Christmas day salad often has tomatoes stored from the frost.

We wash them and allow to thoroughly dry, wrap in florist paper (newspaper will work), pack but gently in a box and store in a cool, dry place.

Check once in a while since one or two may go bad and you wouldn't want that getting outta hand.

29 forcasted for tonight. I picked mine too.

Agree. Simply wrap them in paper and pack loosely in a box and they will ripen.

For future reference just pull up the plant with the fruit on it and hang it upside down in a basement or shed and they will ripen on the vine. I always have 6 or 8 plants to do this with each year.

There are also any number of recipes for using green tomatoes - relish, marinated, and salad.

Dave

Thank you for the tips!

Will the ones that didn't reach full size ripen as well?

I'm kicking myself about that pull the plants and hang them upside down thing. I *KNOW* I've heard that before, but I didn't even come close to remembering it when the frost threatened. Maybe I need to put a reminder on my calendar for next year!

I found the fried green tomatoes very bland, but some hot mango relish really livened them up! YOW!

Green tomato salsa:

Basic Proportions are:

4 cups green tomatos,chopped fairly fine in a food processor
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped fine
1 cup onion, chopped fine
0 to 1/4 cup hot peppers, chopped fine (optional -- use your own discretion based upon how hot you like it. Personally, I only use about 2 tablespoons of a VERY mild hot pepper, usually a large green chile type).
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar (optional, but we like the sweetness)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro/coriander (again, optional)
2 teaspoons salt NON-IODIZED (iodized salt makes some pickles, relishes, and sauces turn brown)

Amounts can be doubled, tripled, etc, based upon quantity desired.

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT the honey/brown sugar and cilantro, bring to boil in a large kettle, and let simmer on low heat for three to as long as five or six hours. Generally, I find that a lot of liquid comes out of the produce one it heats up, but if it seems too dry after about half an hour of cooking, feel free to add some water as needed.

When done, add the honey and cilantro, if using, and allow to simmer for another 15 minutes or so to meld the flavors together.

I freeze this in ziploc bags to preserve it. If you are going to can this, I think I would do it in a pressure cooker to be safe, not sure if it is acidic enough on its own.

Good morning all. Lots of great information here. I've still got lots of tomatoes to harvest and now I know to continue with the rest by yanking the whole plant. Thanks for that.

I've attached a picture of my harvest as I am proud of it. But now that I read this thread I wonder if I've messed up. I thought my green tomatoes would continue to ripen off the vine in a cool area-- that's why I washed all these little guys and layed them out on the plates.

I also am searching for more information on preserving cherry tomatoes. I'm going to try canning the green tomato salsa recipe, that sounds great. I've frozen some and dried in my oven others. Is there a problem with the tomato skins if I just make them up in a big batch of sauce with garlic and basil, then can that? Will I have too many little tomato skins in my sauce? Peeling all these little guys seems like a lot of work that I'd rather avoid.

Also the tip about the idonized salt. Is that what canning salt is, unidonized salt?

Thanks all, Kate

I now have green through orange and red tomatoes arranged on every spare horizontal surface in the house!

I've made tomato salad out of the reddest ones that had blemishes and were starting to rot.

Tomato salad:

Ripened red tomatoes, chopped in small chunks
some Green pepper, finely chopped
a bit of onion, preferably red, finely chopped
dab of cider vinegar
olive oil
salt, pepper, and some sugar to counteract the acid in the tomatoes.

Let steep for an hour or two and it's great! If it tastes too sharp then some more sugar is called for. My three-year-old helped me finish what I had made today and demanded more, but the rest of the tomatoes aren't ripe enough yet.

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Kate, if you freeze the tomatoes first, then the skins peel off really easily when they thaw. I never have 30 lb of tomatoes at a time to make sauce, so I freeze them in 2 kg bags. When they thaw the skins just slip off without having to blanch them in boiling water. I've never tried leaving the skins in the sauce.

There was a post similar to yours on the Winter Sowing forum last week where there were a few recipes: green tomato jam and muffins. You may try looking that up.

I've never eaten a bland fried green tomatoe-except for one time, in a fancy hotel restaurant. $9.00 for 3 slices.(I know, it's stupid. They had no clue how to cook them. It's hard for me to leave them on the plant until they are red!

Last year, before the frost, I pulled the entire plant and hung it in the dry, fairly warm, windowless basement.
We had tomatoes past Thanksgiving...Wrapping the fruit in newspaper never worked for me - I think the tomato's environment is very important for ripening..

In the past I've tried the old turn the tomatoes red in the spare room trick only to be too spoiled by vine ripened ones to bother now. Last year I gave all my green tomatoes to a friend whos wife made Chow-Chow out of them. I had never heard of that before but when he gave me a bottle of CC it was delicious, fantastic on hotdogs, much better than relish. I'm googling up some CC recipes now to go with the 2 big bags of greenies I picked yesterday before the freeze hit.

Green Tomato Cassarole:

(the Italian woman I work with swears by this recipe, haven't tried it myself):

6 GREEN tomatoes
salt and pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cheddar Cheese

Cut the tomatoes into 1/4-1/2" slices. Line the bottom of a 9X13 pan with EVOO and line the bottom with one layer of green tomato slices. Salt and pepper the tomatoes and then put grated Cheddar Cheese on top. put another layer of the green tomatoes down on top of the cheese, repeat with salt, pepper, and cheese. Cover with foil, cook in a 375 oven for 45 minutes. Then take the foil off. cook another 10 minutes. She says it's fantastic and a great way to use excess green tomatoes.

Thanks, Tom-