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Last of the "Love Apples"

BY Kevin Lee Jacobs | October 10, 2010 11 Comments

Last updated on February 23rd, 2012

I PICKED THE REMAINING good-sized tomatoes from my collapsed trellis last evening. This was not a moment too soon. The fruit would have perished overnight as the temperature here plunged to 32 degrees. What are my plans for the last of these last “Love Apples?”

Tonight I’ll turn the few ripe ones into a Classic Tomato Pie. Meanwhile, I’ll place the green ones, single layer, into brown paper bags, where they will fully ripen in 2 week’s time. (This paper-bag-ripening-method has never failed me.) Then they’ll be good for Lazy Sunday Tomato Sauce, which I like to freeze for winter use.

I wonder — are you still harvesting tomatoes? Or has frost finished the vines off?

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Comments

  1. 1

    Terry says

    October 10, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    I just picked the last bowlful of cherry tomatoes and canned the bigger tomatoes I picked off my fallen trellis 3 weeks ago. All I have left out there is a bit of spinach and some carrots that I planted last month.

  2. 2

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    October 10, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    Terry – I remember your milk-crates of tomatoes! Did you let them ripen first…or did you can them in the green stage?

    I'll dig up potatoes tomorrow…then there are green beans, carrots, and Brussels sprouts awaiting their harvest-turn.

  3. 3

    Terry says

    October 10, 2010 at 10:47 pm

    I let them ripen first and made sauce from 32 today, there are some ripening still.

  4. 4

    Eric says

    October 10, 2010 at 11:37 pm

    I harvested the rest of my tomatoes on Saturday too! Just in time for the temperature dive!

  5. 5

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    October 10, 2010 at 11:46 pm

    Eric – as they say, great minds…

    Terry – What is your indoor-ripening procedure? Paper bags — like mine? Or do you just lay the tomatoes out on a table or counter?

  6. 6

    Terry says

    October 11, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Kevin I have been converting a front hall closet into a pantry and I put some of the tomatoes in large shoe boxes in the pantry/closet. Some were laid out on shelves in there. Some are still in a milk crate. Come winter that closet gets quite cold, that's why I have converted it to a pantry – to store my butternuts and potatoes and other foods.

  7. 7

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    October 11, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Terry – Your cold, front hall closet seems ideal not only for storing winter squash and potatoes, but for forcing tulips, hyacinths, and other Dutch bulbs for winter bloom. I'm just sayin'…

  8. 8

    Leslie says

    October 12, 2010 at 9:51 pm

    I have a ton of green tomatoes I just harvested this afternoon. Just lay them in paper bags…in the dark? in a sunny spot – does it matter?

  9. 9

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    October 12, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    Leslie – Set the bagged tomatoes in a dark, and preferably cool place. Sunlight (and heat) will cause them to rot, not ripen.

  10. 10

    Leslie says

    October 13, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    Thanks Kevin – looking forward to a bumper crop and my first adventure in canning!

  11. 11

    Kevin Lee Jacobs says

    October 13, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    Leslie – Best of luck with those tomatoes. We'd love to hear about your first canning adventure!

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