Heirloom seeds have made their way across the world, following emigrants and passing the tastes of homelands from generation to generation. By learning how to dry heirloom tomato seeds, you can continue this tradition of preserving seeds and replanting heirloom produce. It saves money and ensures you can keep growing your family's favorites season after season.

Here's a look at drying heirloom tomato seeds and other heirloom vegetable seeds, which are even simpler to collect and save for future gardens.

Choose Your Favorite Tomatoes

When it comes to heirloom gardening, an image of a tomato is usually the first thing that pops into people's minds. It's easy to fall in love with the luscious colors, intriguing patterns and varied shapes of heirloom tomatoes such as 'Brandywine Pink,' 'Cherokee Purple,' 'Black Krim,' 'Mr. Stripey,' 'Mortgage Lifter,' 'Big Rainbow' and 'Caspian Pink.' These are just a handful of the many choices.

Experiment with a few new varieties each year to find your favorite flavor and texture, from rich paste tomatoes and explosively juicy cherry tomatoes to melt-in-your-mouth slices of tender beefsteak tomatoes.

Pick the Healthiest Plants

Label your tomato varieties with plant markers so you remember which varieties you have. Save your seed packets, too, for future reference. When your tomato garden is thriving, decide which plants seem to be the sturdiest and most productive. Mark your best plants by tying ribbon or garden ties around the stalks. You also want to make sure the tomato plants you're targeting for seed-saving are indeed heirloom varieties. Heirloom tomato seeds grow back as the same plant. Seeds from hybrid plants, which are a mix of varieties, may revert to their original genetics and produce an unpredictable fruit or vegetable.

How to Dry Heirloom Tomato Seeds

1. Choose a completely ripened tomato from the vine. Seeds from underripe tomatoes aren't fully ready.
2. Squeeze the tomato pulp and seeds into a container, such as a glass jar.
3. Let the pulp ferment for three to five days to break down the gel-like protective casing around the seeds. You may see a thin layer of mold or bubbles in the jar, which means it's fermenting.
4. Gently fill the container with water and remove pulp and mold that floats to the top. If you see seeds are floating at the top, remove these, too, as they won't germinate.
5. Let the viable seeds sink to the bottom and gently decant the water without spilling the seeds. Gently refill the jar with fresh water and swirl it around the seeds to clean them.
6. As the seeds resettle to the bottom, carefully pour the water out again. Repeat as needed until the seeds look clean.
7. Pour the seeds over a screen or sieve to drain the water.
8. Let the seeds dry for about six days on a screen, mesh or something porous such as a paper coffee filter. Set the seeds in an area that has good air circulation and isn't chilly or damp.

Storing Heirloom Seeds

Once your heirloom tomato seeds feel completely dry — you shouldn't be able to dent the seeds with a fingernail — you can put them in labeled paper envelopes for the next growing season. Store envelopes in a sealed dark glass jar or other airtight container to keep out moisture, which will degrade or ruin seeds.

If you've kept your original seed packet with its instructions for planting depth, time to germinate and how long until harvest, keep this with your self-harvested seeds.

Keep seeds somewhere cool and dark over the winter. If you want to preserve them longer than that, you can store them in a freezer. As spring nears, you can start your heirloom seeds indoors with a seed starting tray to get a necessary head start on the summer tomato season.

Drying Other Heirloom Seeds

If you have other heirloom vegetable varieties and want to save seeds from them, it's even easier than saving heirloom tomato seeds. Seeds that are harvested from the wet insides of produce such as heirloom cucumbers, squash and melons, can be rinsed and dried.

The easiest heirloom seeds to save are beans and peas. Let the pods overripen and dry on the vine or bush. When the pod is brown and looks shriveled, open it and save the hard dented peas and hardened beans inside. They should be ready to plant when spring arrives again.

For tips and advice for starting the seeds you've saved for another delicious harvest season, check out Burpee's guide to seed starting.