Ripe, juicy tomatoes filled with flavour are a backbone of thousands recipes from all over the world. The quality and ripeness of the tomatoes you use always matters, as the flavour won’t be right otherwise. That’s especially true when you are making a salad. If you grow your own tomatoes or find that the ones you’ve bought are unripe, here are a few tips for helping them develop more flavour when ripening indoors.
Once you’ve got the technique down, try your hand at our best ever tomato recipes, from quiches to curries. Discover more about the health benefits of tomatoes and the nutritional benefits they bring to your plate.
Lulu Grimes
As Managing Editor for Good Food, Lulu has extensive magazine editorial experience, including roles at olive, Food and Travel and Sainsbury’s Magazine, as well as Murdoch Books in Sydney. She has also written for The Sydney Morning Herald, taught food writing and published several cookbooks. Read her weekly Substack: Taste. Test. Repeat. and see more of Lulu’s recipes
How tomatoes ripen
The first thing you need to know is that sunlight isn’t always helpful; in fact, too much light can toughen skins, so don’t put your tomatoes on the windowsill. If you grow tomatoes, don’t be tempted to pull the leaves off the plants to help them get more sunshine.
Tomatoes need warmth to ripen. The warmer a tomato is, the quicker it will ripen – putting your tomatoes in the fridge is therefore no help to them at all, and can even degrade their texture to ‘mealy’. However, if tomatoes get too hot, the ripening will stop – another reason to keep them off the windowsill.
Tomatoes, like bananas and avocados, give off ethene (or ethylene) gas, a natural plant hormone that regulates a plant’s growth and makes it ripen by converting the starch it stores into sugar. All fruits do this, and tomatoes are technically a fruit, which is why they will ripen other climacteric fruits (fruit that will ripen off the plant that it grows on).
As long as you are start the process with tomatoes that have naturally started to ripen (even if they have only just started to tinge yellow or orange in patches) these will be ready to ripen, and will have a better flavour when they turn red. Tomatoes that are completely green may not develop as good a flavour or ripen as well, so perhaps think about using them in recipes such as fried green tomatoes with ripe tomato salsa or green tomato chutney.
How to ripen tomatoes
In a breathable bag or box
- In order to speed up the ripening process, all you need to do is trap the ethene gas in with the tomatoes by putting them in a paper bag, cardboard box or empty kitchen drawer.
- Add a ripening banana or apple, which will also give off ethene to help things along.
- Fruit gives off moisture, so use a bag or box that won’t trap it and keep the tomatoes spaced apart so they don’t go mouldy.
- Ripening from very unripe usually takes a week or two at higher temperatures (18C-25C is optimum) – just keep checking as the tomatoes will ripen at different speeds.
- If it’s cold in your kitchen, ripening will take much longer. Also, check for tomatoes that start to rot, as these will affect all the others.
There is some advice available that tell you to put tomatoes in a jar, but this is more likely to trap moisture and hasten spoiling.
In the fruit bowl
If your tomatoes are almost ripe but just need a little more time, keep them in your fruit bowl. The fruit around them will give off ethene and help them to ripen, and you will be able to keep an eye on them.
8 ways to use ripe tomatoes
1. Pan con tomate
We love turning sweet, ripe tomatoes into pan con tomate. This Spanish-inspired snack can be served as part of a tapas spread, or as a starter.
2. Marinated tomato salad
Let your ripe tomatoes shine by serving this vibrant marinated tomato salad on an al fresco evening. Heritage tomatoes and ricotta are dressed with a zingy dressing with garlic, ginger and chilli.
3. Tomato galette
Please a hungry crowd with this gorgeous tomato galette. Bursting with colour and sweet roasted tomatoes, it transports well for a garden party and can be eaten either hot or cold.
4. Confit chilli tomatoes on tzatziki
Celebrate summer tomatoes in this gorgeous confit chilli tomatoes on tzatziki. It pairs beautifully with a summer meze spread, with plenty of flatbreads for scooping.
5. Fresh tomato soup with cheesy cornbread
Turn your ripe tomatoes into a healthy, smooth tomato soup. It packs in three of your five-a-day and is paired with a homemade cheesy cornbread using wholemeal flour and polenta.
6. Tomato, burrata & prosciutto loaded focaccia
Enjoy these loaded tomato, burrata & prosciutto focaccia with a leafy salad on the side for a satisfying lunch. You can mix a variety of colours and sizes to let these seasonal tomatoes shine.
7. Chilli & tomato jam
Have lots of chillies and tomatoes to use up? Make a large batch of this sweet and spicy jam. It’s a great gift and will keep well for up to a year in a sterilised jar.
8. One-pot tomato orzo
Have a glut of ripe tomatoes to use up? Put them to good use in this one-pan tomato orzo dish, perfect for a family midweek dinner on colder evenings. Finish with fresh parsley and plenty of parmesan.
Found these techniques useful? Try our other cookery tips…
How to cook and serve lobster
How to get into urban beekeeping
How to cook chickpeas
How to cook halloumi
What’s your favourite way to serve tomatoes? Leave a comment below…
