Topic: Are these Tomatilloes Ready..?

[gazza1960]

As I have a polytunnel that resembles a forest from the Tomatillo plant that weve grown ,I wondered if there are any other Tommy Growers in here that have successfully grown them and to what size they are supposed to be grown to before you can use them.



These are what I picked today they are about 25mm (1 inch) round approx but the husk size does allow for further growth but as the season is chillying up I didnt know if they will grow much bigger before the frost arrives.

PlUS............As they are a member of the "Nightshade family" I want to make sure they could be used "this size" and that there was no worry of any
poisoning.......not being alarmist...just being careful as its our 1st attempt at growing them.

Cheers

GazNjude

[squeezyjohn]

Well - I don't know the exact variety of tomatilloes you're growing - but the ones I had went yellow/white with a purple tinge to them and were fairly soft when they were ripe.  Yours look like mine did before they got to that stage so I'd be careful ... I'm afraid I don't know the consequences of eating a green unripe tomatillo though.

It's been a rotten year for stuff like this - mine haven't even set any fruit despite being germinated in march.  I've still got lots of "lanterns" but just with nothing inside.  I would suspect that you might get some joy by bringing the plants inside or sheltered from frost if they're in containers - but if they're in the ground ...

[realfood]

They are slightly smaller than I would expect by this time. When full grown, they should fill the husk. If you put the fruit in a sunny window, they should ripen further, changing colour from green to beige. They will keep for months in a sunny window.
Have a look at this page :-http://www.growyourown.info/page172.html

[Melbourne12]

I'd agree that a little longer wouldn't hurt them, based on our experience.

We tried different varieties, and some stayed green, some were purple, and some became slightly brown-ish.  So colour isn't a guarantee of ripeness.  We've still got (relatively) loads in the freezer from 2011.