Whatever your culinary convictions, we all love a fresh-grown tomato.
It’s the essence of summer. Luscious and heavy, warm from the sun, there’s nothing quite like a freshly picked tomato. Sliced, salted with a dash of olive oil on bread slathered with mayonnaise and you are tasting Heaven.
Tomatoes, or pommes d’amour, often hailed as aphrodisiacs, are cultivated throughout the world. The luscious red staple is a fruit – not a vegetable – and belongs to the same family as the poisonous nightshade family. For a long time in the US, they were thought to be poisonous and inedible until somebody ate one and didn’t die!
Some tomatoes may fare better in different locations and some tomatoes have different tastes, Some may look like small little cherries and some are nice, hefty big boys called beef tomatoes.
South America is considered the home of the tomato where the fruit has been cultivated since prehistoric times. The tomato moved from South America to Mexico more than 3,000 years ago by migrating settlers to the area and then introduced to European society in the 16th Century.
The name pomme d’amour dates back to Europe around 1550 when the tomato was first grown in Italy. Gaining inspiration from the Italian name, pomodoro, the French derived the name pomme d’amour, meaning “love apple” in English, because of its aphrodisiac powers. Napoleon’s chef introduced the tomato into French cuisine when he invented Chicken Marengo.
After centuries of cultivation and hybridization, today, there are thousands and thousands of varieties of tomatoes. Some of these are novelty tomatoes that have snappy names or unusual form or color. Over the past few years, heirloom tomatoes have become immensely popular and offer exceptional flavor and unique qualities. These are widely available in Florida. Seed catalogs commonly list many varieties of tomatoes each year.
How to Choose, Use
Judge a tomato by its aroma, not looks. If it has an earthy fragrance it has flavor. Choose plump tomatoes with unblemished skin; avoid those that have deep cracks in the skin,
When good, fresh tomatoes are not available, buy the canned varieties – especially Italian plum tomatoes or sun-dried tomatoes for sauces, salads, soups and stews. San Marzano or Mutti canned plum tomatoes are considered superior. Look for low salt products and save on hundreds of milligrams of sodium.
In the kitchen, use fully ripe tomatoes quickly. Tomatoes ripen at room temperature and not in the fridge. You can hasten ripening by putting them in a paper bag with a banana or an apple that give off ethylene gas known to speed up ripening. If you absolutely must refrigerate tomatoes, bring them back to room temperature before eating. It restores their flavor and taste.
While you normally buy fruit that’s soft, you can also buy them on the firmer, green side if you don’t plan to use them right away; let them ripen throughout the week on your kitchen windowsill.
Please don’t store tomatoes in the refrigerator. The fridge causes the tomatoes to dry out, leaving them tasteless. In the kitchen is best; on a flat surface and stem-side down. Stem-side down is because the area where the stem was attached is very sensitive. This is where moisture and bacteria can enter the fruit, causing it to rot.
Growing Your Own
Many home gardeners are rediscovering the flavor of old-fashioned tomatoes — the varieties that have been developed in backyards and farm lots around the world to meet a particular climate or taste. Some have been passed down generation to generation and cherished with each season. Most devoted gardeners grow their own from seeds they’ve collected and dried from the previous year’s crop of fresh tomatoes ready to sow for next season.
Many keen tomato growers know there’s nothing quite like carrying that first summer tomato into the kitchen. There’s that mixture of pride, achievement and mouth-watering anticipation as you slice it neatly, sprinkle it with freshly chopped basil and arrange it artfully on a plate.
Healthy For You Too
Tomatoes are one of the most nutritious fruits you can eat. But did you know that while enjoying your favorite tomato products in soup, pasta sauce, vegetable juice, you’re also tapping into a group of antioxidants naturally found in tomatoes. One study by the American Cancer Institute indicated that individuals who consumed high levels of tomato products had higher blood levels of lycoprene. Lycoprene gives tomatoes their beautiful red color and a diet rich in tomato products has been proven to reduce the risk of certain cancers like lung,prostate and stomach cancers.
Tomatoes are also rich in potassium, folate and vitamins A, C and E, which is good for heart health.
Tomatoes are one of those great human common denominators – from downtown roof gardens, backyards and farms, they are the epitome of summer all wrapped up in a thin bright-red skin.
Sue Quigley writes regularly for the Hernando Sun. She can be reached at 727.27.6308 or at
[email protected].
RECIPES
LIGHT AND EASY TOMATO SOUP
3 pounds fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
8 fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Garnish with fresh parsley or dill
Place tomatoes, basil, garlic in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes or until tomatoes are liquefied.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Purée.
Add salt, pepper and brown sugar.
Reheat and serve with crusty bread.
SICILIAN STUFFED TOMATOES
4 large tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
4 anchovies, chopped
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tbsp dry white wine
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut the tops from the tomatoes and scoop out the centers. Chop the centers and drain.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsps of olive oil, add the onion and brown lightly. Add the tomato pulp, anchovies, capers, parsley, two tbsps of breadcrumbs, the wine, salt and pepper and mix.
Fill the tomatoes with the stuffing. Mix the rest of the breadcrumbs with the remaining olive oil and spread on tops. Pop the tomato tops on.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.
Tip
To skin a tomato; drop it in boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds. Remove and let cool; slip off the skin with the tip of a spoon.
LOCAL PRODUCE FARMS
Beasley Farms
10137 Preston Road, Brooksville,
(352) 232-0294
Fraziers
20175 Manecke Rd, Brooksville,
(352) 796-0823
JG Ranch
17200 Wiscon Road, Brooksville
(352) 799-0556
Lake Lindsey Farm Produce
26199 Lake Lindsey Rd, Brooksville
Brooksville, FL
(352) 231-8338
