6 TOMATOES, OUTDOOR – 6.72 - HARVESTING and KITCHEN

 
ORGANIC FARMING COURSE AGRO-ECONOMY   
HARVESTING

6 TOMATOES, OUTDOOR – 6.72 - HARVESTING and KITCHEN

Pick the fruits when they are ripe and fully coloured. Hold the tomato in your pa  
lm and with your thump brake off the fruit at the ‘knuckle’ (swelling on the flower stalk).
At the end of the season the stems can be removed from the canes and laid under cloches on a bed of straw. An easier way to ripen green fruit is to place them as a layer and put them in a drawer. Net to the tray set a couple of ripe apples to generate to generate the ripening gas ethylene.
Tomatoes for the market, where they lay a couple of days should be picked up a bit earlier. So the dealers can have a week to sell them on best quality.
 
IN THE KITCHEN
It is true that a tomato picked from the plant will taste better than the fruit of the same variety bought in the supermarket, but a home-grown money-maker will have none of the ‘real’ tomato taste of shop-bought Gardeners Delight.
Variety is all important and you should check that your choice is recommended for its flavour. Most garden tomatoes are used for salads or for grilling and frying – simple methods of preparation for one of our favourite vegetables. Bite-sized should be served whole but slicing or quartering are the usual methods on the preparation on the salad plate. Simply add French dressing or else make a tomato-salad fit for a gourmet – sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper over the slides , add a little sugar and then cover with shopped basil or a mixture of parsley or chieves.
 

KOZI YA KILIMO HAI KILIMO-UCHUMI
NYANYA 6, NJE – 6.72 - KUVUNA na JIKO
 
KUVUNA
Chagua matunda yakiwa yameiva na kuwa na rangi kamili. Shikilia nyanya kwenye kiganja chako na kwa pigo lako vunja tunda kwenye ‘knuckle’ (kuvimba kwenye shina la maua).
Mwishoni mwa msimu, shina zinaweza kuondolewa kutoka kwa miwa na kuweka chini ya vifungo kwenye kitanda cha majani. Njia rahisi ya kuiva matunda ya kijani ni kuwaweka kama safu na kuwaweka kwenye droo. Wavu kwenye trei weka tufaha kadhaa zilizoiva ili kuzalisha gesi inayoiva ethilini.
Nyanya kwa soko, ambapo huweka siku kadhaa zinapaswa kuchukuliwa mapema. Kwa hivyo wafanyabiashara wanaweza kuwa na wiki ya kuziuza kwa ubora bora.
 
JIKONI
Ni kweli kwamba nyanya iliyochunwa kwenye mmea huo itaonja vizuri zaidi kuliko tunda la aina ile ile iliyonunuliwa katika duka kubwa, lakini mtengeneza pesa wa nyumbani hatakuwa na ladha ya nyanya ‘halisi’ ya Bustani inayonunuliwa dukani.
Aina zote ni muhimu na unapaswa kuangalia kuwa chaguo lako linapendekezwa kwa ladha yake. Nyanya nyingi za bustani hutumiwa kwa saladi au kwa kuchoma na kaanga - njia rahisi za maandalizi kwa moja ya mboga zetu zinazopenda. Ukubwa wa bite unapaswa kutumiwa nzima lakini kukata au kukata sehemu ni njia za kawaida za maandalizi kwenye sahani ya saladi. Ongeza tu mavazi ya Kifaransa au vinginevyo fanya saladi ya nyanya kwa gourmet - nyunyiza chumvi na pilipili safi ya kusaga juu ya slaidi, kuongeza sukari kidogo na kisha kufunika na basil ya duka au mchanganyiko wa parsley au chieves.