How Do I Know When My Tomatoes Are Ripe?
Identifying a ripe tomato that's ready to be picked can make the difference between heaven and a mealy mess. You can't always tell a ripe tomato by color alone, particularly with heirloom tomatoes, which can be different shades of all sorts of colors—even striped and speckled.
Further, you might be tempted to squeeze it to see if it's ripe, but some tomatoes are damaged if you handle them too forcefully. With a little bit of wisdom, though, you can determine whether your tomato is ready for the picking or should remain on the vine a little longer.
Surface Shine and Hue
The first way to tell if your tomato is ripe is to check if the skin has turned from a dull, matte surface to one that is glossy and slightly shiny.
Next, check the color, which should be fairly deep in its particular shade (unless your tomato seed packet identifies a paler color) For example, red tomatoes should be a deep red, yellow tomatoes should be a deep yellow, and so on. Further, the color should be fairly uniform; if one side of a tomato is red while part of it is still green, it's not yet ready.
Some gardeners choose to harvest their tomatoes before they are completely ripe. This method can help you protect the fruit from cracking, which is more likely after a rain. If you choose this method, bring the tomatoes indoors and allow them to ripen at about 70 degrees.
The Spruce / Adrienne LegaultFun Fact
There are over 10,000 varieties of tomato—and they are not all red. Tomatoes come in a variety of colors including pink, purple, black, yellow, and white.
Feel and Texture
Your ripe tomato will give slightly to the touch. It shouldn't be soft but rather a little tender. Because tomatoes ripen from the inside out, this is a good indicator that it's ready. Be careful, however, to not bruise the fruit. Press it very lightly; you'll know immediately if it is not yet ripe, as it will still be quite hard.
Another indicator is how resistant the tomato is to being picked. If it hangs onto the vine for dear life when you try to pluck it, it's not yet ready. Ripe tomatoes should give way to a gentle tug.
Smell and Taste
A ripe tomato will give off a lovely fragrance, while an unripe tomato will not smell like much at all. Be careful to not confuse the tomato fruit's smell with the smell of the vines, which is almost always quite distinctive and strong.
Don't be afraid to take a taste! Veggies grown in a home garden are not as flawless and may not be as large as those you are used to purchasing in the supermarket, so you may not be familiar with a real, ripe tomato. Tasting a single tomato on your vine should leave you with many more to pick later—and can prevent letting your tomatoes remain too long on the vine, which will just result in rot and splitting.
Tips
- Once you start picking your tomatoes, be sure to check your tomato patch daily. Birds or other critters will be paying close attention to your beautifully ripe tomatoes, and the fruit will begin to fall off the vine when it is too ripe—so get them before you lose them.
- If you're growing heirloom tomatoes, pick them just shy of full color, because they generally ripen before the color deepens.
Pick ripe tomatoes as soon as they ripen so that the plant continues to produce new fruit. This is very important at the end of the season when you want the plant to concentrate on swelling and ripening the remaining fruits.
Remove yellowing leaves from plants towards the end of the season to allow more sunlight to reach the fruit and ripen them.
You cannot rush a tomato to ripening; it will ripen in the number of days that nature requires. And, of course, the time to ripening varies by variety, for example, an Early Girl tomato requires 60 days from setting out transplants to harvest and a Brandywine tomato requires 80 days.
More tips: How to Grow Tomatoes.
The process of ripening is governed by temperature—a range of 65 to 75°F (18-24°C). As ripening occurs, the green pigment (chlorophyll) breaks down and the orange-yellow (beta-carotene) and red (lycopene) pigments increase. The concentrations of orange-yellow and red pigments determine the color of a ripe tomato.
Tomato Ripening Tips
As the season comes to and end there are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind to get the most from your tomato harvest:
- Tomatoes ripen from the inside out. To know a tomato is ripe let the skin turn red (if the variety is a red one) and you will know the fruit is ripe. (If the variety you planted is supposed to be green at harvest, you must keep track of the days from transplanting to know the harvest time.)
- A red tomato will not turn red when temperatures are greater than 86°F. If the summer is very hot where you live, leaving fruit on the vine may cause them to look yellowish-orange rather than red. Red pigment won’t form if temperatures exceed 85°F. If the weather is very hot, it’s better to pick at the pink stage and let the tomato ripen indoors in cooler temperatures.
- Tomatoes to do not need light to ripen once they are off the vine. Do not put picked tomatoes in a sunny window to ripen—they will only overheat or burn and ripen unevenly before they redden and spoil. Put picked tomatoes in a dark place away from a window where the temperatures are 65 to 70°F.
- To make picked tomatoes redden up faster put them into a paper bag with an apple or a banana. Ethylene gas given off by an apple or banana will speed the tomato ripening process.
- Do not store partially ripened tomatoes in the refrigerator. Very cool temperatures will stop the ripening process. Allow picked tomatoes to ripen shoulders up in a dark place at room temperature.
- Fully ripened tomatoes keep their best flavor when they are stored at room temperature, but they will last only a day or two. If you need to keep them longer than that and they are small enough, put them into the butter compartment of the refrigerator–the warmest part.
- When picked at the peak of ripeness, canned or frozen tomatoes retain their flavor and nutrients better than almost any other vegetable.
- About a month before you expect the first frost, start plucking all new flowers off of your tomato plant. That will direct the plant’s energy into ripening the tomatoes that are already on the vine instead of producing new ones that won’t have time to mature.
- If you have an abundance of green tomatoes at the end of the season, you can wrap each one separately in newspaper then place them loosely in a single layer in a cardboard box so they don’t squash each other. Keep them in cool, dry place until they ripen.
- If you have unripened cherry tomatoes on the vine when frost comes, you can cut off an entire truss and hang it in the kitchen or garage until the fruit ripens and is ready for harvest.
More tips: How to Harvest and Store Tomatoes.
Stephen Albert is a horticulturist, master gardener, and certified nurseryman who has taught at the University of California for more than 25 years. He holds graduate degrees from the University of California and the University of Iowa. His books include Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide, Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner, Tomato Grower’s Answer Book, and Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide. His Vegetable Garden Grower’s Masterclass is available online. Harvesttotable.com has more than 10 million visitors each year.
How To Grow Tomatoes
How To Grow Peppers
How To Grow Broccoli
How To Grow Carrots
How To Grow Beans
How To Grow Corn
How To Grow Peas
How To Grow Lettuce
How To Grow Cucumbers
How To Grow Zucchini and Summer Squash
How To Grow Onions
How To Grow Potatoes