Monty Don has shared a clever hack to ripen tomatoes indoors using just one simple kitchen item – and it’s perfect for those who have been left with green fruit
Tomatoes that stubbornly refuse to turn red on the plant can be a right pain – but gardening expert Monty Don has shared a clever trick to ripen them indoors.
Once plucked from the vine, tomatoes carry on ripening thanks to a gas called ethylene. Fascinatingly, other fruits such as bananas and avocados also emit this ethylene gas, which is crucial in the fruit ripening process.
This explains why commercial tomato producers often pick the fruit whilst it’s still somewhat green, banking on the fact that these delicious treats will complete their ripening journey en route to the shops.
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If you’re harvesting early tomatoes from your own patch, look for those showing a subtle blush at the base and feeling slightly tender when gently pressed.
In his September gardening blog entry, Monty Don disclosed that now is the ideal moment for tomato transformation. Yet, for those unlucky souls stuck with persistently green tomatoes, Monty has a professional secret: apparently, just one banana will do the trick.
As Monty outlined: “Tomatoes ripen best when the temperature is between 26 and 30 degrees, so this summer was too hot for many of them – especially if grown under glass, which meant that many stayed green much longer than in a cooler summer. However, by September, the heat is running out, and inevitably, we are all left with green tomatoes that are never going to ripen.”
The gardening guru added: “If you pick them – either individually or on the bine, then put them in a drawer with a banana and they will ripen and turn red.”
Ripe bananas emit a hefty amount of ethylene gas, a nifty trick to speed up the ripening process of your tomatoes to a perfect red, reports the Express.
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If you’re after an alternative way to turn your tomatoes from green to red off the vine, get hold of a breathable container. Grab some perforated plastic bags, a humble brown paper bag, or just a plain cardboard box, then place your unripe tomatoes in a warm spot, shielded from any draughts.
Make sure you lay out the tomatoes so they’re not piled up but spread out in a single layer. Keep a close eye on that bag, taking out any that reach ripeness to stop them from becoming overripe.
For those gardeners who are in no hurry and happy to let their tomatoes turn red naturally on the plant, it’s advised to trim some leaves to allow sunlight to directly hit the fruit.