How To Store Tomatoes Properly. Part 1

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The tomato, which is affectionately called the "golden apple", is a delicious vegetable that has taken root on almost every table a long time ago. Tomatoes are used to prepare light meals and delicious hearty snacks. However, it is far from always possible to keep them as tasty and aromatic as they were originally. So that the "golden apples" do not become tasteless and bland, and the time spent on growing the long-awaited harvest is not wasted, the fruits should be stored correctly. However, this task is within the power of everyone

Which varieties of tomatoes are best preserved

If you want to keep fresh tomatoes for as long as possible, then for planting them, it is important to try to choose varieties that are distinguished by high keeping quality. Tomatoes of the Novogodniy variety will be perfectly preserved until the New Year, and the Long Keeper and Giraffe varieties are almost always perfectly preserved until spring.

Fresh tomatoes

Small-chamber and rather fleshy fruits are considered to be the most suitable for storage. In addition, it is desirable that their walls are thick. And the storage conditions of tomatoes are largely determined by the degree of their maturity - in all cases, the ripening temperature is determined based on which tomatoes were chosen for subsequent storage: juicy brown or tender milk, fleshy red or strong green. For example, green fruits will not be able to ripen if they are sent to be stored in places with low temperatures.

For long-term home storage, it is best to collect tomatoes that have just begun to be painted in the most delicate milky pink tones. And so that they lie longer, they are collected together with the stalks.

French scientists have long tried to find an answer to the question of what temperature to store tomatoes at. They wanted to find out what temperature would help to ensure that tomatoes do not lose their useful properties, and that their complex structure does not begin to disintegrate. As a result of such investigations, the French managed to establish that the volatile compounds contained in the "golden apples" at a temperature of twenty degrees not only do not break down, but also begin to be produced much more intensively. Thus, the tomatoes become much more flavorful. If you move them to a room where the thermometer does not rise above four degrees, then volatile compounds instantly cease to stand out, and those that were already in the tomato composition immediately begin to disintegrate.

In fact, you should try to store dairy tomatoes at a temperature of eight to ten degrees, brown - from zero to two, and popular red - from four to six. By the way, it is undesirable to store them for too long.

Green tomatoes last 21 to 70 days on average, while ripe fruits last only seven to ten days. Store "golden apples", laying them in one layer, tops to the bottoms of the container.

But you should not store tomatoes in the refrigerator - they can become loose and lose their taste quite quickly.

Green tomatoes

In order for strong blange or green tomatoes collected from the beds to ripen as soon as possible, they are left in a room, the temperature in which is in the range from fifteen to twenty degrees. If the thermometer rises above twenty degrees, the tomatoes will stop producing the main coloring element - lycopene. And if you want the fruits to remain green as long as possible, then they try to store them at a temperature of thirteen degrees.

Sun-dried tomatoes

Sun-dried tomatoes, like dried fruits, are usually placed in tight cotton bags. Strong sealed containers (of course, food containers), which are poured with olive oil in advance, are also good for storing them. And the containers are stored exclusively in the refrigerator.

It is not forbidden to store sun-dried tomatoes in the freezer, but it is important to take into account that they will lose their color during the defrosting process.