Storing tomatoes in wood ash

https://wire.farmradio.fm/farmer-stories...T5jOK8Pc4A

Thought I'd put this here with a view to trying it next winter. I always keep wood ash for the garden/chooks but I'll sift some ready for this experiment.

That looks really interesting. I'm always looking for lower energy ways to preserve food, so as we have loads of wood ash, and the trees that we burn come from within the commune, this seems ideal.

'He explains: “I keep my tomatoes in the ash for a period of five to six months"'

Sounds like it may be worth an experiment.

He is keeping them in a warm climate compared to ours? I wonder how they would survive in a North East greenhouse surrounded by ash?
My woodburner is on continuously so i am always on the lookout for ash uses. My allotment has acid soil so I usually spread it there. You can make soap with it (Lye?) and I have noticed it makes my hands really soft if I spread it by hand.Very alkali from what I can gather so I use it instead of lime.(Wonders whether toms stored inlime would be just the same?) Of course for the garden, the additional potassium will be a benefit..

Googling temp in Burundi it appears to have average highs of 30 deg C and lows of 20 during October to December so a wee bit warmer than Durham so if experimenting I'd try indoors. 5-6 months sounds a bit crazy for the fruit not to decay but I'm no scientist and I've no reason to doubt him.

umm, I am sorry I found this youtube video which doesn't seem like it would work in our temps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fttb4UNzi5c

But I discovered that Okra can be preserved for a month in wood ash on this forum thread, and am intrigued with their hanging tomatoes

https://permies.com/t/60968/kitchen/Stor...ash-months

Just googled Piennolo tomato from the comments, going to see if I can get seeds for this from somewhere as they look potentially good to store 

   

umm, I am sorry I found this youtube video which doesn't seem like it would work in our temps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fttb4UNzi5c

But I  discovered that Okra can be preserved for a month in wood ash on this forum thread,  and am intrigued with their hanging tomatoes

https://permies.com/t/60968/kitchen/Stor...ash-months

One of the comments on the youtube video is
My great grandma did this, she wrapped them in newspaper, then put them in a box with cold wood ash, then in the root cellar. But she checked that all the time, and only did it with green ones. As they ripened she'd use them. And she never stored other stuff in the box with them.

Maybe????

Mamzie, you could try "de colgar" tomatoes - sold by RealSeeds and Moreveg https://moreveg.co.uk/Tomato-Decolgar

Googling temp in Burundi it appears to have average highs of 30 deg C and lows of 20 during October to December so a wee bit warmer than Durham so if experimenting I'd try indoors. 5-6 months sounds a bit crazy for the fruit not to decay but I'm no scientist and I've no reason to doubt him.

With temps like that it should be possible to grow toms all year round?