Red, juicy, lusty… well actually not all of them are red as you can see… there’s the Green Zebra and the Lemon Box, and the Chocolate Cherokee. An old pink variety, meaty with few seeds, is called the Mortgage Lifter. Folklore says M.C. Byles who created this variety used it to literally pay off his mortgage during the great depression and save his house from foreclosure.
Not a vegetable, but a fruit. Forget the fig as a metaphor for passion… it’s the tomato. Chemically they’re truly aphrodisiacs. I think tomatoes are the sirens of the garden. Cooking a tomato sauce is the epitome of slow food. See what a friend does with a few heirlooms and a great pastry crust. Brandi in San Fransicco has a great foodie blog.
There’s a tomato called Kellogg’s Breakfast; you’ll have to guess why. These bright orange tomatoes from West Virginia are exactly the color of orange juice.
Thanks Kittitas Valley Greenhouse for letting me photograph all your great heirloom specimens at the Issaquah Farmer’s Market last weekend. Just so you know an heirloom tomato is an heirloom plant, an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) cultivar of tomato.
Please tell me what you would do with these if you were going to feed someone.
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September 21, 2009 at 9:30 am
Stephen
I made a galette by Brandi at, http://lookimadethat.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/tomatogalette/#comment-179, this weekend… well it turned out perfect and this pastry recipe is fabulous. We added some black zebras and heirloom greens to the mix… what a look! Brandi did you intend to leave off the ingredient list for the pastry? We guessed and referenced other recipes. We came up with 2 and half cups of flour, 1/2 cup cold water and 2 sticks butter. It yelded 2 disks. We broiled the top just for a few minutes to steam off some of the excess juice and crisp the dough. Thank you.
August 14, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Stephen
Hey Hans, they make tomato ice cream right here in Seattle and they talk about it in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/magazine/24food-recipes-2.html. I haven’t tasted it yet myself, but I have had very special dinners at the restaurant at Tilth (mentioned in the article). The New York Times has been very favorable to it in a couple of articles. When in town come by. It’s a very sketchy rumor but folklore says that Ben Franklin loved tomato ice cream. Thank for finding our site.
August 13, 2009 at 4:30 pm
supperclubstories
Every time some new sassy little gelato shop sprouts up around here, I go in secretly hoping to spot an heirloom tomato flavor. I’ve seen balsamic strawberry, as well as salted caramel. The next evolution in posh organic ice cream flavoring, I am convinced, is tomato. It’s naturally sweet, has a little tangy edge, and I imagine would have a fascinating color.