Collecting Seeds from Tomatoes

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about saving tomatoes. Now, tomato is a crop that lots of people love, and although these aren't Heirloom tomatoes, she's going to demonstrate how to collect the seed from several tomatoes, harvesting the seed with the gel. She's going to scoop the seeds, why don't you get a couple more in there, and then we're going to add enough water to make a little slurry down there. And, we're going to allow this slurry to sit on a warm windowsill until a thick scum forms on the top, and the seeds, the slurry actually ferments away the gel, which encase the seed. And at that point, maybe 10 days, maybe 12 days, when it's all fermented and covered with mold, we'll pour these through a kitchen sive, and rinse them out, rinse away the gel, until the seeds are completely clean. And then, we're just going to slop them out on a piece of paper, or dish, and leave them in an airy place for approximately two weeks, until they are completely bone dry. If we should store the seeds too soon, they will rot. So we have to make sure they're fully dry, and then, we can take these tomato seeds and wrap them, double-wrap them, put them in a jar, protect them from rodents and from rot, and either store them in the freezer, or some other cool dry place."