I am very fortunate to know people who have greenhouses, and I was recently invited to pick leftover tomatoes for myself and the Food Bank.

I picked a mixture of very ripe (for freezer), half-ripe (for freezer after ripening) and green tomatoes.

Later in the winter I will thaw these whole tomatoes, slide skins off, and make into sauce.

Ripe and half-ripe tomatoes

Bags of whole tomatoes in freezer

Since I already have plenty of frozen green tomatoes, I plan to allow the green ones to ripen slowly, perhaps preserving them through Thanksgiving.

Storing  green tomatoes in plastic bins or buckets isn’t a great idea, as they could rot there. Rather, I stored them in a wire basket lined with newspaper. The newspaper will allow some air flow while also retaining some of the naturally occurring “gasses” that ripen tomatoes. See photo below for ideas!

Green tomatoes packed in layers, between newspapers, in wire basket