Truly Tasteful Tomatoes
Spicy salad greens and red peppers from the farmers market provide a tasty bed for leftover chicken and Team Insalata Caprese featuring Stupice tomatoes
Of course the French called tomatoes pommes d’amour or “apples of love.” A genuinely superior tomato consumed at the peak of ripeness inspires heights of real emotion in pleasurable response to its complex and complementary flavors and textures. That was true in the 16th century when tomatoes were introduced to Europe from South America and it remains true today. Well-wrought tomatoes full of flavor always elicit enthusiastic compliments for the talented gardeners and chefs who produce and employ this luscious fruit that keeps such delicious company with vegetables.
Because we adore wonderful tomatoes, a terrible tomato bred for efficiency and ship-ability rather than flavor stands out against a tasty heirloom in even greater tasteless relief. An excellent tomato always shines on the plate, as in the heirloom tomato salad we recently enjoyed at Luna Red: incredibly flavorful green, red, and yellow tomatoes with burrata dressed lightly with a flavorful vinaigrette and strewn with purslane. Mmmm: love tomatoes.
Tomato Geek
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For the past couple of years, winemaker and tomato breeder Ken Volk has given us a quantity of tomato plants that have added an heirloom quality to our parking lot garden. He starts from seed dozens of flavorful varieties including his own tomato crosses. Ken’s inner scientist geeks out with his foodie facet every tomato season starting in January with seeds in greenhouse flats and ending with the close of harvest in October and November. Last year, Ken provided me with a tomato inventory of seedling stats and brief flavor profiles of 32 different varieties to accompany the plants we cultivated. A delicious tomato is serious business.
Some Like It Hot
Because we plant these healthy plants in 7 gallon black plastic containers and set the containers on the black asphalt facing south, they tend to mature quicker than plants challenged with cooler soil temperatures. Tomatoes (and peppers and basil) love the heat. With the passing of the summer solstice, the days have finally begun to warm up to a temperature conducive to fruit development and ripening. Last year’s persistent cool temps resulted in a rather disappointing tomato crop but this year we anticipate greater success in part because of the extra heat boost the container tomatoes draw from the heat-absorbing black surfaces. Our most productive plants at the moment live in containers: a Stupice from Ken and a Jelly Bean raised from seed for last year’s garden, still going strong more than a year later. One volunteer from the compost has emerged in the upper garden and now hosts several smaller green fruit. It will be interesting to discover the identity of our tomato volunteer.
We have a mix of plants in the ground and in containers as well as a combination of delicious but vulnerable heirlooms and more disease-resistant hybrids. Through research and trial & error, we’ve learned that our relatively cool Central Coast SLO evenings make it challenging for larger beefsteak tomato varieties to fully produce and mature fruit. Smaller-fruited varieties and cherry tomatoes work better with our particular microclimate.
In the Kitchen with Toms
Recent meals at home have featured homegrown Stupice tomatoes, local farmers market basil, and mozzarella drizzled with smooth, flavorful olive oil. Revel in dishes that contain flavorful tomatoes that taste as good as they look.
What’s the best tomato you’ve enjoyed lately?
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“Tomato Butt” by Garrison Keillor
In segment 5 of the August 6, 2005 show, Garrison Keillor tells the “Tomato Butt” story, starting around 3:00 minutes. Classic humor from A Prairie Home Companion.
