Picking the best tomato

Enlist your senses when selecting truss tomatoes to ensure you’re picking the crème of the crop.

Sight

Look for a rich deep colour on the top tomato and a lighter colour on those at the bottom of the truss. Truss tomatoes ripen from the top down so the top tomatoes should be eaten first. Leave the bottom tomatoes on the truss and each tomato will continue to draw nutrients, giving the tomatoes longer shelf life and more sugars as they ripen.
Ensure that the truss (vine) is bright green and fresh — not shrivelled or dry.
Choose a truss with tomatoes of roughly the same size — this means that the tomatoes will ripen evenly.

Smell

Inhale the wonderful aroma of the green stem. The fresh smell should evoke childhood memories of delicious home grown tomatoes.

Touch

Truss tomatoes should be firm to the touch, but not too hard. Nor should they feel soft as this indicates that they are overripe

For better flavour and shelf life follow these simple rules when storing your tomatoes

Don’t keep your tomatoes in the fridge as the cold temperature prevents them from ripening and they rapidly lose their flavour. Always store tomatoes in a dry place at room temperature.
Don’t store your tomatoes in the same bowl as your apples and bananas. Ripening fruit emits the hormone ethylene, which accelerates the ripening process of tomatoes.
Remember, apples in the fridge, tomatoes in the fruit bowl!