The best way to ripen tomatoes indoors is to put them in a brown paper bag. Leave the bag on a counter or place in a cupboard.

Lots of previous discussions on this aspect too if you want to read them with all the details on how fruits ripen both on and off the vine and what variables can affect them.

But the bottom line is that picking at blush (aka break) doesn't affect the flavor and texture in any negative way. The fruit already has everything it is going to get from the plant. From break point on only negative things (sunburn, water-logged, disease, injury, birds, worms, etc.) can happen to the fruit if left on the plant. ;)

Indeed it may improve the texture because as said in the other post on this just a bit down the page, if left to fully redden outside on the vine, the inside may well already be mushy.

Dave

I thought that the brown paper bag suggestion was normally tied to ripening green tomatoes with no signs of blush?

cupboard of counter good, not in the sun and definitely not on the windowsill unless you want a cooked tomato (sun not needed to ripen).

The effect of early picking/ripe picking is a concern of mine also, and although this has been discussed I cannot recall any objective conclusions emerging. I do find it quite difficult to resist picking once they have at least a few days of blush/are on their way to ripening, will try to pay better attention this year to whether these ones taste better or worse than those that hide behind leaves and branches and are not discovered until fully ripe on the vine.

I too, was concerned about harvesting my tomatoes after they had blushed. I then had a squirrel take a bite out of one, and I then spent a lot of time on the pc researching. I am now totally convinced there is no reduction in quality by picking at first blush. One of the articles, (I don't have links)described the ripening process, where there are specialized cells in the stim, that shuts down all exchange between the tomato and the plant at the breaker stage. So the tomato just hangs there anyway, waiting for some critter to damage it.

Would it be safe to ripen them on tables in a garage?
Thanks

If there is no exchange between the plant and the tomato after first blush, how do blushed tomatoes crack when it rains?

Seems to me that water gets thru. If water gets thru, so can anything else.

Quote: If there is no exchange between the plant and the tomato after first blush, how do blushed tomatoes crack when it rains?
Seems to me that water gets thru. If water gets thru, so can anything else."
Good question Recluse.

And while we are at it ; Why a BROWN PAPER BAG? I just set mine at any handy place out of the sun.

Good question and an easy answer - kinda. The blushed tomatoes, when and if they split, generally split much less than any ripe ones left on the vine. The membrane is somewhat water-permeable if water is delivered to the plant in large amounts.

It is the same principle behind dry farming or low-water farming prior to ripening - water dilutes the taste. It sure doesn't add anything to the flavor.

So because some water can get through doesn't mean that anything else gets through the membrane. The referenced articles that are often linked whenever this comes up for discussion explain the ions and + and - charges of various nutrients like Na, Ca, K and so on and how they can't move through the membrane but I can't translate it all.

Best example I can think of is older folks like me who get swollen ankles at the end of the day. ;) Water moves in and out of the cells into the tissue but the electrolytes (all that stuff that is in Gatorade ;) in our bodies remain in the cells.

But the best way to convince yourself is to try both as is usually suggested. Pick some blush and ripen on the kitchen counter (brown paper bag isn't needed except it keeps them out of the direct sun) and leave some on the vine. Do your own comparison.

Dave

from my vantage point, a pepper is ready to pick when you bend the stem a little and it breaks off from the plant. I am guessing the same goes for tomatoes.

Plant tomatoes the Mexican way. Put in dirt, let sit, drink a shot of tequila for good luck and let nature take its course. Too many people on this forum attend to a tomato plant like it is a sibling, maybe even the President.

Let nature takes its course!!

Fruits and vegetables are put in brown paper bags to speed up the ripening process because they give off ethylene gas which aids in ripening. I put rock hard avocados and peaches in a shopping bag, sometimes with a banana (which supposedly gives off the most gas) and in a few days have perfectly ripe fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: How ethylene gas helps ripening

Hello,
I would still like to know if ripening them in a garage, dark & outside air temp is "safe".
Thanks
Ed

No problem that I know of Ed unless you have mice or other pests in the garage. Might take a bit longer to ripen, can't say for sure as I have never done it. I just prefer the kitchen counter out of the direct sun.

Dave

My issue is that the ones I left on the vine went wrinkly and dimpled, and the ones I pulled off yesterday after the first blush suggestion are starting to go wrinkly also.

