Heritage Tomatoes
A box of rare breed English tomatoes…
One thing I do enjoy is a decent tomato, preferably home grown and picked straight from the vine when they are still warm from the summer sun and full of natural sugar. I detest force grown Dutch ones, the sort which are a mix of green and pale red, it’s like eating a bullet (I used to catch bullets in my teeth during my days in the circus 
) and are as far removed from proper tomatoes as I can imagine.
Today I took delivery of a mixed box of heritage tomatoes, a fine sight on a summer’s day. The varieties change from week to week but today saw the wonderful oxheart, tigerella and lemon plum (both of which I grew last year) and the brown coloured kumato. I shall do something suitably seasonal with them, probably with some hake or Cornish scallops. One abiding memory I have of eating tomatoes is at my German grandfather’s house at breakfast. He would serve us a plate of freshly sliced ripe tomatoes with some beautiful ham and salami and a piece of rhye bread. I used to love that.
Anyway, here’s some tomatoes….
Miles
I must say when I grew my own tomatoes last year they were a revelation.
Such is the blandness of shop sold ones I never buy them.
I could not believe the difference in my own
The above look fantastic, no doubt better than the supermarket ones, let us know if they taste as good as the ones you’ve grown
Rod
May 9, 2008 @ 7:30 am
Rod,
They do look good don’t they? You are right about growing your own, there really is no comparison, especially if they have benefited from a good long summer.
When you look at those oxheart and tigerella with the amazing stripes it makes you wonder why supermarkets don’t sell these instead of those boring, tasteless cherry and salad varieties.
Miles
May 9, 2008 @ 7:36 am
Miles
presumably you’ll have to come up with dishes that will allow to you show off the wonderful shapes of the oxheart and tigerella tomatoes ?
It would seem a shame to fine chop them
Rod
May 9, 2008 @ 8:09 am
Miles,
…. ah yes I remember well our days in the circus… tasselled leotards and fast flying knives and bullet tomatoes…. it’s just not the same without you
Cid
May 9, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Rod,
That is the challenge, I agree. Whatever I do I know they will taste much better than the above mentioned alternative.
Miles
May 9, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
Miles
no doubt you’ll bring us pictorial evidence of the results when you come up with the ultimate recipe for oxheart and tigerella tomatoes.
Looking forward to it
Rod
May 9, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Miles,
Oxheart, tigerella, lemon plum tomatoes and brown coloured komato look superb. What a shame that we cannot buy them at our local supermarket. The last time I really enjoyed eating a variety of tomatoes was in Italy.
I had some off a vine today from the supermarket and it was absolutely tasteless.
I heard today that Gordon Ramsey has called for it to be made illegal for restaurants to use vegetables that are out of season. This is to support the local economy and should fire the imagination of chefs! That said, a chef came on the radio and responded that whilst it was always good to support home grown produce, restaurants would not be able to function exclusively on this.
Elsie
May 9, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
Elsie,
Thanks for that, you’ve just pre-empted the post I’d already written for tomorrow
Miles
May 9, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
Miles,
Sorry, I guess that great minds think alike
Elsie
May 10, 2008 @ 7:27 am