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The Big Red
By Diana Rogers
For many years I have enjoyed canning fresh produce. It’s a bit like preserving summer and this year we had a really great season with our garden tomatoes. Yes, the ‘big red’ is a summertime favorite around our house. Tomatoes seem to bring a fresh, juicy taste to the table any way you use them, from soups and sauces to salads and sandwiches. I remember my mother and grandmother making many sauces with delicious, fresh tomatoes. Over the years I have put up around 30 quarts of tomatoes per season to be used over time in preparation for a winter’s soup base. I have found that roasting really brings out the flavor of the tomatoes for a fresh basil-tomato soup. It has a slightly chunky texture that shows that it’s fresh and homemade. I also like to boil down tons of fresh tomatoes for a delicious marinara pasta sauce. Another great way to use your garden harvest is to have a tasty relish made for burgers and hot dogs. The jars make an excellent gift for new neighbors and holiday giving. Just as all Farmer’s Market are places of beauty, so it is with the variety of tomatoes that grow in my vegetable garden. The Roma Tomatoes are plump and good for roasting whole with garlic, thyme and olive oil. I love them this way. Recently, I read that the Tomato is the second most important vegetable crop next to potato and that the top five leading fruit-producing countries are the United States, China, Turkey, Italy, and India. The two leading states in fresh market tomato production are Florida and California. A favorite over in Russia are Pickled Tomatoes, preserved whole, often with garlic and hot peppers. Just take 6-8 small vine-ripened tomatoes and combine bay leaves, fresh dill and to it, add the garlic, along with some pepperoncinis. Pour over the red wine vinegar, salt and sugar. Process or keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks. But then, others prefer chopping the tomato for a garnish topping on any Mexican style dish. I think Roma tomatoes are good for salsa making, adding a bunch of cilantro along with Serrano peppers, chopped very fine, Jalapeno peppers, or Pasilla peppers. Maybe you’ll brave some Habaneras, too. And for that authentic pizza, you might want to buy imported Italian pizza ingredients on line, including authentic San Marzano tomatoes from Campania Italy. The tomatoes are grown on and around Mount Vesuvius, where the soil is rich in minerals. This plum tomato has just the right meatiness and intensity of flavor. The Greeks and folks from Damascus prepare Tabbouleh that is a classic Middle Eastern parsley salad. Chopping tomatoes, along with scallions, parsley and mint leaves, adds a refreshing crunch to the bulgur. Around the corner of our house, with a Southern exposure, we planted a cute little “munchie” garden for our grandkids, with their help, of course! Such wonderful, colorful discoveries you’ll find in the children’s garden. There is a vine with miniature yellow pear tomatoes, along with a sprawling cherry tomato plant called Chadwick Cherry. Grape tomatoes are another fun kind to just pop into one’s mouth. Now, Tomatoes contain as much Vitamin C as many citrus fruits. Tomatoes also contain Vitamin A, Potassium and Iron. The substance responsible for the red coloration of tomatoes is known scientifically as lycopene. Lycopene is thought to be twice as effective as many other kinds of antioxidants, and it plays a big role in the prevention of such common cancers as prostate cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer.
Other Heirloom varieties that I like to grow are the Yellow Brandywine, Abraham Lincoln, Livingston’s Paragon and the Marmande. The grape tomatoes go well with shish kebobs, too. In fact, try using oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, with fresh basil leaves, plus mozzarella balls on a skewer for a tricolor salad on a stick. Perfect idea for serving large groups of folks! If you have good tomatoes but don’t feel like sautéing the garlic, chopped heirloom tomatoes and finely shredded basil with a little olive oil are good to go on bruschetta, sliced small from baguettes. My secret, without a doubt, is taking rich tomatoes (big, red, healthy ones) and cooking them very slowly. This method works well whether you peel the skins of fresh tomatoes or as easily as using tomatoes from a can. You don’t make the sauce for two people but rather for ten or twenty. There is nothing quite like a Greek salad with all of its tartness and earthy, refreshing taste. When it comes right down to it, gardens are about food, about the pleasures of cooking and eating tomatoes!
I have been gardening for 37 years. I enjoy eating from the abundance of the land and sharing good, healthy fruits and vegetables with family and friends.
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I remember having huge tomatoes when we lived on the farm. We would slice them so that they were like big juicy red pancakes and then eat them raw with a little sugar sprinkled on them.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
I can feel your love for "the tomato," thank you! :)
I loved this Intel and your pictures and yes off course I also love tomatoes, especially raw sprinkled with sea salt.
 | | noline Sep 13, 2011 03:07 |  appreciated |
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
I can feel your love for "the tomato"... thank you! :=)
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This intel was contributed by LadyD
LadyD
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