How to Harvest the Best Tomatoes You will Ever Eat
Harvesting the best tomatoes from the garden is what we strive for as gardeners. The ones that are bursting with flavor as you take a bite and the juice drips down your hand. Once you have a garden-grown tomato, there is no turning back. You will be jonesing for them over the winter months when you bite into that terribly sad store-bought tomato. Let’s look at a few tips for harvesting the best tomatoes you will ever eat.
Time of Day Matters for the Best Tomatoes
If you want the best tomatoes, your ideal time is to pick towards the end of the day. At this point, the tomatoes have had the chance to ripen through the heat of the day. Thus allowing them to accumulate sugars and other flavor compounds. This is where that delicious flavor profile happens. Starches in the tomato convert to sugar, the acidity balances out, the texture softens, and the flavor compounds come together. It’s like tomato magic.
Skip Watering
In addition to waiting until the evening, you should skip watering for a few days before harvesting. The reason for this is because tomato magic doesn’t happen overnight. When you see a tomato first start to blush, it could still be a week or more before it completely turns. Every variety is different, so this is something you will learn as you go.
As it gets closer to picking time, I stop watering to prevent the tomatoes from being watered down and bland. If the weather is hanging around in the 80s, I let the garden dry out for 3 days before harvest. If it is in the 90s, I may only wait 2 days. In an extreme environment such as the valley of Arizona, you might experiment with skipping watering just for the day.
When you skip watering for those few days, you are helping along the process of building the compounds that make up that mouth-watering flavor profile.
Harvest Before It Rains
This concept is similar to not watering but has a caveat. If you have tomatoes that are ready 3 days before heavy rain, that is fabulous. However, life usually is not that convenient. Oftentimes, you will have tomatoes on the verge of being completely ready but rain is in the forecast.
A sudden intake of a large amount of water makes the tomato expand at an exponential rate. If you leave those tomatoes on the vine, you risk them cracking or splitting open. Some splits are small enough to heal from. However, this is an opportunity for bugs to descend upon your food.
Other times, a crack or split can bust a tomato wide open so that they are beyond repair. When this occurs, they most definitely get bugs and they will rot.
This creates an imperfect time to harvest in regard to flavor profile. However, getting to eat your tomato is better than the high risk of it going to waste.
Best Tomatoes in Containers
This is something I have not perfected. It takes diligence and a true dedication to harvest the best tomatoes from containers. The reason is you need to be consistent in watering. Much like above, tomatoes that fluctuate in watering too much will split.
Containers tend to dry out much faster than garden beds or an in-ground garden. Thus making it difficult to maintain moisture levels. The idea is the same, but you will need to have a tight watering schedule.
Green Tomatoes
Some tomato varieties are meant to be eaten green such as Green Zebra or Aunt Ruby’s German Green. Typically, they are fried, baked, or may be used in salsa or a chutney. I recommend doing some further research on the best practices for picking such varieties.
It is important to note that otherwise, unripe tomatoes can have toxic levels of solanine and tomatine. Having the slightest tinge of green in your tomato is likely not an issue, but never eat unripe tomatoes.
On that note, if you accidentally knock a tomato off that is not ready that is ok. You don’t need to waste it. Just let that tomato turn in a sunny area of your house.
If you don’t have sun, turn on your grow rack lights and place them there. I utilize this option throughout the season and more importantly in the fall. When time runs out with the arrival of the cold, you can save all your tomatoes. Pick everything that is left and bring it inside to turn.
Best Tomato Thoughts
For the best flavor profile, skip watering for a few days and pick tomatoes in the evening. The best tomatoes, however, are the ones you get to eat from your garden. Avoid wasting tomatoes, by picking before heavy rain and be sure to keep a tight schedule with any containers. When the cold has arrived at the end of the season, pick all remaining tomatoes on the vine. Let those tomatoes ripen in the house and savor the last of your bounty.
Click the link to learn How to Water Your Garden Successfully
Author
liv@livlifeoutdoors.com
