abundant fruit in high or low temps and in rain or drought.
  
  

In 1522, Spanish explorers returned home from the New World with tomatoes. Wealthy people believed that the fruits were poisonous. Only the peasants were brave (and hungry) enough to eat them.

Ease a headache by drinking tomato juice blended with fresh basil.

Yesterday as I strolled thru the garden I saw the first couple of tomatoes which weren't all still green. I am thinking the 30th I will be eating my first garden fresh tomato. Yum, yum.