Big Tomato Hack

The first stage is green mature stage, we call it green mature stage. That's when the tomato is still nice and green but it's not growing any larger. The ripening process has already started on that tomato, but we need to wait for that ethylene gas, which is the ripening agent in the fruit, to pass all the way down to the blossom end. Once we see the blossom ends start to change color, that's called the breaker stage. That's when ethylene has now made it all the way through the core of the tomato. It's not ripe yet. You can ripen it inside at room temperature, or you can put them in a brown paper bag with a piece of fruit that will also emit ethylene and ripen faster. The problem is a lot of people are going to say you're full of it Amy, you don't know what you're talking about, and they taste better when you leave them on the vine. That that's not true. The problem with leaving them on the whole time is Monty the squirrel is going to show up, and when they're nice and flush with water and ripe, they're going to come in here and start eating them. You also run the risk that the sun burns them and you get what's called sun scald. Or while that ripening is happening, we get a huge rainstorm and now they start splitting and cracking from excessive moisture. So you're running the risk of problems when you leave it on the vine the whole time. So it's better to take it off at the breaker stage. That way you have less risk of problems by leaving it on longer. Got it. This one, not quite changed color yet, so this is one I would leave. This one definitely could have been taken. These are like fully ripe now.