Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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July 3, 2015 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: AL
Posts: 1,993
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I'm having to pick my tomatoes in the blush stages if I want to have any. Too many critters.
I was wondering, since all I am growing is new heirlooms to me, I have no idea what they should taste like. Does picking in the blush stage, ripening on counter cause loss of flavor when the tomato eventually ripens? Are there some tomatoes that do taste better if left to ripen on the vine? |
July 3, 2015 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2014
Location: South Georgia Zone 8a
Posts: 179
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You are going to a lot of different opinions. I too pick pick at blush to prevent big damage and to me they are fine.
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July 3, 2015 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Posts: 3,099
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I have seen no effect on taste if I pick early or wait till fully ripe. I always pick mine early if its going to rain or if there are critters about and have eaten a vine ripened and one that ripened on the table for a few days in one sitting, the taste was indistinguishable between the two.
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July 3, 2015 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Marcos, CA
Posts: 352
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In my experience, there is no difference in flavor between vine ripened and counter ripened.
Just don't let your dear spouse put them in the refrigerator. |
July 3, 2015 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NJ, zone 7
Posts: 3,162
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I had to pick Peg's Round Orange last year (plant was gone). They all ripened and were just out of this world. I picked them ripe this year, very good taste. They were better picked green, hm. What to do?
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July 3, 2015 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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In order to find out do this:
1-Take almost 2 identical ( on the same truss). 2- Pick one at blush and let it ripen on the counter, the other one on the vine. 3- Do a blind taste test. ( have some one to assist you) That should settle it. Gardeneer |
July 4, 2015 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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I thought everyone picked at first blush. That's how I do it. Sometimes I miss a tomato here and there, and they do get very ripe on the vine, but I have not noticed those fruit to taste any better.
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July 4, 2015 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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I pick all my tomatoes at first blush unless I miss one because of critters and fear of splitting from the rain we get frequently and unexpectedly. I have never noticed much difference in the taste. I have noticed it is much easier to let a tomato get too ripe when you leave it on the vine just a few hours too long especially some of the black tomatoes like Black Krim.
Bill |
July 4, 2015 | #9 |
BANNED FOR LIFE
Join Date: May 2014
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Until this growing season, I would have answered to pick at first blush. I let a couple tomatoes stay on the vine until they were over-ripe. I was going to use them for saving seeds and didn't have room on our seed saving area for them yet. One was, "Bradley" I cut it open and the flesh was so deep red and it glistened. I had to try it - it tasted wonderful.
I did this with a Black Krim, and again, it tasted real good. I still pick most at first blush because my wife likes firm tomatoes better, but I leave a few to fully ripen too. |
July 4, 2015 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: ny
Posts: 1,219
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Wow, I had assumed the opposite, that people let the tomatos ripen on the plant! I've always had issues with tomatoes splitting from too much rain so picking at first blush is how it should be done??
Is 'first blush' literally just any color on the tomato or does it mean something more definitive? Cherries like Sungold, people leave to ripen on the plant, no?
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July 4, 2015 | #11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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First blush means any color at all. I pick cherries the same way. Cherries will crack just like slicers if they get too much water while ripening.
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July 4, 2015 | #12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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With an exception of GWR, when you see a suggestion of the ripe color, that is called "Color Break". So you can pick Sungold when it is mostly green with some yellow on the blossom end. With Sungold being prone to cracking ( due to very thin skin) is pays off to prevent spoilage by picking at color break.
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July 4, 2015 | #13 | |
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July 4, 2015 | #14 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Quote:
I know that taste is personal and perceptual and that there's a human genetic component involved, so it's perfectly possible that someone might love the taste of a variety and others can't stand it, and we've seen that here in many threads. Just too many variables involved in growing tomatoes that can affect the taste such as the weather in any seson, how the plants are grown as in containers, inground, staked, trellised, etc, as well as which amendments might be used and if so, how much and when used. I never picked at first blush, and yes, there are four breaker stages which are used mostly by commercial farmers who use ethylene gas to hasten ripening to ship them out, thus the hard pink ones many of us see in the winter, at least where I live. I never picked at first blush b'c many times the seeds were not mature enough to process by fermentation and where I grew my tomatoes there were no critters to deal with/ However when picking tomatoes for fermentation I would pick mostly ripe ones knowing the seeds were better, but also some that had colored up maybe half way, about breaker 2 stage, process the ripe ones first, and by that time the others would have ripened up. I did my tasting of varieties when I was setting up the fermentations. Take a huge bite out of several fruits, then process the seeds and keep the notebook nearby that I'd used to record all other info about the varieties as they were growing in my field and enter my taste comments there as well. Carolyn
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July 6, 2015 | #15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6
Posts: 1,582
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I find that tomatoes keep better left on the vine (if no one comes to eat them of course).
So let's say you get 2 tomatoes on one truss that start to ripen at same time. Pick one at blush, let the other one on the vine. The first one will definitely get softer sooner. And this way you can 'overripen' the vine one (compared to the other one) and it will be sweeter. Tried it a few times, I'm pretty sure it's not my imagination. So my conclusion is that if you want sweeter (which in fact I don't) then it's better to vine ripe them completely. |
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