My only quibble:
Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator!! It will affect the flavor negatively.
Pick when at the breaker stage and leave them in ventilated container (I keep the ones from the store) or on the counter until red-ripe. Then, store them in a Green Bag to delay further ripening and leave them in a relatively cool dark spot at room temperature. They will still last a week, or more.
I pick them at the stage where they appear orange-red on the plant, but are really only about half-ripe and then follow the instructions above. They also do not do anything at temperatures below 55-56, so if the nights are cool and the fruit is not fully ripe, I wait until the temperature warms up to pick them. There is then more sugar that has been transported into the fruit.
About two weeks before frost, tip all growing stems. You can cut off the growing tip or pinch out the growing tip. Pinching is better than cutting if the weather is cool/wet, to avoid mold infection in the cut. This tipping will drive sugar transport into the fruit and then, if you must harvest before frost, there is enough sugar in the fruit for it to ripen while wrapped (to concentrate the ethylene).
I place each green tomato (you can put several of them together if they are small; leave cherry tomatoes in a natural bunch on the vine) in a small, thin paper lunch bag and the bags go into an insulated cooler. Check the tomatoes daily or every other day. When they begin to turn red, take the bag out and place on the counter, so you can monitor ripeness. Without pinching, tomatoes may not ripen at all when stored and may rot, first.
I read about people picking green tomatoes early for fried green tomatoes. I prefer to let those ripen and use large light green/yellowish tomatoes picked at the end of the growing season for green tomato recipes. These have more sugar in them then early green tomatoes and are more digestible. Also, the early green tomatoes have the advantage of being able to turn into wonderful, ripe ones.
Thanks for that great info!
Great advice!
Before the first frost, I go out and pull off all the green tomatoes. Fry them up, and eat until I am sick. Do that every year!!