On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:14:57 +0200, Dominic-Luc Webb
wrote:

On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, ~patches~ wrote:

Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:

I bought some of these pricy green tomatoes recently. I was surprised
to see they finally did start to turn orange in my kitchen after some
a couple weeks at room temp. I suspect they were starting to rot. Is
this normal for green tomatoes to turn orange, or did I get stiffed,
or will they do this under specific conditions? If so, how do you know
when they are ripe?

Dominic

The green tomatoes will ripen to their natural ripe colour. For me that
means romas will ripen to a deep orangy red, beefsteaks to a deep red,


Thanks for your thoughts. So any ideas regarding my original questions?


Q1) Do green tomatoes ever turn orange/red as they mature or was I sold
some other type of tomato that was not ripe?

Yes they do if they are mature and are not a variety of green tomato.
Even the "green" varieties will turn yellow.

In the US, stores will sell green (unripe) tomatoes for making pickles
and relishes. In the gourmet grocery stores or farmers markets you
may find tomatoes are supposed to be eaten while they are green. But
these will not be hard like an unripe tomato. I grow a cherry sized
tomato named "Green Grape." I am planning to try a variety named
"Green Zebra" next year.

Q2) How does one determine when green tomatos are ripe?
They should be firm but not hard. What was the texture and taste of
the ones that turned?

Thanks in advance,

Dominic
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974