Care and Handling
Storage Tips
- Think of and handle tomatoes as you would
bananas – botanically, tomatoes are a fruit and need to be
gently handled and ripe to be fully enjoyed.
- Ripe, full-colored (whole) tomatoes
should be stored at 50-60°f. Less fully ripened tomatoes should
be stored at 55-65°f. Not all tomatoes ripen at the same rate:
monitor frequently. A day or two at 55-65°f may be enough to
accelerate ripening.
- Tomatoes are very fragile. When storing
whole tomatoes, stack boxes carefully off the floor to prevent
cross contamination and prevent bruising. Tomato boxes dropped
even a foot or two will show up in bruising a few days later.
- Immediately remove any tomatoes that
show signs of decay. Decay can spread quickly.
- Do not store tomatoes near bananas or
onions. Not only will they take on these flavors, ethylene
emitted by bananas can cause a tomato to ripen more quickly,
shortening its shelf life.
- Store whole tomatoes above 50°f. Whole
tomatoes stored below 50°f will delay color development, destroy
tomato flavor enzymes and texture, and considerably shorten
shelf life.
- Whole tomatoes should be pre-cooled by
air in a cold room prior to any fresh cut application.
- Do not use cold water immersion as a
cooling technique.
- Water temperature shall be maintained
at least 10°f warmer than the pulp temperature of the tomato.
- Finished fresh cut tomato products must be stored at
refrigerated temperatures not to exceed 41°f.
Preparation Tips
- Rinse whole tomatoes in running water;
do not wash or store tomatoes in standing water.
- One large tomato weighs about 6 ounces
and yields about 1 cup chopped tomatoes.