heirloom tomatos.

[redbricknick]

A few years ago, my sister was making wine at Stags Leap wine Cellars, and I went to visit her and her boyfriend, Vincent Natress, who at the time was the Chef at Robert Sinskey Winery. He took us to a Farmers market in Napa, and it was like going to a sneaker store with Michael Jordan. One particular farmer spent an hour with us, graciously letting us sample every tomato variety he grew. The flavors, colors and aromas were something I won't forget soon. Whyt aren't all tomatos like this? I asked, It seems that Joe consumer likes his /her tomatos all the same shape and color, and Heirloom varieties often come out looking like they were grown on Three Mile Island. I bought a bunch of seeds from him, and took them to my Mum in Tasmania, where she has been growing them ever since. I put in some regular old romas a couple of weeks ago, but I'm going to do a little online sluething to see what interesting seeds I can dig up. As my Mum always says " Life begins the day you start a garden".

[Marcel]

(M) I tried the Campari tomatoes at Costco in Oregon. They're grown in B.C. and I find them to be the most flavorful I've ever had. The seeds are not to be found outside the tomato but I 've had a gardener friend prepare the seeds and plant them. She says that the plants are growing.

(M) They are small tomatoes but regular in shape. I believe those I got at Costco are Hydroponic. They're not cheap! But if you can grow your own I think they may be a real option for a serious "foodie".

Ciao,

Marcel

[redbricknick]

Call me crazy, but I reckon after all the pizzas and roasts, and whatnot, a pizza oven could be used for drying tomatos. Someone give it a bash. Right when it's time to go to sleep, when the old oven is cooling, bang in a tray of oil soaked tomatos. In the morning, along with your hangover, you may just have some palatable dried toms to jar up for winter.

[james]

Nice idea. We'll give that a shot when we have too many tomatoes this summer.

My guess is that you should dry them without the oil, then preserve them in olive oil after they are dried.

James

[redbricknick]

Checked out a few dried tomato recipes.. Most call for the tomatoes to be marinated for in oil, salt, pepper,herbs and balsamic to be added before drying on low heat for hours and hours. Give it a look, there's a lot of recipes out there.