Pears & Tomatoes

We have a good crop of Red Bartlett Pears this year:

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They are sweet and juicy after ripening in a paper bag for a few days.

We are also starting to get a lot of the larger tomatoes:

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These were all grown from seed saved from last year's crop.

We have been getting cherry tomatoes for a while now.

Our season is a little later up here than most of the country.

jtk

Nice pears and tomatoes Jim. With the heat and drought locally, our tomatoes have just begun producing sizeable tomatoes. Now the question is can we get them to ripen before the first frost. Like you, our cherry tomatoes have been producing for some time. We tried a new type this year as recommended by the owner of a local nursery. These cherry tomatoes produce clusters of tomatoes like grapes. The tomatoes are nicely sweet and tart too.

Those look like nice pears Jim. Yesterday I ate the best pear in my life. It was local, green splotchy skin on the outside but sweet and juicy on the inside.
Made up a batch of stewed tomatos for the freezer awhile back. Can't keep up with picking them this year.

We just finished canning the last of the spaghetti sauce from our heirloom roma tomatoes. They're about done but our slicing tomatoes are still doing well. First frost could be any time now and that will be the end.

Eggplant is all fried and in the freezer and I'm started on the squash casseroles. That will be it for us this year.

Any good recipes for doing something with pears other than canning?

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Now the question is can we get them to ripen before the first frost.

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One site mentions trimming off excess foliage this time of year to force the plant into ripening the tomatoes on the vine > https://www.fruitionseeds.com/learn/...-in-september/

My suggestion would be to also remove any smaller fruit.

jtk

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Originally Posted by Stan Calow

Any good recipes for doing something with pears other than canning?

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Consult Dr. Google with things like > recipe for using pears < > overripe pear recipes < You will be surprised at how many different things can be done with pears like > pear crumble < and others.

jtk

We have always picked any green tomatoes just before first frost. Wrap them in newspaper or put in a paper bag, in a dry space, and they'll eventually ripen. They won't be as tasty as vine ripened, but still usable.

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Originally Posted by Stan Calow

We have always picked any green tomatoes just before first frost. Wrap them in newspaper or put in a paper bag, in a dry space, and they'll eventually ripen. They won't be as tasty as vine ripened, but still usable.

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Just like store bought!

jtk

The house I grew up in had a dirt basement. Dad would always pull up the green tomato stalks before the first frost... hang them up in basement and they would slowly ripen and tasted great... Do not know how this would work today in normal basements... possibly worth a try???
We had garden tasting tomatoes into December, possibly later...

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Originally Posted by Ed Aumiller

The house I grew up in had a dirt basement. Dad would always pull up the green tomato stalks before the first frost... hang them up in basement and they would slowly ripen and tasted great... Do not know how this would work today in normal basements... possibly worth a try???
We had garden tasting tomatoes into December, possibly later...

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This is one of the methods also mentioned on the site linked in one of my previous posts. The idea being anything left in the plant is directed to the fruit.

One example of this tendency of plants is in weeds like dandelions. If the flowers are removed they tend to continue maturing into viable seeds.

jtk