Heirloom Tomatoes

I read with interest an article in the New York Times about the return of the Jersey tomato. 

Rutgers University is the extension service site for New Jersey. In that role it works with both agricultural and home growers to develop and produce vegetables and other plants which flourish in New Jersey.

I did my residency in New Jersey so the state and the food holds many memories for me.

The challenge for Rutgers and commercial growers is vegetables which transport well to market, lose some of the taste during the hybridization process.

In the development of a hybrid the ability for a tomato to arrive in the grocery store in salable  condition, good color and roundness is key. Sometimes during the development of those qualities taste flies out the window.

As a result, Rutgers has been working to bring back some of the old heirloom tomatoes known for their taste, color and did I mention taste.

Every gardener knows the difference between a store bought tomato and a backyard garden tomato. Backyard tomatoes have the luxury of extra time on the vine developing the flavor, the lush taste that is so much a part of home gardening.

Homegrown tomatoes also don't need the thick skin enabling tomato crates to be tossed onto a loading dock without creating gatzpacho.

True heirlooms are rogue tomatoes with streaks on their skins, lumpy shapes at times and usually an unsurpassed taste.

But Rutgers has shown you can take the best of an heirloom like Ramapo and make it suitable for transport.

Oh yes and they say it still tastes great. Just shows adaptive gardening does work. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.

Why the great excitement over Jersey tomatoes? Most of us have tasted Jersey tomatoes and just not known it.

It's the basis for Campbell's tomato soup, of Heinz catsup and countless cans of tomato juice.

 Whether's it's rooted in a cold winter's day with a bowl of soup, pasta sauce or a hamburger with catsup at a picnic, for many of us the Jersey tomato is the basis of our tomato memories.. And that's m-mm m-mm good.

All in a gardener's day,

 Thanks to Andrzej Gdula for the use of the photo