By Request - Ripening your green tomatoes
Tomatoes do best with a consistently warm summer (average daily and preferably night temperatures of approx 21C): the more uncomfortable we find it (sleepless nights), the more they thrive. The undeniable fact that we cannot ignore is that the Macedon Ranges is a marginal growing area, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves.
Tomato vines cease growing and fruit stops ripening when the temperature falls below 15C daytime and 10C nighttime. Chill damage occurs below 8C. So not much point leaving them in the garden.
At this point of the year (April-May), when our tomato vines are still heavy with fruit, Woodend averages a temperature range of 7-18C, with frequent nightime frosts.
Tomato fruit is climacteric, defined as a physiological stage of ripening triggered at fruit maturity and expressed by increased respiration and ethylene production. It is this ethylene production that accelerates the ripening process. This is an autocatalytic response meaning no exogenous elements are required. In short, this means that once maturity is reached tomato fruit need nothing but a temperature above 10 and below 22 and their own ethylene. They will take longer to ripen in cooler temperatures (up to twice as long)
Fruit Maturity and Colour-break, how to identify a tomato that will ripen off the vine.
"Arduino Based Tomato Ripening Stages Monitoring System". ResearchGate
Fruit colour is the easiest way to determine fruit maturity. The image above shows the approximate colours through six stages of change during ripening. If your fruit is anywhere from Stage II to Stage V you can expect it to continue to ripen off the vine.
Directions
Sort your tomatoes into 3-4 colour groups (white [Stage II], light pink/orange [Stages III & IV], orange [Stage V]) and store them into cardboard boxes or paper bags.
Check the fruit every couple of days for coloured fruit and once a week for white fruit.
If you have garage space or similar you can hang the whole plant, collecting fruit as it ripens.
The important thing is to ensure they do not get too cold and that you check regularly for rotting fruit (remove as soon as possible). Enclosing them in a room, bag or box allows the ethylene produced to accumulate and thereby accelerating the process.
In Italy a storing process is used (and a selected form of tomato-that has low moisture and thick skins), they are called piennolo and they harvest fresh winter tomatoes for most of the season. https://www.goodfoodrevolution.com/piennolo-winter-tomato-naples/
This is similar to what we can achieve in the Macedon Ranges by string our tomatoes as above.
OR
You can hunt around for green tomato recipes. Try https://www.facebook.com/groups/eatmorevegmacedonranges/ ?
Bibliography
https://awaytogarden.com/theres-more-than-one-way-to-ripen-a-tomato
https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/53/377/2039/497226
Chapter editor: David A. Brummell Plant & Food Research, Palmerston North; Auckland - Chapter-11-Fruit-growth-ripening-and-post-harvest-physiology
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322499112_Arduino_Based_Tomato_Ripening_Stages_Monitoring_System
“Should I lay my tomatoes in the sun to ripen?
This is not necessary and may even slow down ripening whilst taking up a lot of space.
Do my tomatoes need to have turned orange, to ripen indoors successfully?
No, as long as your tomatoes have changed from lime green they should ripen.
Should I leave the stem on to ripen my tomatoes?
It doesn’t really matter though the stem can damage other tomatoes and may be susceptible to mould spores.
Do I need to put a piece of fruit (banana/apple…) with my tomatoes to help them ripen?
You may but it is not necessary and introduces a potential spoilage source. ”