Thisreport from Burundi may be useful :
“ Vital Nduwimana hated how many tomato he mislay every time of year . For years , his tomatoes start rot just three or four day after harvest time . He felt frustrated .
Mr. Nduwimana explains : “ I was not capable to sell all my tomatoes ; I fall behind almost one-half of my yield . Worse still , I would sell at a low price in the market . So in 2015 , I intend that perchance I should find a love apple conservation technique . ”
Mr. Nduwimana grows Lycopersicon esculentum in easterly Burundi , on Kabuyenge hill , five kilometre from the Tanzanian border .
In eastern Burundi , tomato are abundant during the harvest home months of August and September . But growers receive it unmanageable to keep tomatoes for former sale , which head to a large number of tomatoes moulder .
Mr. Nduwimana try several techniques to clear his problem . He tried storing his love apple in water , in clay , underground , in carton , and even in Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin . He tried everything that came to his head — but without winner .
Then one day , he noticed that the tomato he had go on next to his banana tree tree were not rotten . Then he noticed the ash at the foot of the banana tree tree .
He decided to strain hold his tomato in ash and found that this was more effective than any of the other techniques he had tried .
He uses ash from a chimney , and sift it three or four time to remove orotund residues , debris , and other foreign materials . Then , he dump the ash into a paper carton and places the tomatoes in the cartonful . With this technique , Mr. Nduwimana manages to safely store his tomatoes for many calendar month .
He explains : “ I keep my tomatoes in the ash for a period of five to six calendar month , so I can deal them in December , January , or February when the price has risen — since tomatoes are rarified and become expensive during this menstruation . “
Jean Nivyabandi is an agronomist . He enunciate using ash tree has no electronegative outcome on the love apple , which can be consumed safely . He explain , “ There is no risk of Lycopersicon esculentum perniciousness after storehouse in ash . ”
I would imagine you ’d need to clean the tomato plant a slight early in purchase order to keep them this mode , but it ’s hard to say . Worth taste .
maintain root and fruit in a tropical climate is always a challenge , but there is some history of using alkalinity to conserve food for thought . As one example , we are capture ready to use pickle lime tree to nixtamalize some of the Hickory King corn we shucked off the cob last night . Another instance is how we cake cut yam plant piece in ashes before engraft to conserve them from fungi and molder .
