What should I do with these tomatoes?

Itoohaveagarden_21

Hello everyone so had a huge number of tomato plants left over from a thing at the primary school I teach at.

They have been sitting out in front of my house in full sun all summer but have only just started to produce big green fruit. Should I just pick all the green tomatoes and make chutneys et cetera or leave them outside for a little while longer until they go red (bearing in mind this is Scotland and October so it is starting to get colder!) or should I attempt to bring them inside and find somewhere sunny for this obscene amount of plants?
please see attached pic

thanks!!

LunarSea

I'd pick them, put them all in a bowl with bananas (or other fruit) inside the house and they'll gradually ripen. But you won't get the full taste that ripening on the plant would produce.

Dovefromabove

I'd do as @LunarSea advises ... it's what I do every year ... any that don't ripen make a good chutney, either proper Green Tomato Chutney if there's a lot of them, or an addition to what I call 'Harvest Chutney' i.e. a mixture of whatever I've got, courgettes, marrows, tomatoes, onions, squash ... either from the garden or bought from the shop/market or at other folks' garden gates.  

Good for you for not letting the plants go to waste 

Red maple

I’ve just done the same this morning - taken all the remaining fruits off the vine, all at varying stages of ripeness from very green to reddish and put them in trays on the windowsill to ripen them. As Dove says, whether they ripen much or not, they can all go into a chutney, so won’t be wasted. I figured that we aren’t going to get much warming sunshine now to ripen them on the vine, and the nights are dropping decidedly chilly, so felt it was better to collect them all and bring them indoors, and compost the plants.

philippasmith2

It looks like some have started to turn so they are worth taking off the plant and putting somewhere warm indoors.  Bananas can help the ripening process but only really worth it if you enjoy eating over ripe bananas 
The green ones are best used for the Chutney as said above or Green Tomato Sauce.  You can also freeze them whole and use later to add to curries or similar.
Given the time of year and your location, they are unlikely to do much if left on the plants.

purplerallim

Over ripe bananas make good banana cake @philippasmith2 😉😁

MikeOxgreen

I would have never of thought of using green toms in a curry, nor marrow in chutney, i've passed your ideas onto the chef 
I think the leftover cucumbers will go in the chutney too?

Eustace

recipe for using up green tomatoes:
https://holycowvegan.net/green-tomato-stew/

StephenSouthwest

I've become something of a fan of Fried Green Tomatoes...

Joyce Goldenlily

If you have a shed or garage you can cut the main stems at soil level, turn the plants upside down and hang them up to ripen. Remove all leaves and non-fruit bearing stems. A conservatory would be even better if you have one.

AnniD

I use green tomatoes in Nigel Slater's baked chicken recipe (you will need some ripe ones as well). Always enjoy eating it 😊.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/04/nigel-slater-green-tomato-recipes