Blight again. Can I save the fruit?

[Bren In Pots]

Did you leave it to stand for about six months to mellow? Maybe the recipe needs tweaking?

Danny it didn't improve with age

[Penellype]

Try green tomato soup instead. Just follow a recipe for normal tomato soup, but use green ones instead.
It needs a bit longer cooking time (as the green ones are harder), but once it's done It actually tastes much the same as normal tomato soup, just a tad sharper. You may also want to add a couple teaspoons of sugar to sweeten it up slightly and bring the flavour profile closer to that of ripe tomatoes.

That's interesting - I may give it a try, thanks.

[Penellype]

Update this morning - 1 further tomato showing signs of turning brown. I seem to remember from past years that you get some tomatoes that turn brown straight away and then a lull and you think you have escaped. Then a couple of days later another lot start turning brown. We shall see.

[Penellype]

One more brown tomato this morning.

[smallblueplanet]

Danny it didn't improve with age

You can make really tasty 'Indian' chutney with green toms. Just use them as the base ingredient, I think this is one we've tried before, or a version of. Of course if you don't like 'curried chutney' (great with cheese sandwiches) it's no good.

Indian Tomato chutney

Ingredients:
1.5kg tomatoes, chopped
600g courgettes, chopped
300g onions, chopped
40g ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red chillis, or more!
220g sugar
350ml cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp curry powder
4 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp coriander, ground
2 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp tamarind paste (dissolved in hot water)

Method:
Chop all the ingredients. Fry onion, garlic and spices before adding the rest of the ingredients into a large pan and bring it slowly to the boil, so as not to burn the sugar. Put the lid on the pan, turn down the heat and let it simmer for half an hour.
After about half an hour give it a good stir, and then leave to simmer without the lid. Keep stirring every 10 - 15 minutes or so. After 1 - 2 hours, start checking as to when it is ready. Look for a thick, chunky, saucy (chutney) consistency. The way to test this is to make a line in the bottom of the pan of chutney mix with your spoon. The line should remain visible for a few seconds before the chutney mix covers it again, if this is what you see, your chutney is ready. If your chutney is still too watery then bring back to a high boil and keep stirring, once it has thickened, then try the spoon line test again. It can take as much as 3 hours to get to this stage.
Once the chutney is thick, pour into sterilised jars. Leave for one month before eating in a cool dark place. Once open, keep in the fridge and use within 6 months.

[Nicos]

Here are a couple of Nigel skater’s recipes…
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...tomato-recipes

Do you room to freeze some cooked down green tomatoes to use later?

[Penellype]

Not really keen on curry or chutney here. Freezers are pretty much full, but I had a go at making a few of the green tomatoes into soup, along with runner beans and a leek. It was far too acid for me I'm afraid, so back to leaving them to see if they ripen.

No more brown fruit today.

[Marb67]

Surely this can't be blight on the leaves in my sealed greenhouse ? Also, shall I now cut off all the leaves to get them ripe ?

Thanks

[ameno]

That certainly looks to be blight, yes (especially on the lower leaves). Blight usually works it's way into the greenhouse eventually. You call it "sealed", but it's far from airtight, plus you presumably open the door to get in several times a week.

[Marb67]

That certainly looks to be blight, yes (especially on the lower leaves). Blight usually works it's way into the greenhouse eventually. You call it "sealed", but it's far from airtight, plus you presumably open the door to get in several times a week.

It can't be. I've lost so much outside I had these as insurance. I hardly go inside. The stems are not black. I think it must be some mineral deficiency or something.

[Nicos]

Hmmm…..Marb…. I hate to say but I think ameno may well be correct. The spores can travel in your hair/ clothes….

I really hope I am wrong but my gut feeling really does agree with ameno.

[smallblueplanet]

It can't be. I've lost so much outside I had these as insurance. I hardly go inside. The stems are not black. I think it must be some mineral deficiency or something.

The humidity only helps any blight spores, which is why we take some of the leaves off lots of our greenhouse plants to allow air to circulate. Take off the leaves that look 'damaged', and others to allow airflow, and see how the plants do. Impossible to keep a greenhouse 'airtight', better to keep air circulating and 'fressher'.

[Mark Rand]

A big problem is that it's getting to the end of the season anyway..

[ameno]

It can't be. I've lost so much outside I had these as insurance. I hardly go inside. The stems are not black. I think it must be some mineral deficiency or something.

The stems only turn black when the plants are severely affected. It starts with just grey-brown patches on the leaves, which gradually expand and cause the leaves to die.
Just remove the affected leaves to limit spread, and keep doing so as more become infected. It won't stop infection completely (nothing can), but it will slow it down, hopefully enough for the fruit to ripen.

[Plot70]

I had a false alarm today.
A fruit that had just started changing from green had a big brown patch on it.
I was about to rip the plant out when I checked the fruit. The brown patch mostly fell off.
It turned out that a bird had fly-tipped on the fruit without getting any on the leaves above.