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Grittyville, WA

I was just thinking maybe its not such a bad thing to pick them green. I think they can still taste better than storebought if they are allowed to ripen properly (like on a towel on a clean countertop).

I'm not sure if the consensus is that the vine-ripened ones will weigh more. I used to think they would but at some point during the ripening fruit does switch from collecting energy to burning energy.

According to Bing:

"(Yes), they lose carbon dioxide.

As fruits ripen, they lose carbon dioxide. This is due to the switch from expelling oxygen to expelling carbon dioxide as ethylene concentration increases. Additionally, fruits may lose mass through respiration, consuming oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor."

[Last edit: 12/28/24 12:17:05 PM]

12/28/2024 12:13:21 PM

Grittyville, WA

Anything that is losing carbon dioxide is possibly losing mass. Fully red tomatoes might be losing mass. And I think for those of us measuring circumferences we've kind of come to the conclusion that when they blush on the bottom they're done.

On the other hand if they're still green on the bottom then they are probably still growing. Many growers bring green tomatoes or partly green tomatoes, in fact, these ones generally outnumber the red ones.

I think with a little practice its possible get the best of both worlds, in both weighing and eating these tomatoes. If they blush just a little bit, giant tomatoes should make good tomatoes for eating too as long as the ripening process began on the vine.

Even though your tomato might be 90% green and only 10% blushing, that may actually be less bad than you might think.

Maybe growers get stressed by this, I dont know. I hope that helps someone.

[Last edit: 12/28/24 12:51:45 PM]

12/28/2024 12:37:18 PM

Colorado

as long as they have blushed some they will taste fine if picked early and let to ripen. left to turn fully red will almost always taste better but only marginally. For weighing once it blushes you are playing russian roulette with nature. The number of damaged maters I wished I'd picked a day earlier out number the ones Ive gotten to the scale. once they start to blush from my experience they stop growing.

12/28/2024 1:32:51 PM