Tomato Overload? How to Store, Ripen, & Survive the End-of-Season Harvest

It’s common knowledge—tomatoes are infuriating. For months, they sit there, refusing to turn colour, doing absolutely nothing exciting. Then, just when you’re about to give up they decide to throw themselves off the vine in a dramatic, juicy death spiral.

Heirloom Tomatoes: The Colorful Assassin?

Heirloom tomatoes, with their kaleidoscopic of colours and flavours, are trying to kill you, right? I know. Me too. They haven't even come close to accomplishing this but the intent is there.

You spend all summer worrying that you won’t get any tomatoes. Then, just as September hits, bam! They’re all demanding your attention at once, and you’ve developed a stress twitch—a case of tomato tremors, if you will.

What To Do With All the Tomatoes

(Or Die Trying)

1. Pick Them. Now.

Cold nights are coming and so is frost. Decreased light and heat outdoors means indoors is now a better environment for ripening your tomatoes.

Tomato nerd alert: This post outlines exactly how a tomato ripens and when the optimal time to pick it is.

2. How to Store Green or Red Tomatoes After Picking

• Lay your tomatoes in a single layer, grouped by ripeness. If you have several stages of ripeness, use different boxes or crates to keep track.
  
• Leaving a bit of space between each tomato will hugely reduce the chance of one tomato transferring blight or other disease to others.
  
• Store tomatoes in a cooler spot (55–60°F or 12–15°C) to slow down ripening.
  
• Store tomatoes in a warmer room (65–70°F or 18–21°C) to ripen them faster.

• Check them every few days for any signs of disease or rot. If you see a dark spot on the tomato (even a very small one) remove it immediately.
  
• To speed up tomato ripening add a banana or another ripe tomato to your box of unripe tomatoes.

TIP: If you want your tomatoes to ripen at the same time store blushing tomatoes in a cool area and green ones in a warm one.

Once a tomato is mature it doesn't need light to change colour - however the warmth of a sunny windowsill will be appreciated.

3. When They’re Ripe, Refrigerate

That's right. Exactly what everyone says not to do. But if the choice is refrigerate or let them liquify on the counter the better choice is to refrigerate obviously.

Preserve them

Then, USE them. Here’s how:

• Roast Them: Roasting is easy. Toss them in the oven (add onions, herbs, garlic if you want). Roasted tomatoes are perfect for soups, stews, and sauces.
• Freeze Whole: Don’t feel like roasting? Freeze whole tomatoes. When thawed, the skins slip right off, and they’re ready for soups or stews.
• Canning: Every couple of years, I can liters of tomato juice from my Plum Regal tomatoes. It's a pulpy juice made with a tomato press that removes the skins and seeds. This juice is perfect for my making any type of tomato sauce like oven-roasted spaghetti & meatballs or homemade pizza sauce.

4. Make Soup

Extra tomatoes = soup heaven. Whether you enjoy it right away or freeze it for a chilly February evening, you’ll thank yourself later.

• My favourite is Fire Broth soup with hot Italian sausage and a TON of vegetables.
• Or of course you could make a batch of easy tomato soup and freeze it for later.

Preserve Those Suicidal Tomatoes

There are plenty of ways to deal with your end-of-season tomato flood, but these are my go-to methods because they preserve the tomatoes for the longest time.

Favourite Tomato Tip?

Fried. Green. Tomatoes. Just slice then dredge in plain flour, beaten egg or buttermilk (or both) and a 50/50 mix of cornmeal and flour. Fry until golden and dip in a mixture of mayo with a dash of Sriracha sauce.

What's your tip for saving soon-to-be-out-of-season tomatoes?

p.s. Now I'm thinking of serving fried green tomatoes as an appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner. Opinions?