One of my favorite things about summer gardening is all of the tomatoes! Cherry, yellow, large, heirloom, purple, determinate, indeterminate, paste… the varieties seem endless and the flavors are delicious!
Need some tips about harvesting and storing tomatoes? Check out this short video.
Harvest Highlights:
- Harvest tomatoes when they start turning red (or orange or purple etc. based on the variety planted).
- Tomatoes will continue to ripen off the vine.
- Before the first frost, harvest all of your tomatoes, even the green ones.
- Leave green tomatoes in a windowsill to encourage ripening.
- Store tomatoes at room temperature, not in the fridge.
Tomatoes are high in vitamin C as well as the antioxidants lycopene and anthocyanidins. These phytonutrients support brain and heart health, so eat up!
One of the great things about tomato plants is that they are quite prolific! If your tomato plant is “determinate” all your fruits will ripen around the same time. If your tomato plant is “indeterminate,” then the plant will continue to fruit and ripen until the first frost. Regardless, the question is what to do with all of the delicious tomatoes!
For a simple one-bite recipe to make with kids or serve as an appetizer, try pizza on a stick.
For more ideas, I’d recommend the post, 16 End of Summer Tomato Recipes, from local food blogger, Kathryn Taylor, of Cookie & Kate.
*A note for fall ordering—
The SYG enrollment form and seed & plant order form are now live. Contact syg {at} kccg.org with questions. Pick-up for fall orders begins August 18th.
