We are SO BLESSED to live in southern California where we have such an impressive array of vegetables and fruits available year round.  This week, I’m focusing on my fave FRUIT – the dee-lish, versatile TOMATO!

One thing I’ve noticed about tomatoes is that varieties perform and taste differently, depending on the garden where they are grown. I’ve grown many varieties, including:

* the large pink heirloom “Brandywine”. Unlike regular tomato plants, a brandywine cultivar plant has oval-shaped leaves with smooth edges. In case of regular tomato plants, the leaves have serrated edges. They are slow growing plants with the fruits taking up to three months for reaching maturity. The ripe fruits are pinkish red in color and large. Some of them can be around a pound in weight. The fleshy and juicy fruits are said to have a distinctive sweet taste and is preferred for fresh eating. These tomatoes are beefsteak-shaped and may have pronounced ribbing on them. These fruits have numerous compartments for seeds. Even the fully ripe tomatoes of this cultivar can have green shoulders.

* the smaller green/yellow striped “Green Zebra”.  The flesh is lime-emerald in color that has an invigorating lemon-lime flavor. A great green tomato for brightening up salads and other tomato dishes.  Try our Green Zebra Tomato Seeds for your tomato garden and enjoy a wonderful addition of color to your salads and sauces.

 

And of course, the “ole faithfuls” — * beefsteak    * cherry   * grape   * pear   * plum   *roma

The range of tomato colors, sizes, shapes and textures is truly impressive. Here’s a glossary of common tomato terms to help you interpret plant labels and decide which to eat for every occasion or to grow in your garden.

          

Slicing ~ Beefsteak tomatoes produce very large, often crenulated fruits. I tend to think of slicing tomatoes as those so large that a single slice covers an entire garden burger.

Plum ~ aka paste, Roma, processing.  These varieties are oval or cylindrical with meaty walls and not many seeds. These tomatoes are bred to be less “juicy” than other types of tomatoes to make them suited for cooking, canning, juicing or preparing in salsas and gazpachos.

Grape ~ these tomatoes are on the scale of cherry tomatoes but with firmer flesh, though not as firm and meaty as plum tomatoes. Grape tomatoes are slightly sweeter and a bit juicier than plums, too. These perfect “pop in your mouth” tomatoes are typically red but sometimes yellow.

Cherry ~ these tomatoes range from large marble size to small as a pea. The smallest cherry varieties are sometimes called “currant” tomatoes. While red cherry tomatoes dominate, one of the most popular is a yellow variety called “Sun Gold”. There are also black cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes tend to be large, indeterminate plants that need support, lest they form big, convoluted mounds on the ground.

Pear ~ teardrop tomatoes are small like grape tomatoes and more pear shaped than plum tomatoes. These are medium skinned, sweet tomatoes that often don’t make it from the garden to the kitchen! Yellow and red pear-shaped tomatoes are most common.

Plant Sizes and Forms

Indeterminate (climbing) tomatoes grow into very large, vining plants that often continue growing throughout the entire season. These plants need to be staked, trellised or caged for support. Pruning helps keep them from being too dense. Fruits ripen over a longer season, so you have an extended harvest.   

Determinate (bush) varieties are shorter in stature and not as vining as indeterminate tomatoes. They do not require pruning.  Some can be grown without support. Fruits ripen over a short time, making determinate varieties a good choice for canning, freezing or drying.

 

Heirlooms ~ varieties were introduced before 1940. Their fruits are identical in size, color and flavor from one year to the next.

Seasons for tomatoes are divided into categories in terms of the number of days between transplant and harvest. Very “early season” (extra early) ripen earliest, followed by Early Season, then Mid Season, then Late Season. To harvest tomatoes from the earliest through the latest part of the season, choose several varieties in each season category.

Colors of tomatoes range from red, to orange, yellow, green, black, chocolate, pink, striped and spotted. The difference in color is not just superficial. The nutritional profile of yellow tomatoes is slightly different from that of red tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes have lots of niacin and folate, less vitamin C, and less lycope than red tomatoes. Perhaps most importantly, yellow tomatoes are lower in acid than red tomatoes, and some companies have even developed almost acid-free yellow tomatoes. No matter what size, shape or color — there are THOUSANDS of ways to enjoy this dee-lish fruit!

 

Come join us for a monthly RAW FOOD WORKSHOP and dive into varieties full of color and flavor.  Hope to see you soon!