They're hard to handle because they're so small and slippery.

So I've been doing a little research and testing to try to figure out a better way of doing it.

Let me show you what I've learned.

When a tomato ripens naturally in the wild, the seeds inside it are coated with a gel that prevents them from germinating until they reach soil.

As the fruit slowly rots, the inside of it undergoes fermentation, which removes the gel so that it's gone about the time the seeds are dispersed into the environment.

But if I go and pick a ripe tomato and take the seeds out of it immediately, they're still going to be coated with the gel.

The thing about this gel is that bacteria and fungi can live in it, even after it's dried.

So there's a chance that it could transmit diseases from season to season.

One way people get around this is by fermenting the seeds indoors in a controlled environment.

With the larger tomatoes, I've just been slicing the top off of them, then using a small spoon to carve the seeds out into a glass or jar full of water.

But in the case of cherry tomatoes, or something even smaller like these spoon tomatoes we grew this year, you can just pierce the fruit with an ice pick, then squeeze the insides into the water, discarding the skin.

Something to note here is that none of this is particularly difficult, but it can be a time consuming process.

What's helped me a lot is getting out of the mindset of trying to save every last seed.

In the time it takes me to pick up one of these little slimy seeds, I can easily extract 20 more from another fruit.

So I don't waste my time with the errand seeds.

Now at this point I've got a bunch of seeds and pulp in a jar of water, which I put in the laundry room and let sit for about 24 hours.

The next day I'll come in and decant the liquid.

Most of the tomato pulp will remain suspended in the water while the seeds sink to the bottom.

So as long as I don't shake the jar too much, I can slowly pour the pulp out until all that's really left is the seeds.

Then I can put fresh water back in and let it sit there some more.

I think most people probably don't change the water out like this after the first day.

They let it sit there for more like 3-5 days from what I've seen.

You can do that, but it gets super moldy, and while I've read this doesn't hurt the seeds, I'm still not really a fan of it.

By diluting the original tomato seeds and pulp so much with fresh water initially, the fermentation process does take quite a bit longer, but it's not like I'm sitting here watching it.

It can take as long as it needs to.

The only thing I'll say is that if you leave the seeds in water too long, they'll start sprouting.

So I recommend experimenting with some different timings to see what works for you.

It's easy to forget about the seeds, so sometimes I create a calendar notification to remind me that I need to check on them.

After about a week or so, when the water is clear and the gel is gone from the seeds, I'll decant the water one last time until there's just a tiny bit in the bottom with the seeds.

Then I'll dump that out onto a big ceramic plate.

Sometimes I need to splash a little more water in the bottom of the jar to rinse out a few seeds if they get stuck.

If I tilt the plate slowly while rotating it, I can dump the water off it while the seeds stay on it.

Again, if I lose a few seeds here, I'm not going after them.

The whole point of this method is that I never have to touch the seeds at all, and because it only requires small containers of water, I can have dozens or even hundreds of seeds fermenting all at the same time in a tiny space.

And since I'm changing the water out so frequently, there's little to no smell, which is important when you've got a bunch of these things going at once.

Anyway, I'll let the seeds dry on the plate for about a week.

Then I'll carefully scrape them loose and store them in one of these little coin envelopes I found online.

Although I think if they're fully dried, you can store them in jars or something too.

We store some of the larger seeds like watermelon and okra in jars with no problem.

So that's how we've been saving our tomato seeds through fermentation.

Of course, all this is subject to change as we continue to experiment and learn new information.

Thanks for watching, and until next time, good luck out there.