Question
I have a tomato patch where the plants are still green, healthy and quite robust with a number of large tomatoes that are green.  The location is in California between San Francisco and San Jose which has fairly good sunny weather, however it's been getting cool in the day and cold at night now.  The question is would it be possible to ripen the tomatoes if I leave them on the vine, or should I pick them and bring them in the house, maybe in a paper bag with apples?  If there is no possibility of them ripening, do you know of any recipes that you know of that uses green tomatoes?  Thanks for any information you could offer.

Answer
Dear Matthew,
You have come to the right place.  First, if the nights are getting cold, it's time to pick the green tomatoes.  You can ripen many of them in the house in a window or keep them in a paper bag.  But there are many ways to enjoy green tomatoes, as well.  As for eating tomatoes, green . . .  I slice them, dip them in batter, and fry them.  Quite a delicacy!  And they can be sliced and pickled in either dill or with jalapenos.  There are wonderful green tomato relishes that can be either sweet or hot.  Don't let those green tomatoes die on the vine.  They offer a special flavor that only comes once a year!
Enjoy, enjoy!
Kind Regards,
Kindred
www.eingedi.us