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How to ripen tomatoes?
Hi gang,
We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) |
"compo" wrote in message ... Hi gang, We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) its Green Tom chutney this year then......... |
The message
from compo contains these words: We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? Mine aren't ripening here in Norfolk - so much nearer the equator - and many other gardeners here are commenting on the unripening of tomatoes. Leave them as long as you can, then, keeping them on the truss, put the ripest-looking on (say) a window sill indoors and they will gradually ripen. Others may be put in plastic bags with a ripe banana and the gas given off (can't unforget what it is) will help accelerate ripening. You can stagger this process and still have ripe tomatoes at Christmas. However - don't leave the banana in the bag so long that it goes squodgy and starts the tomatoes rotting... I think melons have the same effect, but using them tends to be prodigal on bags - unless you grow the melons yourself, and up in Caithness this year they might be of a comparative size to yer martyrs innit. -- ,,, }»«üüüü(@ ´ ´ |
"compo" wrote in message ... Hi gang, We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) Ripening bananas (and apples as well I believe, but I've only used bananas) promote ripening in other nearby fruits. I've hung bananas on my tomato plants before and it's worked well. Eleni. |
"Glittery Gary" wrote in message ... "compo" wrote in message ... Hi gang, We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) its Green Tom chutney this year then......... You wouldn't care to tell me how to make it? -- Alan Reply to alan (dot) holmes27 (at) virgin (dot) net |
"Grumach Macabre of Auchterloonie" wrote compo contains these words: We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? Mine aren't ripening here in Norfolk - so much nearer the equator - and many other gardeners here are commenting on the unripening of tomatoes. Leave them as long as you can, then, keeping them on the truss, put the ripest-looking on (say) a window sill indoors and they will gradually ripen. Others may be put in plastic bags with a ripe banana and the gas given off (can't unforget what it is) will help accelerate ripening. You can stagger this process and still have ripe tomatoes at Christmas. However - don't leave the banana in the bag so long that it goes squodgy and starts the tomatoes rotting... I think melons have the same effect, but using them tends to be prodigal on bags - unless you grow the melons yourself, and up in Caithness this year they might be of a comparative size to yer martyrs innit. Glad to hear it, I was beginning to think we were getting our Tomatoes stolen from our allotment as we hadn't got one fully ripe one yet. Seems it's the weather then. Green Tomato chutney you can keep, yuk! Any that don't ripen go on the compost heap here. -- Regards Bob In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London |
Bob Hobden wrote:
[...] Glad to hear it, I was beginning to think we were getting our Tomatoes stolen from our allotment as we hadn't got one fully ripe one yet. Seems it's the weather then. Green Tomato chutney you can keep, yuk! Hear, hear! As far as I'm concerned the stuff is even more wasteful than throwing them on the heap. I once made an experimental batch of very hot pickle with Indian flavours which wasn't too bad, but it didn't seem worth it. Any that don't ripen go on the compost heap here. Don't you ripen them indoors? Lawrence D. Hills memorably said a picked tomato was "as full of life as a fertile egg". It works quite well; but I don't suppose it's worth bothering if you have plenty of normally-ripened ones. -- Mike. |
The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words: /snip/ Green Tomato chutney you can keep, yuk! Any that don't ripen go on the compost heap here. wail! Pity you're so far away! I'd come and collect them! Green tomato chutney (properly made - and my recipe has a lot more ingredients than the one ^ up there) is easily the equal of a good mango chutney. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message ... Bob Hobden wrote: [...] Glad to hear it, I was beginning to think we were getting our Tomatoes stolen from our allotment as we hadn't got one fully ripe one yet. Seems it's the weather then. Green Tomato chutney you can keep, yuk! Hear, hear! As far as I'm concerned the stuff is even more wasteful than throwing them on the heap. I once made an experimental batch of very hot pickle with Indian flavours which wasn't too bad, but it didn't seem worth it. Any that don't ripen go on the compost heap here. Don't you ripen them indoors? Lawrence D. Hills memorably said a picked tomato was "as full of life as a fertile egg". It works quite well; but I don't suppose it's worth bothering if you have plenty of normally-ripened ones. -- Mike. We are now in the ripened glut situation here at Nanneys Bridge. Much being converted to soup and then into in to the freezer. We did try tomato sauce once but it was a dead loss. Pete www.thecanalshop.com |
Green Tomato Chutney
