Help! Off-plant ripening

Given the temperatures overnight, the lack of sun during the day, and the available time that I have left to work on things, I decided to day was the day that the tomato plants would get culled as the chances of them producing any red ones now was slim at best; trouble is, I apparently had a lot more fruit than I thought (two large pyrex bowls full and still harvesting)

Some of them are clearly quite immature fruit that won't ripen in a month of Sundays, so I presume that they will be my chutney ones? Others are in the same boat, not because they are immature, but because they are really DARK green on the upper half of the fruit (goodness knows why?) - I'll post photos later on when I get a chance.

Others are nice, mature, and even slightly ripened fruits (going that sort of lighter green to orange sort of stage); is there any way that these will ripen off the plant (on a windowsill for example) and is there anything I can do to help them along?

 

Thanks all

You're right Vince, not all that far from me - but as much as the dropping temperatures, my decision was also made by the fact that I get limited days off work, and wanted to get a whole load of rearranging done in the garden today whilst I had a day off. I've not had a hell of a lot from my toms this year anyway, so felt it was best to cut and run.

I've got a good few big ones that have reached the translucent stage - pretty sure that they would have ripened if I had left alone anyway, but I also have a hell of a lot of green ones that I am going to use for chutney (going to organise some kilner jars over the weekend); here are some of the greener ones, and more importantly some of the ones with the really DARK green tops - can anyone tell me what that is all about?



I got three big bowls full (approx 2 ltr bowls at a guess), so I am not short.

 

I had to chop down 3 tomato plants 10 days ago because of blight, I picked a bowlfull of green fruit off them. Since then about half of them have ripened, just sitting on the kitchen windowsill. So yours will too fc, just keep them somewhere warm, they don't actually need sunlight to ripen.

 

OK - using a sort of mish-mash of the advice given here, I present the (un)patented 'FC Indoor Matty Ripener'

This design is, of course, free for all GC members to use - but lets keep it to ourselves, eh?



Since taking the photo, I have wrapped the box in clingfilm, and it nestles at the back end of the living room where it will be relatively warm, and I can keep an eye on their progress.

And, I still have a load for chutney (which I am about to make)



Just goes to show - if the weather had been a bit warmer, I almost certainly would have been blessed with a lot more ripe tomatoes through the summer.

 

Well, the chutney is on and bubbling away nicely, all I need to do now is sterilise my jars and hope that I have enough of them.

How long does chutney keep?