Saving Tomato Seeds, part 2

Welcome back! Last week I began the process of saving tomato seeds (described in the "Saving Tomato Seeds, part 1" blog post). I left the seeds to ferment for about 3 days, and they developed a nice scummy surface indicating that they were ready.

Tomato seeds after 3 days of fermentation.

At this point, the seeds should have a somewhat stinky, fermented smell, but nothing too gross. The seeds were at the bottom, and the liquid on top, so I was able to carefully decant the liquid off. I then tapped the seeds into a strainer and rinsed them under fresh water. I use this handy little strainer that I bought years ago in Chinatown. I don't know what its original purpose was, but it's perfect for this. A tea strainer would work equally well.

Clean tomato seeds in a strainer.

Next I tapped the seeds out onto a piece of wax paper and labeled the paper with the variety of tomato.

Tomato seeds on wax paper ready to be dried.

I left the seeds to dry for about 3-4 days away from the light. Then I carefully peeled them up off the wax paper and put them in envelopes to store until spring. See you next year, tomatoes!

Saving Tomato Seeds, part 1

One of my favorite farming activities is saving seeds. I love seeing the full cycle of the seasons from seed to seed; I love the independence of not having to buy seed every year, and I love learning about the various mechanisms plants have developed for continuing themselves. Fall is a good time for saving the seeds of summer plants, and anyone growing heirloom tomatoes will probably want to save seeds from their favorites. An heirloom plant will make seeds that are genetically similar to the parent plant, unlike hybrids which make seeds that can have the traits of any of the ancestor plants. Tomato seed saving is a little more complex than other saving other seeds because it involves a brief fermentation process. The fermentation step helps kill any plant diseases.

There are great directions for saving tomato seed on gardenweb.com I thought it would be nice to have photo illustrations too, so here are the steps (This is the first part. Part 2 will be posted soon):

1.  Choose a slightly overripe tomato from your healthiest tomato plant(s). We grew 16 varieties of tomatoes this year, and I am saving seeds from many of them.

 

Several varieties of heirloom tomatoes ready to have their seeds saved.

2. Slice the tomato horizontally, across its "equator."

3. Squeeze the seeds, including their gel goo, out into a clean jar or other container. Add a couple tablespoons of water.

Tomato seeds in a clean, reused container with water.

 4. Cover the container with a lid or a piece of cellophane, and poke a few holes in it for ventilation. Label with the variety if you are saving more than one kind. Place in a warm, dark place for 2-3 days.

My full menagerie of tomato seeds in various reused containers.

Part 2 is coming soon! Stay tuned.

End-of-Summer Canning

Pickles, plums, tomato sauce, strawberry jam, and blackberry preserves

When we moved to Morgan Hill a few years ago, my parents gave me a canning kit as a gift to help us realize our homesteading dreams. Preserving food was all new to me. Both of my grandmothers were modern career women who were somewhat appalled when I took up knitting, so you can imagine that I don't have a lineage of home-ec types to draw upon in my canning endeavors. Fortunately we have the internet and some books to help us. I tend to rely on the Ball "Blue Book" and "Keeping the Harvest" by Chioffi and Mead. It's definitely been a messy learning process, but in my third season I'm finally getting the hang of it.

A bit of the summer bounty. Getting ready for the CSA members.

Whether you have a farm, a garden, or just an interest in eating locally, preserving food makes a lot of sense. By late summer we are giving our CSA members large amounts of tomatoes; we eat tomatoes with almost every meal, and we still have more than we can possibly use. By November, though, the tomato plants will be dead, and we won't have any more until next July. So, we do what we can to preserve some of the tomatoes for the cold months. I've been canning tomato sauce and making sun-dried tomatoes, and I'll probably freeze some too. It takes some extra effort, but I'm sure it'll pay off later. Even in California, where we have a year-round growing season, the cold months of only eating greens can get a bit tiresome. So, here's to one more step toward self-sufficiency, keeping it local, and infusing every meal with delicious home-grown produce!

The most satisfying moment, a full cabinet of goodies for the winter months.