The Hinge Recipe: Vegetarian-friendly Ingredients: ¼lb root ginger 8-10 chillies 1 tablespoon of ground black peppercorns 1 teaspoon of crushed juniper berries 1 dessertspoon of cardamom seeds 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds 1 teaspoon of ground allspice 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste ½pound of (preferably) fresh dates, chopped 6 bananas, sliced thinly 4lb green tomatoes, sliced thinly 2lb cooking apples, cored and sliced. 2 lbs thinly-sliced runner beans 8oz Lexia raisins, chopped 4 oz sultanas, coarsly chopped 2lb shallots, chopped finely 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely 2 tsp sea salt 1½lb brown sugar 1 pint pickling-strength vinegar Method 1. Chop the ginger and the chillies, and put it in a muslin bag with the juniper berries, cardamoms and fennel seeds. 2. Place all the other ingredients except the beans in a preserving pan and suspend the muslin bag among them. 3. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer (for at least two hours) until the desired consistency is reached. 4. Add the beans and simmer for another ten minutes. 5. Remove the muslin bag. With a wooden spoon and a wire strainer, force as much of the contents of the bag through as a purée, and add to the chutney. 6. Pour into hot sterilised jars, leave the lid on loosely for one minute, then screw down, and label the jars when cool enough. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
Peter Stockdale wrote:
[...] We are now in the ripened glut situation here at Nanneys Bridge. Much being converted to soup and then into in to the freezer. We did try tomato sauce once but it was a dead loss. Ah, you're talking to the former store-sauce-and chutney prince of West Wales. In what way a dead loss? -- Mike. |
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words: Peter Stockdale wrote: [...] We are now in the ripened glut situation here at Nanneys Bridge. Much being converted to soup and then into in to the freezer. We did try tomato sauce once but it was a dead loss. Ah, you're talking to the former store-sauce-and chutney prince of West Wales. In what way a dead loss? I was wondering that - I used to make ace tomato sauce. I've lost/forgotten the recipe though. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message ... Peter Stockdale wrote: [...] We are now in the ripened glut situation here at Nanneys Bridge. Much being converted to soup and then into in to the freezer. We did try tomato sauce once but it was a dead loss. Ah, you're talking to the former store-sauce-and chutney prince of West Wales. In what way a dead loss? -- Mike. AFAICR it wouldn't thicken up - ended up more like a weak tomato juice. ISTR that tomato puree was an ingredient in the recipe - bit of a cheat AFAIAC. My " chef du range" does a super soup though !! Pete www.thecanalshop.com |
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 18:02:13 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
snip recipe All looks very interesting, but the green tomatoes seem to be a fairly minor ingredient. More "if you're making chutney then you can sling some green tomatoes in" than "here is a cheap and easy way to use up green tomatoes". BTW the tomatoes in pots growing outside near Reading are ripening very well, thank you. The cucumbers and courgettes are also doing pretty well. Almost OT - I have a large crop of small tomato plants in Suffolk; I threw last year's compost out of the tubs onto the garden and loads of seeds have germinated. Not much chance of any fruit, though. Cheers Dave R |
Peter Stockdale wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message ... Peter Stockdale wrote: [...] We are now in the ripened glut situation here at Nanneys Bridge. Much being converted to soup and then into in to the freezer. We did try tomato sauce once but it was a dead loss. Ah, you're talking to the former store-sauce-and chutney prince of West Wales. In what way a dead loss? -- Mike. AFAICR it wouldn't thicken up - ended up more like a weak tomato juice. ISTR that tomato puree was an ingredient in the recipe - bit of a cheat AFAIAC. My " chef du range" does a super soup though !! OK, best practice is to peel and seed the tomatoes, and let them drain -- there's hardly any flavour in the watery juice anyway. For ketchup-type sauces, you push through a sieve, so it's not so important to get rid of the seeds (not the blender: cracking the seeds gives an unpleasant off taste, as found in other people's gazpacho). -- Mike. |
Green tomatoes will eventually ripen if out in a drawer indoors. It takes a
while. Perhaps a banana will accelerate the process. I had my first ripe tomato ( greenhouse grown ) in early August, but I've only had three ripen so far, the main crop has yet to ripen. Andy ( Devon ) |
I read in a book that one way to ripen them on the vine is to take your
shovel and cut straight down into the ground about 1 foot away from the main stock. Then go 1/4 of the way around the plant and do it again. This is supposed to fool the plant into thinking it is dying and it puts all it's effort into ripening the fruit and its seeds, which is what the plants main purpose is anyway. Dwayne "compo" wrote in message ... Hi gang, We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) |
The message
from Grumach Macabre of Auchterloonie contains these words: unless you grow the melons yourself, and up in Caithness this year they might be of a comparative size to yer martyrs innit. -- ,,, }»«üüüü(@ The melings didn't even grow LAST year - and that was a better year all round. -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) |
The message
from "Dwayne" contains these words: \snip\ This is supposed to fool the plant into thinking it is dying and it puts all it's effort into ripening the fruit and its seeds, which is what the plants main purpose is anyway. Dwayne That's an interesting method and one I shall try - I have 30 plants and can spare a few to experiment. The gas given off by ripenuing fruit is, I believe, ethylene (or something sounding like that). We have had a three fine, sunny days in succession - the first time this summer that has happened. it seems to have given the vines a bit of a boost and a few toms are beginning to blush. With luck I should get some ripe ones before having to resort to the bananas and windowledges. Thanks for the ideas gang. -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) |
compo wrote:
