I'd pick out the ripe ones that won't last, toss them in a ziplock bag and freeze them until ready to do them all. When ready to process them just set the bag of frozen ones in a sink of warm water to thaw and then run them through the food mill.

The unripe ones can wait as is - they will ripen fine without any newspaper. But the weight of them is likely to crush the ones on the bottom. Getting all the ripe ones out will help but if you can spread the others out a bit it would be better.

Dave

I've already separated and spread them out. I was just showing the photo of them all. Thanks for the tip. Good idea about the food bag and running water.

The newspaper was probably suggested to contain the ethylene gas that fruit produces, which helps redden tomatoes. Commercial produce distributors have "hot boxes" where tomatoes are exposed to ethylene gas to redden them (though it doesn't exactly ripen them, since commercial tomatoes are picked before they start turning, to make them more durable for shipping). Apples naturally produce a lot of ethylene gas and can make bananas go bad if they're stored together.

When I keep tomatoes a few days (which I've been doing every week for the past month), I spread them out to let the ethylene dissipate. Also, then I can monitor for any that are leaking and starting to rot, and remove them so they don't ruin the others. I try to catch them early enough that they're still ok to eat fresh, and just take them off the tomato storage counter.

I usually store tomatoes with the stem end down, but when I'm keeping them more than a few days, I put the stem end up because that's where they're most likely to leak from.

I have also used the freeze-when-ripe, defrost-when-ready-to-can method this year, and you can't beat it for convenience, just check the counter every night and toss the ripe ones into the ziploc in the freezer.

Enjoy! I am canning Annie's salsa and other tomato products today with tomatoes I got at the farmer's market on Tuesday.

Melissa

I thought it was the other way round? which is why bananas shouldn't be contained? I use bananas in a bag with avacardos when they are not ripe enough!

You're probably right Heather, I just wrote what I remembered which is probably wrong. I do think apples produce some ethylene but I'm not sure. I try to store both apples and bananas away from my tomatoes and peaches. I ripen peaches and plums in paper bags, and tomatoes and avocados on the counter. Just habits I guess.

Melissa

I froze the red ones tonight, and will lay out the green/yellow ones in a box in the kitchen and will freeze as they turn red.
Thanks everyone for the SMART advice! I do appreciate it!
June Lynn