Tip of the Week! ((A how to for saving heirloom tomato seeds))

My tomato plants are beginning to produce a steady supply of tasty heirloom beauties – and they are delicious!

The orange one is called ‘Old Germany’ and is mostly flesh with very few seeds. The little black cherry tomatoes are very tasty and sweet and perfectly ‘tomato-y’ ((I don’t think it’s an heirloom but I love it still and just maybe I will love the product that comes from this seed too!!))

 I have been eating them as quickly as they are ripening — actually, I have picked several too early! 

I even bought some green heirloom tomatoes ((on purpose)) and used them to make Smoked Salmon & Green Tomatoes in a Brown Butter Cream Sauce ((over Campanelle)). The green heirlooms remained crisp and tart but also provided a hint of sweetness to the sauce. YUM!!

I seeded the tomatoes and set the seeds aside as I worked o the rest of the meal. Throwing heirloom tomato seeds away is such a waste. The seeds are hard to find & can be expensive. Whether you are cooking with them, or eating them raw – you have an infinite supply of future heirloom tomatoes for your garden inside each tomato. 

I decided lay the seeds out on parchment paper so they could dry.

 Tips for saving heirloom seeds ((if you want to get nerdy about it, here are some good hows & whys))

• Keep tomato seed varieties separate during the cleaning process
• Place seeds on labeled sheets of parchment (I simply jot down the name and date)
• Wick away any extra moisture

• Allow the seeds to completely dry in a spot away from high traffic and direct sunlight
• Once the seeds have dried for a week or so, place them in a labeled baggie and freeze until it is time to sow them according to the requirements of your specific region.
• When sowing time comes, you will need to soak the seeds (about 4 days) in order to remove the protective seed coat.
• While soaking the seeds, cover the jar with a paper towel & hold the paper towel in place with a rubber band.
• Any floating will need to be discarded.
• Carefully rinse the ‘sinkers’
• Allow seeds to dry in a indoor spot away from sunlight.
• Once you do that, they will be ready to stick in the soil.

*you can immediately soak the seeds- but I didn’t have time to set up that system while cooking dinner. So, I did my seed preservation backwards, haha!

The next time you are eating an heirloom, take an extra minute and save the seeds. Twelve months from now  you will be enjoying all the heirloom flavors you came to love so much — for free!!

Oh and when the time comes, I will walk you through what to do with all the seeds you saved!