There is nothing quite like a Real Tomato...
a tomato as it was meant to be grown and eaten.
a tomato as it was meant to be grown and eaten.
What is a Real Tomato?
A ripe tomato should have a fragile skin that is under pressure to contain the juice and seeds within, splitting open easily and explosively. It should almost dissolve as you eat it, filling your mouth with intensely refreshing flavor. Unfortunately, there is the abundant fake tomato that can be purchased at the grocery store. These belong in a different category, with pale pink flesh that’s dry, mealy, and dense. Finding one of those in a salad and eating it is more disappointing than exciting.
We all know, the now accepted store version of a tomato has been bred to have tougher skin that won’t break as easily, to have a higher yield, and to be uniform in shape, size, and color. These tomatoes are picked while still green, less perishable, and easier to ship. The ripening process is then accelerated using ethylene gas, which turns the tomatoes red. Yuck!
Are Grocery Store Tomatoes Improving?
I will admit, grocery store tomatoes have a come a long way because of consumer demand for something more similar to a real tomato. Buyer beware. Now tomatoes are packaged ‘on the vine’. Perfect, identical, smooth, red, blemish free tomatoes in a plastic clam for $5.99. Not for me, too perfect! As I pick up the beautiful 1 lb. heirloom tomato, displayed at a ‘whole food’ store for $8.99/lb, I smell it. Then, I smell one of its neighbors. Nothing! It probably has some flavor, but I resist the investment, and put it down by the cucumbers. A decision was made.
Is a Tomato From Your Garden Better?
Eating tomatoes in season is when they taste best. After experiencing the rich taste and texture of a tomato ripened by the late-summer sun, I’m fine with deferring all other tomatoes for the rest of year and waiting, with anticipation, for these few brief months when my garden overflows with a glut of tomatoes. I can eat my fill over and over again. I can stand in the garden and eat warm sweet cherry tomatoes. I can pick a 2 lb heirloom tomato from the vine and cut big 1/2” slices for my mayonnaise sandwich. I can send bags of heirloom tomatoes to the senior center. I can sun-dry them, sauce them, dehydrate them, puree and freeze them... Oh, this reminds me of a Bubba Gump scene!
Flavorful Tomatoes You Might Consider Growing:
'Black Krim'
Flavor is fantastic with intense smoky sweetness and a slightly salty taste. Black Krim produces very attractive tomatoes that are 3-4" slightly flattened and red-mahogany with green shoulders. Very easy to grow. Seeds »
'Brandywine'
Superb old-fashioned very rich and tangy tomato flavor. The large 1 lb. tomatoes mature to a luscious shade of red-pink and grow on a gorgeous plant with beautiful potato leaves. A must have. Seeds »
‘Cherokee Purple’
Sweet, rich and smoky, luscious flavor makes this tomato a very popular fresh market variety. One of the best tasting heirloom tomatoes. Large 12 oz. tomatoes are a dusky rose-purple, with dark green shoulders. Reliable and easy to grow. Seeds »
'Stupice'
This is the absolute best tasting, sweet and luscious, super-early cold, or super early hot weather variety. A flavorful 2” to 3”, deep red round fruit, bigger than a golf ball. The plants are compact, with potato-leaf foliage, and produces quickly, heavily, reliably early and continuously throughout the season. A garden staple. Seeds »