It would seem that pulling them off the vine, while keeping them from pests, also keeps them from receiving any moisture they may have gotten from the plant. I'm sure it also doesn't help matters that I plucked some of them without the little green thing at the top (what's that called anyway? A tomato hat? No, probably not a tomato hat...)

My "first blush" tomatoes sitting on my counter now kind of resemble the "sitting on Trader Joe's shelf for too long" cherry tomatoes I see at the bottom of their clamshell containers sometimes.

Well if both picked and unpicked are going "wrinkly and dimpled" then it clearly isn't the picking at break that is causing the problem. You have something else affecting the tomatoes both on and off the vine.

Hard to say what it is from just "wrinkly and dimpled" - sunburn, overly ripe (break is defined as just a hint of color on the blossom end of the fruit), too much water, pests like stink bugs, some disease, can't say.

Dave

Similar question. If I pick when the tomato is blushing, should I eat it then too? Or wait until it turns redder? I guess I'm asking if the taste of the tomato changes between break to full maturity?

Hi! I just joined the forum, first post.

I pick tomatoes just as they start blushing on the blossom end,and let them ripen in buckets or pots, on the kitchen floor. Eat them after they are their darkest red (this works well with Park's Whopper and similar tomatoes).

Well if both picked and unpicked are going "wrinkly and dimpled" then it clearly isn't the picking at break that is causing the problem. You have something else affecting the tomatoes both on and off the vine.

Hard to say what it is from just "wrinkly and dimpled" - sunburn, overly ripe (break is defined as just a hint of color on the blossom end of the fruit), too much water, pests like stink bugs, some disease, can't say.

Dave

I'm quite sure you're right on the money, Dave. The poor pot of tomatoes has been kind of sad since the get go. I know nothing about gardening now, and when I planted them, I knew even less! And that's why I now have 2 sweet 100's inside one terra cotta pot. (Where's an embarrassed smiley when you need one?)

They do have a ton of tomatoes on them, despite their small leaves, and kind of spindly appearance. I'm just going to have to find some happy medium, or suck it up and eat my wrinkly tomatoes. So far, the only ones that seem to have that issue are the two that I crammed into their one pot. Poor babies.

To be more specific about water uptake into a ripening tomato...Plants have two types of vascular tissue, 1) dead open tubed xylem that conducts water and minerals unihibited from the roots, which remain open/conducting as long as the fruit is on the plant, and 2) living semi open phloem tubes that carry sugars and organic molecules manufactured in the leaves (living sap). The phloem tubes are stopped up and cut off by the plant when the fruit begins changing colors. Water can also slowly move through the spaces between the fibers of the cell walls outside of the xylem tubes, but again, this doesn't contain any sugars/organic molecules that would affect flavor of the fruit.

Ethlene gas is produced inside the fruit once color change occurs(causing that color change to occur) so the fruit ripens from the inside out. Ethlene gas on the outside (paper bag) mainly makes the outer surface ripen, like grocery store rocks, but inside ripening is proceeding from internally produced ethlene et al.

I picked my first tomato this past weekend (Pink Brandywine from a Home Depot transplant), and frankly the taste was very bland. However, this was one of the first tomatoes that I grew this year before I did any reading on this site, so it was a pretty pathetic plant to begin with. My question is whether it tasted this badly because (1) I overwatered (2) the plant is in poor shape (3) I picked it too early (4) some other reason. I also noticed some rot on the bottom of the tomato that I cut off. Was this BER? Here are some pictures.

Tomato When I Picked It:

After cutting the Tomato:

Sad Plant It Came From:

Is this BER?

It wasn't ripe yet but since it also had what looks like BER (to the side of the catfacing and inside) it wouldn't make much difference. There would just be more rot. Some say that BER affects the taste of the entire fruit, others say no. I don't save BER fruit so can't say.

Your plants are in very small containers. Over-watering would be almost impossible given the size of the container but BER, root bound plants, inconsistent soil moisture levels, and nutrient deprivation would be very likely.

Dave

Water goes through the tomato skin. When I wash my tomatoes they often split if I am not careful. I wash them because I sprayed with Bt. I don't know that moisture through the stem is cut off at blush; that seems unlikely to me. But water can get in without the stem connection. Cherry tomatoes would be great for demonstrating osmosis to students..