Tomatoes are one of our favorite and most used fruits here in Our Little Chateau. They are sweet and tangy and go with almost everything, they are also tasty on there own. We eat a lot of different type of tomatoes from big to small, and in many different colors. For this reason we like to collect the seeds and grown them ourselves because colorful tomatoes are hard to find. We also have a few favorite tomato plants that we like to grow year after year and saving good healthy seeds is important for insurin that we will have those plants for years to come.

Collecting Seeds

Cut tomato in half and scoop pulp out of the center of the tomato and discard the flesh. You don’t need to removed the slimy outer coating of the seeds, only the core and the flesh of the tomato needs to be removed. The fermentation process will remove the outer coating on the seeds without damaging them.

Fermentation

Add water to the pulp and stir them together. Leave pulp in the water for 5 days and stir them once everyday. The fermentation process will removed the seeds from the pulp and cure the seeds to prevent common tomato plant diseases, bacteria, and fungi.

Washing Seeds

Once the the water, pulp, and seeds have separated wash the seeds throughly. When they separate you will see the water on top, the pulp in the middle, and the seeds at the bottom.

Drying Seeds

Dry off the seeds making sure all of the pulp is removed to prevent molding. Lay seeds out on a tray lined with parchment paper and allow to dry away from sunlight for 2 to 3 weeks.

Storing Seeds

Store seeds in a cool dry place away from sunlight. Seeds should be viable for five years after being dried.