Tomato Seed Saving

The whole point of seed saving is to preserve certain favored traits in a particular crop. If you have one gigantic juicy tomato wouldn't you want to produce tons of gigantic juicy tomatoes? The problem with veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers is that the seeds are within the fruit part that we eat. So when you sell a tomato you are basically selling the seeds along with it. This is why Mary Alice has mandated that we save ALL of the seeds of any tomato we plan to eat or cook with. As we all know, tomatoes have the gooey outer covering that is nearly impossible to remove. There are four ways to get rid of the tough outer coating of tomato seeds:

• Stratifying - freezing the seeds
• Scarifying - blending the seeds
• Chickens - digesting the seeds and pooping them out. Yum!
• Fermentation

The farm usually uses the fermentation method to remove the outer coating.

Tomato Seed Saving

1. Cut the tomato in wedges opening up each chamber (or carpel if you want to get technical).
2. Scrape the seeds into a plastic cup. Make sure to label the variety!!!
3. Cut out any bad parts and add it to the seeds. It is good to have some pulp in the mix because the sugars in the pulp aid in the fermentation.
4. Add a little water.
5. Cover the seeds with a labeled coffee filter for ventilation.
6. Let the seeds sit for 4-5 days until the mold starts to from. It is good to swirl the seeds around every once and a while.
7. Once the fermentation has happened, strain out the pulp.
8. Fill the cup with water. The non-viable seeds float and the viable ones sink.
9. Gently pour the out the water, along with the non-viable seeds. Pour the rest through the strainer.
10. Rest the strainer on a towel to absorb excess water.
11. Spread the seeds out to dry on a paper plate. Don't forget to label the plate also!

That's it! You don't have to buy tomato seeds again! The only problem is that it makes cooking with tomatoes much much longer....