Hi gang, We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen. How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this late stage of summer? Commercial growers use acetylene gas which is also given off by ripening fruit, bananas especially. However acetylene gas is heavier than air. It settles on the floor of the greenhouses and is recirculated with pumps in commercial situations I believe. Which is o.k if you put a few toms in a plasic bag with a ripening banana on top, but more difficult in a polytunnel situation. You could possibly try bagging up the trusses as they are on the vines, with a banana enclosed and shaking it around to promote circulation of the acetylene now and again, which would otherwise stay at the bottom of the bag. Assuming the compostion of the air inside the bag wasn't affected by the trusses exhaling at least. michael adams .... -- Cheers, Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury) |
The message
from "michael adams" contains these words: Commercial growers use acetylene gas which is also given off by ripening fruit, bananas especially. Not enough hydrogen. Eyhylene (heavy carburetted Hydrogen - C2H2) is used for ripening tomatoes - by some producers. Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
In article , Jaques d'Alltrades writes: | The message | from "michael adams" contains these words: | | Commercial growers use acetylene gas which is also given off | by ripening fruit, bananas especially. | | Not enough hydrogen. | | Eyhylene (heavy carburetted Hydrogen - C2H2) is used for ripening | tomatoes - by some producers. Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) Ye olde name for it? Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:14:01 +0100, Jaques d'Alltradeswrote:
Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) and for lighting one's way home at night in days of yore. But not in mine ;-) |
In article , WaltA please@dontbesi
lly.somewhere.com writes On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:14:01 +0100, Jaques d'Alltradeswrote: Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) and for lighting one's way home at night in days of yore. But not in mine ;-) Isn't that the product of the carbide light used by (some) cavers? -- Kay "Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river" |
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 17:56:46 +0100, Kay wrote:
WaltA writes On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:14:01 +0100, Jaques d'Alltradeswrote: Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) and for lighting one's way home at night in days of yore. But not in mine ;-) Isn't that the product of the carbide light used by (some) cavers? Kay Yes, the very same. and by motorcyclists in days of yore. Whereas cavers (usually) had no problems of running out of water to add to their carbide to generate the gas to make the light, motorcyclists were sometimes er, how shall I say, erum caught short. But I'll leave Rusty to elaborate upon that :-!) |
WaltA wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 17:56:46 +0100, Kay wrote: WaltA writes On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:14:01 +0100, Jaques d'Alltradeswrote: Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) and for lighting one's way home at night in days of yore. But not in mine ;-) Isn't that the product of the carbide light used by (some) cavers? Kay Yes, the very same. and by motorcyclists in days of yore. Whereas cavers (usually) had no problems of running out of water to add to their carbide to generate the gas to make the light, motorcyclists were sometimes er, how shall I say, erum caught short. But I'll leave Rusty to elaborate upon that :-!) Still woefully OT: Has anybody here ever used a punctured tin of carbide to stun fish? -- Mike. |
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
Eyhylene (heavy carburetted Hydrogen - C2H2) is used for ripening tomatoes - by some producers. Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) Ethylene is C2H4, Acetylene C2H2, also known as Ethene and Ethyne respectively, and the simplest forms of the Alkene and Alkyne groups of organic chemicals. The Alkanes start one lower with Methane before progressing to the two-carbon Ethane. Knew the organic section of my chemistry A-Level would come in ahndy one day. Anthony |
In message , Jaques
d'Alltrades writes The message from "michael adams" contains these words: Commercial growers use acetylene gas which is also given off by ripening fruit, bananas especially. Not enough hydrogen. Eyhylene (heavy carburetted Hydrogen - C2H2) is used for ripening tomatoes - by some producers. Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) acetylene = ethyne = C2H2 ethylene = ethene = C2H4 With respect to the claims elsethread that acetylene is heavier than air, acetylene is lighter than air (14 amu per molecule as opposed to 16.5 for air) and ethylene marginally so (16 amu per molecule), but the differences are sufficiently small I wouldn't expect any separation. [ To a first approximation all gases have the same number of molecules per unit volume. ] -- Stewart Robert Hinsley |
The message
from Stewart Robert Hinsley contains these words: In message , Jaques d'Alltrades writes The message from "michael adams" contains these words: Commercial growers use acetylene gas which is also given off by ripening fruit, bananas especially. Not enough hydrogen. Eyhylene (heavy carburetted Hydrogen - C2H2) is used for ripening tomatoes - by some producers. Acetylene is used for welding - (CH2) acetylene = ethyne = C2H2 Acetylene/ethyne is C2H - (sorry, typo up above) ethylene = ethene = C2H4 According to Chambers, Ethylene/ethene/heavy_carburetted_hydrogen is C2H2 - but Collins agrees with you that it's C2H4. C2H4 sounds much more likely. And all my organic chemistry books are in boxes in some barn or other somewhere in Norfolk... -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
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