Strange banana ripening
This is definitely a first for me, sort of a happy accident so the bananas do not ripen all at once and end up with a bunch of overripe ones before you can eat them…if only I could determine how to make this happen on purpose I could make millions 🙂
How to ripen tomatoes indoors
With temperatures starting to drop and heavy rains on the way it has come time to start pulling some tomatoes to ripen indoors. Tomatoes need ethylene to ripen, this occurs naturally by the tomatoes plants releasing this during the later stages of growth thus causing the tomatoes to change color.
You can do this indoors with the by simply taking your tomatoes that are just beginning to blush and place them in a convenient container. Though you might get some ethylene from the stems remaining on the plants I also will add a ripe banana which also naturally releases ethylene which will assist to the ripening process.
I do this in a contraption I like to call my ethylene tomato gas chamber…
Ok, I know it is just plastic shoe box with a banana in it…this provides a portable area I can add my tomatoes as needed and also able to put a lid on it to contain the ethylene while also keeping fruit flies away from the nice ripening banana.
This technique gives the tomatoes adequate humidity not dry enough to create sundried tomatoes, but low enough to prevent the tomatoes from being too moist which would lead to rotting.
After just a couple days your riper tomatoes should be fully red and ready to eat, now these will not taste quite as good as the ones ripening on the vine, but little tastier than the ones you get in your local grocery store and you know exactly what was sprayed (or better yet…what wasn’t sprayed) on the plants.
Update (Day #2)
Update (Day #3)
Update (Day #4) Put in a new banana
Update (Day #7) Already ate a couple of tomatoes
