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sevierville, Tn

whats the best way. Any easy sure fire methods? Thanks

8/17/2014 10:43:28 PM

East Carbon, Utah

It's helpful to let the tomato get fully ripe, even to the point of splitting and oozing a bit before seed extraction.

I happen to really like tomatoes, so I save as much of the flesh as I can for consumption, even if it means the mess left after seed extraction is suitable only for cooking.

For big tomatoes, I just slice it in half along the biggest dimension, that is, perpendicular to the stem and blossom end. This should expose most seed locules. Then hold one half over a bowl or plate with one hand and dig out the seeds with a finger from the other hand. Repeat with the other half. For multi-lobed fruits, you may need to make several cuts. If you want to make sure and get every seed, you can hold the tomato over a sieve and run a stream of water in every crevice.

From there, use a fermentation or chemical method to remove the gel covering each seed, as the gel contains proteins which inhibit germination. Fermentation takes 3-4 days, whereas chemicals (such as Oxyclean) can get the job done in 10-15 minutes. Depending upon how much juice came out with the seeds, you may need to add an ounce or two of water to prepare a slurry for fermentation.

Once the gel is dissolved or digested, viable seeds will sink to the bottom in a water solution and you can remove the lighter pulp and skin with several rinsings. Then poor into a sieve, one final rinsing, spread out on a plastic or ceramic plate or coffee filter, and let dry for 1-2 weeks out of direct sunlight.

8/18/2014 12:12:33 AM