Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Saving Tomato Seeds - An Excerpt From The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray

    Uploaded by

    Chelsea Green Publishing
    7K views3 pages
    Across the country, a renaissance of local food, farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold. And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local food resurgence: seeds. We are losing our seeds. Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost — forever. With a signature lyricism that once prompted a New York Times writer to proclaim her the Rachel Carson of the south, Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood) brings us the inspiring stories of ordinary gardeners whose aim is to save time-honored open-pollinated varieties like Old Time Tennessee muskmelon and Long County Longhorn okra—varieties that will be lost if people don’t grow, save, and swap the seeds.

    Original Title

    Saving Tomato Seeds - An Excerpt from The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Across the country, a renaissance of local food, farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold. And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local food resurgence: seeds. We are losing our seeds. Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost — forever. With a signature lyricism that once prompted a New York Times writer to proclaim her the Rachel Carson of the south, Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood) brings us the inspiring stories of ordinary gardeners whose aim is to save time-honored open-pollinated varieties like Old Time Tennessee muskmelon and Long County Longhorn okra—varieties that will be lost if people don’t grow, save, and swap the seeds.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Flag for inappropriate content
    7K views3 pages

    Saving Tomato Seeds - An Excerpt From The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray

    Uploaded by

    Chelsea Green Publishing
    Across the country, a renaissance of local food, farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold. And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local food resurgence: seeds. We are losing our seeds. Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost — forever. With a signature lyricism that once prompted a New York Times writer to proclaim her the Rachel Carson of the south, Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood) brings us the inspiring stories of ordinary gardeners whose aim is to save time-honored open-pollinated varieties like Old Time Tennessee muskmelon and Long County Longhorn okra—varieties that will be lost if people don’t grow, save, and swap the seeds.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 3

    19

    how to save tomato seeds


    Pick nice tomatoes that would be perfect for a mean kid to mash up. If theyre large, slice them in half at the equator. Hold them over a canning jar. (Try not to use plastic for anything. Plastic is bad stuff.) Milk the pulp, meaning the gelatinous matrix that suspends the seeds, like frog eggs, into the jar. If youre working with cherry tomatoes, youll have to hold the whole tomato between your fingers and squeeze. The only thing left will be the skin. Put the jar lid on, give it a shake, and label it with the name of the variety inside. If you dont label the jar, you will forget what it contains. If you have two tomatoes youre saving, you think you can sit Yellow Mortgage Lifter on the right and Prudens Purple on the left and remember whats what, and pretty soon youre wondering if Yellow Mortgage Lifter was on the right or the left. Just do it. The tomato hull can still be eaten. I think sauce is a good idea at this point. Fermenting, which is what you are doing with the goopy mess in the canning jar, is the best way to save tomato seeds because the process dissolves the gelwhich contains chemicals that inhibit germination. Fermentation causes the seeds to germinate more quickly when you plant them the following spring. Fermenting also breaks down the seed coat where seed-borne diseases like bacterial canker, spot, and speck can lurk. Let the mess stand for two or three days in a warm location, longer if the temperature is below 70F. The books say to stir daily but I dont.

    - 129 -

    T h e Se e d U n de rgrou n d

    When a layer of blue-gray mold covers the surface of the tomato-seed funk, the process is complete. Occasionally in hot weather (seven months a year here), I have had the seeds start to germinate inside the goop, which means that Ive left them too long untended and they think theyve actually been planted and its time to race off again into plant-building and fruit-making. Dont be like me. Look at the underside of the jar. The viable seeds will have sunk to the bottom. Pick off the scum, then fill the jar with warm water and begin to pour off the now-rotten goop, being careful not to pour out your seeds. You may have to add water or rinse seeds off the insides of the jar and pour again, slowly. Viable seeds keep sinking to the bottom. Do this until you have mostly seeds and water in the jar. Now dump the seeds into a large metal strainer whose holes are smaller than the seeds, rinse, drain for a few minutes, then spread them on a screen or on a plate covered with newsprint or a clean rag (dont buy paper towels). Leave the seeds until they dry. Labelvery important!and store.

    - 130 -

    You might also like