Heirloom Tomatoes Coming In!

On our Maker's Acres Family Farm we have seven different varieties of open-pollinated heirloom tomatoes planted, including:

• Black Krim
• Abu Rawan
• Money Maker
• Valenciano Yellow
• Thessaloniki
• Amish Paste
• Arkansas Traveler

They are all ripening right now and...  Okay, before I go on, I feel like I need to confess something to you.  Something that will get be branded as a heretic, un-American and a heathen, for sure.  I don't like raw tomatoes.  There.  I said it.  I don't like them and never have.  I have tried over and over again to like them and my tastebuds just won't get on board.  I have seen the sheer enjoyment and ecstasy on people's faces while they are eating a slice of homegrown raw tomato with a little salt and black pepper.  I keep trying to like them, but it just doesn't happen for me.  I love tomatoes cooked - just not raw.  Two things in this world I don't like: raw tomatoes and mayonnaise.  Now that I have that admission behind me, I can move on with today's posting.  

A nice fat homegrown tomato

Each afternoon I grab a produce bucket and go out to the garden and pick tomatoes.  Even though it has been dry for the past couple of weeks, I really haven't had to water since I mulched around the base of the tomato plants with straw.  It helps retain the soil moisture and saves me time watering!


You say Tow-may-to, I say Tow-mah-to...

Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up.  Some heirloom tomatoes, like the Black Krim, have green shoulders, even when they are ripe, like shown below:

Green 'shoulders' on a homegrown tomato

There is something very rewarding about walking through the garden in the evening after it starts to cool off and pick vegetables.  I like to go down each row and pick a variety of stuff.  In the photo below you can see several types of tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers green beens.

A cornucopia of fresh veggies

Here is the variety from another day's pickings where you can see several varieties of squash, burgundy okra, Clemson spineless okra, as well as numerous types of tomatoes.


Fresh pickin's

We have a problem, though.  As it warms up considerably, the pest pressure is mounting.  As I walk through and pick tomatoes, I see numerous stink bugs and worms and birds causing considerable damage to tomatoes that are ripening.  So, I've begun to pick them when they are not completely ripe in order to allow them to fully ripen indoors away from the pests.  No sense in growing these tomatoes since January 1 only to feed the stink bugs, worms and birds, is there?


Laying them out on a tray (Tray #1)

We've always put them on a window sill to ripen.  In reading a lot of articles on ripening indoors, many folks say that picked tomatoes don't need light to ripen.  In fact they say to put them in the dark.  So we're going to try that and report back on this method.  First we lay out the tomatoes on several trays.  One thing you want to do is check them often.  If you have a bad one in the bunch that is leaking tomato juice, it is best to remove it as it will cause the rest to go bad as well.


Tray #2

Now we'll cover them with newspaper and set them out of the way.  Some people say to put a banana with the tomatoes to help them ripen, saying that bananas give ethylene gas, a necessary agent needed in ripening.  I did learn that tomatoes showing color don't need a banana as they make their own ethylene.  Warmth also helps in the ripening process, so we'll put our trays of newspaper wrapped tomatoes in the warmest spot in the house. 


Cover them up

We'll check these after a few days.  I'm also going to pick some that are mostly green to experiment with how long it takes them to turn red or IF they will turn red.  We're going to be blanching a lot of them and canning a lot of tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes and homemade salsa.  Yum! 

I'll leave you with a photo of a fresh picked, sliced, homegrown tomato.  Tricia said it was delicious and "meaty."  I'll have to just take her word for it. 

Pass the salt and black pepper, please.

Odd thing is, I love Pico de Gallo.  That is made with raw tomatoes, but the onion, pepper, lime juice, and cilantro is the flavor that really comes through.  Maybe one day my taste buds will change. Who knows?