Storing tomatoes

[Pontormo]

Experts tell us never, ever put the season's most beautiful fruit in the refrigerator.

HOWEVER, what do you do when you live in a tall building with lots of other city-dwellers, including neighbors who take out their garbage once a week, pets, insects and rodents? Rats are more of a problem in D.C. than roaches, but the latter do exist and the fruit flies that come in with the bananas stay.

Lately, I have been enclosing paper bags and little green baskets of my tomatoes in plastic bags that I keep open during the day, but tied shut when I turn off the lights at night. I found that storing the ones I could fit into a lidded ceramic dish were sometimes vulnerable. I am not sure that leaving tomatoes in sealed plastic containers is that much better than refrigeration...except that the negative effect of cold temperatures is not an issue.

[docsconz]

You could try inverting a very fine mesh colander or cheese keeper over them.

[Pontormo]

I'll investigate cheese keepers, thanks!

[takomabaker]

Those damn fruit flies!!! The only way I got them under control was to hang one of those ugly, tacky strip of death things from the ceiling. I'm not talking about the sticky fly paper. I buy those white things with the yellow center that emit some sort of toxin in the air that kills flying things. It works. I don't know exactly where you are in DC, but I buy them at Strosniders, although I'm sure other hardware stores probably have them.

I tried EVERYTHING. Martha Stewart's tip of putting vinegar in a jar and covering the jar with perforated plastic wrap was a bomb. It trapped some of them, but not nearly enough to put a dent in the population. I put bleach in my drain and taped a bag over my garbage disposal (because I read that they hang out in there) and that didn't work. As much as I despise the idea of having an ugly thing emitting toxins hanging in the middle of my kitchen, during fruit fly season it is a necessity. When guests come over, I hide it on top of my cupboards.

As for my tomatoes. I leave them out in a bowl, but I cover the bowl with a dishtowel and put a plate on top of the dishtowel if there are undesirables in my kitchen.

[The Hersch]

Those damn fruit flies!!!

I tried EVERYTHING. Martha Stewart's tip of putting vinegar in a jar and covering the jar with perforated plastic wrap was a bomb. It trapped some of them, but not nearly enough to put a dent in the population

I've had 100% success against fruit flies by mixing equal parts water and vinegar, adding a few drops of dishwashing detergent, and leaving it on the counter in a bowl or shallow glass. Don't put any kind of cover over this. Leave it out on the counter for a couple of days and every last fruit fly will end up dead in the water. The detergent is the key: it reduces surface tension, which causes the fruit flies to sink into their liquid grave. BWAHAHA!!!!

[takomabaker]

OOOOOH! Thanks for the tip.

Look out, you annoying little flying bastards!

[Bux]

The cold will absolutely destroy the texture of a tomato. That's just one reason so many tomatoes shipped from afar have such a mealing texture. Tomatoes kept in a closed bag or container will ripen better or faster. Fruit flies have been a very rare problem. As for crawling things, they haven't been a problem in our building since we all got together and used and replaced those Combat things on a regular basis many years ago. I never thought we'd actually see zero popuation as one floor was opposed to any spraying or other insecticide use because of their pets, but they agreed to the Combat.

[Pontormo]

Combat? Please enlighten me.

[Pontormo]

I ended up with a Tuperware-like thing used to transport cakes with a cover high enough to accommodate a very tall layer cake or a torte on a cake stand.

This has been fine for holding tomatoes for most of the week. The only problem I detect is a smell that is less than pleasant by the end of the week--worse if a bowl of cherry tomatoes is involved and one was starting go bad. Is there a gas this fruit emits? It would be better were air given more of a chance to circulate.

However, the fruit fly solution mentioned above did not work for me at all! Not a single one ended up floating in the bowl of vinegar, water & dish detergent. Is this just because there's been plenty of other stuff for them to feast on around the kitchen?

It's not exactly like The Birds, but one is headed towards my face as I type.