When are green tomatoes ripe?

I have some russian tomato seeds that a friends mom brought me from Russia a few years ago and I'm growing a couple of varities at at time. One of the type said it is green/black called Black Prince. Well they are green/pink now and I ate one and it tasted ripe to me, but do you think I should eat them earlier. I have never grown green tomatoes before so not sure when they are ready.

Here is a couple of pictures

The insides look like a watermelon

Kathy T.,
They look like Black From Tulles tomatoes. And they look ripe and right. :) We grew them this year. We couldn't sell them because people thought they were bad because of the color.....And yes BFTs are a Russian tomato. :) Hope this helps. Kathy P.

Thanks Kathy, I just roasted some and they turned red as they cooked. We are going to have them in sauce tonight for dinner. So far I like them a lot.

I have never grown green tomatoes before so not sure when they are ready.

Kathy,

Usually when one speaks of growing green tomatoes one is speaking about growing the green when rip[e varieteis such as Aunt Ruby's German Green, Green Grape, Evergreen and n and on. These are varieties that when rip[e usually have just a tint of amber over the green exterior and the inside is a beautiful neon green.

Black Prince is one of maybe 70 so called black varieteis. There's a fad on blacks right now and the number of varieties introduced to SSE in the last few years clearly indicates that not all are new varieties, rather renamed/recycled ones. Sigh.

But Black Prince was one of the early ones. It was introduced by Nichols Seed Co in the early 90's and is from Irkutsk, Siberia.

Almost all of the blacks look alike, of the beefsteak types, and there's little to distinguish them. I recently took part in a vigorous discussion where folks were tryng to distinguis between Black from Tula, Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. it's become abundantly clear that bad seed sav8ing practices have altered some of these varieties and wrong types are being circulated.

it's one of the reason I never ever trade seeds. That's not to say that a commercial source is always right either, but there's less of a chance of getting a wrong variety from those places with good reputations than there is thru a seed trade. Just my opionion.

I like to separate them in to the black/pinks like Cherokee Purple and Black from Tula, versus the black/reds such as Black Krim and Black Prince. Almost all black varieteis have typical green shoulders when ripe and the final color of so called black is highly dependent on where they are grown. They color up best in the US South, for most folks.

The interior of almost all of them is characterized by having that raw liver look, LOL, and green gel capsules around the seeds.

So enjoy!

Carolyn