Take your tomatoes out of the fridge: this is the best way to store them

Telegraph

5 days ago

Tomato season (which runs from June, peaks in July, ending around September) is in full swing – and so is the annual debate about how best to store them. Some swear by the fridge, convinced it keeps them fresh for longer, while others insist this kills their flavour. In many homes, they're left to sunbathe on the windowsill, loiter in the fruit bowl or languish in the tray they came in. So, what's the best approach?
Several factors affect how long tomatoes stay in peak condition at home, including variety (there are more than 10,000 types worldwide), ripeness and the distance and conditions they've endured during transport. But how you store them matters just as much. Tomatoes are fussy. Too cold and their texture turns woolly, and their glorious flavour disappears; too warm and they collapse into mush before you can say 'salad'.
We spoke to the experts – scientists, retailers and chefs – to find out how to keep tomatoes at their best and make the most of them as they hit their summer peak.
Why you shouldn't store tomatoes in the fridge
Put a ripe tomato in the fridge and over time, its gorgeous flavour and aroma ebbs away. That's because many of the compounds – known as aroma volatiles – that make them delicious are suppressed at low temperatures, as Professor Graham Seymour, emeritus professor of plant biotechnology at the University of Nottingham, explains: 'when you store tomatoes at 5C, the normal temperature of home fridges, you really do influence and reduce the levels of the aroma volatiles.'
He points to a landmark study in the Journal of Food Science, which found that tomatoes stored at 5C for just two days lost a noticeable amount of flavour and scent. After eight days, the drop was even more significant.
Texture is also affected by chilling, which is why tomatoes kept in the fridge can sometimes become 'mealy'. Low temperatures damage their cell membranes and disrupts water retention, leading to a dry, grainy texture.
The optimum temperature for tomatoes
The sweet spot for storing tomatoes is around 20C (about room temperature in the UK), Professor Seymour says. At this temperature, aroma volatiles stay active and the risk of mealy textures is minimal.
How best to store ripe tomatoes
Ripe tomatoes should last at an ambient temperature of 20C for seven to 10 days. Keep them on the kitchen counter, out of direct sunlight and away from fruit like bananas (see below) to maintain maximum flavour and succulence. Tomatoes don't like airtight containers, so put them out where they can breathe. 'If you're putting them in a low-oxygen environment, perhaps with condensation, this might cause mould to build up,' Professor Seymour says.
Tomatoes are climacteric fruits, which means they continue to ripen after picking. If you want to slow the process because you won't use them all straight away, keep them somewhere cool, like a cellar or pantry.
'If you have a suitable storage area at a temperature of 12.5C-14C, then ripening will be slowed,' Professor Seymour says. 'Flavour could still be altered somewhat, but it's much better than storing them at 4-5C in the fridge. I am afraid like most things it's a compromise,' he admits.
How best to store underripe tomatoes
If you have unripe or hard tomatoes, try keeping them next to bananas or apples – fruits that give off ethylene gas as they ripen. This triggers the tomatoes' own ripening enzymes. Sunshine may help improve the texture and flavour of some unripe specimens – try popping them on a window sill or a sunny spot in the garden.
Should tomatoes be stored upside down?
Some websites claim that storing tomatoes top-down, or keeping them on the vine once picked, helps them stay fresher for longer. It's plausible, but there's little scientific evidence to support this, says Dr Philip Morley, technical executive officer with the British Tomato Growers' Association.
'Tomatoes still attached to part of the vine may retain moisture for a little longer, although this hasn't been properly studied,' he says. 'And turning tomatoes upside down could, in theory, slow moisture loss through the scar where the stalk was.'
Any benefit would depend on the variety and skin thickness of the tomatoes, and the room temperature they're stored in, he says.
How to store tomatoes in packets
Some supermarket tomatoes are sold in plastic packets with perforations to allow airflow and reduce condensation. These designs aim to protect the tomatoes during transport and prevent moisture build-up, which can lead to mould.
Nick Brooke, from the fresh produce team at Waitrose, agrees tomatoes should be kept out of the fridge but advises to keep them in their original packaging,' to preserve their flavour. 'Open them when they are required for maximum freshness,' he says. 'Once they are open, we recommend that they are placed back in their wrap and sealed or re-covered.'
Other factors that affect the lifespan of a tomato
Tomatoes have different lifespans for many reasons, including the variety and how far they've travelled.
Very hard tomatoes that are a pale orange-red colour – often significantly cheaper than others – will keep for weeks out of the fridge, but the trade-off will be lack of flavour. 'Many commercial tomatoes contain a mutation called the ripening inhibitor mutation,' says Professor Seymour. 'It slows ripening down, so very cheap tomatoes can seem to last forever, but this can also affect taste as well. They're often as hard as cannon balls.'
Size matters too. Cherry tomatoes have a higher surface-area-to-volume ratio than bigger varieties, which means they lose moisture quicker and are prone to drying out in extremely hot conditions, says Dr Morley. The difference might be slight, but if your kitchen feels like a furnace in summer, larger tomatoes are more likely to stay in good nick for longer.
To improve your odds of both flavour and shelf life, Dr Morley suggests buying British-grown tomatoes. These are typically produced in glasshouses, carefully handled, picked when ripe and travel shorter distances to your plate than imported ones. 'If you buy ones from Morocco or Spain, they tend to use long shelf life varieties,' he says. 'Also, British tomatoes haven't gone through the supply chain, rattled around in crates and been exposed to different temperatures.'
The shorter the journey from plant to plate, the longer tomatoes are likely to stay in peak condition. He recommends producers such as Isle of Wight Tomatoes, which sells a wide range of varieties – coeur de boeuf, cherry vine, san arrentino plums – and colours direct to consumers.
Home-grown or farmer's market tomatoes generally aren't bred to ripen slowly, so they're never going to outlive supermarket cannonballs. But they've been spared the knocks, chills and long journeys of their shop-bought counterparts – and that not only means they taste better but often keep surprisingly well too.
How to store tomatoes in the freezer
Tomatoes can be frozen whole or chopped, but due to their high water content, they're best used in cooking once defrosted. According to the anti-food waste charity Love Food Hate Waste, blanching tomatoes before freezing can help preserve the texture. Whole cherry tomatoes can be frozen and added straight from the freezer to soups or stews. Got a squishy tomato glut? Cook it into a sauce and freeze that instead.
What to do with underripe tomatoes…
Claire Thomson, chef and author of Tomato (Quadrille, £24), recommends cooking underripe tomatoes. Thickly slice 500g tomatoes, season, then dredge in flour, beaten egg, and finally panko breadcrumbs. Carefully deep fry until golden and transfer to a baking dish. Mix 100ml double cream with a chopped garlic clove, a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary, and 1 tsp Dijon mustard. Pour over the tomatoes, top with grated Parmesan, and bake at 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
…and overripe tomatoes
Overripe tomatoes make fantastic, easy cold soup: blitz 750g overripe tomatoes, 75g stale bread, a handful of blanched almonds, a couple of garlic cloves, a few mint leaves and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil in a food process or blender. Season well and serve chilled.