I say ‘Tomay t-O’…
…you say ‘Toma toe’
I never knew tomatoes had flavor until I tasted my first vine ripened tomato way back in my college days. After that experience, I only bought tomatoes in season and most summers after that grew my own.
Tomatoes, originally from the Andes, have been alternately revered and feared. In the same family as Belladonna, tomato leaves are indeed poisonous but its fruit, the tomato, is not. Later, tomatoes were thought to be an aphrodisiac and called ‘the Apple of Love.’ In Italy, tomatoes were much more accepted and known as pomodoro or golden apple referring to the first tomatoes which were probably yellow cherry size tomatoes.
At the turn of the century, it was thought that tomatoes caused cancer. Then it was later ‘discovered’ that by cooking for at least 3 hours the toxins could be inactivated. Curiously enough, scientist have learned that the long cooking activates the mighty antioxidant Lycopene which is so very abundant in tomatoes. Lycopene supports eye health, the cardiovascular system and some studies indicate may prevent many types of cancer.
After World War I, community farm groups interested in raising awareness of nutrition began programs for youth to start home gardens. Tomatoes became very popular because they were so easy to grow. In fact today, tomatoes are the most popular home garden vegetable and the 3rd most popular canned vegetable.
Tomatoes, did however, take another dark turn in the 50’s and 60’s when profit minded agri-businesses sponsored research to develop small hard thick skinned tomatoes to withstand mechanical harvesting and long distance travel. Flavor was sacrificed hence my childhood experience of pink cardboard flavored tomatoes.
In the past decade, heightened awareness of nutrition and the search for natural flavorful foods has brought about the resurgence of heirloom or pre agri-business varieties of all types of fruits and vegetables including tomatoes.
Heirloom tomatoes refer to tomato varieties that were grown in America’s past and have recently regained popularity. Many of the heirlooms were grown by only a few people, passing the seeds along to each generation or sharing with neighbors and friends.
A few examples include the ‘green grape’ cherry tomatoes, green and orange striped ‘green zebra’, yellow and red ‘marvel stripe’, large pale yellow ‘great white’, greenish red ‘cherokee’, large pinkish red ‘brandywine’, and giant red ‘mortgage lifter.’ Tomatoes also range in flavor with some as sweet as sugar to some tart with more acid and those with tropical, melon, herby and winey overtones.
I haven’t had much luck growing heirloom variety tomatoes in my garden – due to disease – so stick with the tried and true hybrid varieties – my two favorite being Early Girl and Celebrity.
Hybrids are crosses between two different tomatoes – usually one parent is a cherry tomato. These hybrids are breed to be resistant to the most common tomato disease. The letters that usually come after the name of the tomato – V, F, N & T – tell you which diseases that variety is resistant to.
I have a slight preference for the Celebrity – it’s denser than the Early Girl and this year the tomatoes are a bit more flavorful. Can you tell the difference between the two?
In general, hybrids have seeds that are essentially sterile – or if they do germinate and grow into a plant, the tomatoes will not be the same as the original. Many times, the resulting tomatoes will be a cherry tomato of some sort.
Heirlooms on the other hand do have seeds true to it’s parent. So you can save seeds from heirlooms for the next season but you can’t for hybrid tomatoes.
Next year, after our garden & soil rehab and following some great tips from Love Apple Farms for growing tomatoes, I may try my luck again and plant an heirloom or two.
After you harvest your bushels of tomatoes, remember that refrigeration will rob a tomato of its flavor so its best to store in a cool place outside of the refrigerator.
It’s still early in the season so we’re enjoying the tomatoes sliced with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle of torn basil leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Or sometimes when I’m in the garden I will grab one off the vine and enjoy it right there.
No related posts.
