If you grow food in your garden, the end of Summer, or harvest season, is pretty much an emergency situation if you are not prepared. If you haven’t figured out how to can, dry, freeze or otherwise preserve your produce, you better have a lot of friends and neighbors to give away your harvest. Having just bought a new place early this summer, owned previously by a prolific gardener, I was so excited to have fresh peaches, snap peas, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, cucumbers and cantaloupes. I was grateful for the bounty, but as the pounds of produce grew into the hundreds, I quickly became overwhelmed and panicked. If I didn’t do something, most of it was going to waste, and I haven’t learned to can yet. I managed to blanche and freeze peach slices for smoothies throughout the winter, but I definitely need to upskill on food preservation before next harvest season. Another skill I haven’t thought much about, but is actually essential for off-grid living – is seed preservation.
Around the time of my harvest emergency, I was heading back up to Montana for another wilderness adventure with my ancestral skills teacher, Callie Russell, and some of the Wild Women from our inaugural class in 2022. I bought several wooden crates, loaded them with produce, and drove to camp where thankfully, everything was eaten. Among the bounty from my garden was a bag of golden cherry tomatoes that tasted like candy – they were a crowd pleaser to say the least. My husband made the best salsa of all time with these little gems, and I realized a few weeks ago that if I didn’t figure out how to save their seeds, I would never have that salsa again. Figure it out I did, and it’s oh so easy!
Preserving Tomato Seeds in 4 Easy Steps:
If you have a tomato plant you love, and want to save its seeds, it’s actually really simple.
Step 1
Start with a glass cup or small bell jar, and slice open your best-looking fruit. Scoop out the gelatinous goo containing the seeds into the bottom of the jar and eat or compost the remaining flesh and skin.
Step 2
When you have a decent amount of seed goo, pour a little cool water into the jar (like ¾ of a cup – this is not an exact science), cover the jar, and set it somewhere out of the way. Within three days, you’ll notice the goo getting a little fizzy and a thin white layer of mold begin to form. Don’t worry – that fermenting funk is doing two great things for you – 1) it’s separating your seeds from the goo and 2) killing several potentially harmful blight-causing agents that can harm your plants next year.
Step 3
Once the layer of funk is established (usually by day three), you should have a lovely bunch of clean and healthy seeds sitting at the bottom of your jar. Gently strain the liquid off of the seeds and spread them out on a paper towel, allowing them to dry overnight. I was sure to write “DO NOT THROW AWAY!!” on the paper towel so my work did not end in my teenaged sons or husband throwing it out.
Step 4
Once the seeds are dry, gently nudge them off of the paper towel into an envelope, write what type of tomato plant it came from, and store in a cool dry place until the spring when it’s time to grow your starts. Since I don’t know what the real name of my prized cherry tomatoes, I simply noted “Insanely Sweet Cherry Tomatoes” on my envelope. They will become my own heirloom variety from here on out.
I have a lot more to learn about preserving other kinds of produce seeds, but I’m excited to know what to expect now from my tomato plant next year rather than buying a new seed pack or start from the store and wondering if the fruit will be any good. Saving seeds is a really easy way to save money and ensure quality in your harvest!
Until Next Time,
Rose
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