 Tomato Guru Shares Tips for Picking the Best of
This Summer's Crop
(ARA) - Summer tomato season
is a celebrated but fleeting time of year. For several months
each year local produce stands pop up on roadsides and in parking
lots, an opportunity for many areas of the country to show off
their best locally grown in-season fruits and veggies. For the
majority of us, locally-grown tomato season falls during the
month of August.
According to tomato.org, more
than 1,000 varieties of tomatoes exist. Tomatoes are also the
world's most popular fruit. More than 60 million tons of tomatoes
are produced per year, 16 million tons more than the second most
popular fruit, the banana (apples come in third).
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Joe Procacci is a 60-year veteran
of the tomato industry, owner of Santa Sweets, Inc., one of the
country's largest growers of conventional and organic tomatoes,
and is a genuine guru on flavorful tomatoes of all varieties.
Procacci also authors a blog called "Tomato Talk,"
accessible at www.santasweets.blogspot.com.
Procacci started peddling tomatoes
during the Great Depression to help his family during trying
times. He remembers what winter tomatoes imported from Cuba tasted
like, and why they were superior to winter tomatoes in the United
States. Since then, he was the first to grow and distribute those
tasty little grape tomatoes coast to coast in the United States
and Canada. He shares tips with us today on selecting, storing
and preparing the perfect tomato this season, as well as into
the winter. |
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* If you're growing tomatoes in
your yard, generally speaking, you should pick them when fully
mature on the vine. However, a tomato picked at first sign of
color ("breaking" from green to red) and ripened at
room temperature should be just as tasty as one left to fully
mature on the vine.
* If you're selecting a tomato
from your local market, choose your tomato based on when you
plan to eat it. Having it for dinner that night? Pick the most
ripe, red tomato available with a texture somewhere between soft
and firm. If you plan to keep them around until later in the
week, pick one that still has some ripening up to do. You'll
still get the same great flavor by allowing it to ripen off the
vine (on a countertop) for a couple of days.
* Never refrigerate tomatoes,
especially those that have not fully ripened. Refrigeration causes
the tomato to lose flavor.
* Don't select your tomato based
on perfect size or shape. Some of the best tomatoes are creviced
or ridged (heirloom tomatoes, for example). The most important
features to consider are firmness and color when selecting at
the market. However, the best way to select tomatoes is by sampling
the flavor. If your seller offers slices to try before buying,
which many local farmers' markets do, perform your own taste
test.
Joe Procacci is not just a tomato
expert -- he's a flavor expert. At 80 years old, he continues
to travel the globe looking for unusual and tasty tomato varieties
to introduce to the United States. Recent journeys have taken
him to secret destinations in the Far East, seeking new and innovative
tomatoes and other produce.
His research staff developed
the UGLYRIPE, the first heirloom style "backyard" tomato
that can be grown in the United States year round and shipped
nationwide, so that -- for the first time ever -- tomato lovers
in most of the country will finally be able to eat delicious,
flavorful tomatoes in the middle of winter beginning this year.
So now that celebrated, but "fleeting"
summer tomato season won't be so fleeting anymore. Look for heirloom
style tomatoes at your local supermarket long after your local
outdoor markets and produce stands have closed for the summer,
and look forward to that tasty summer tomato goodness during
the dreariest winter days. |
