Throughout mid summer & fall, colorful displays at farmers markets, natural grocers & specialty stores of tasty heirloom tomatoes fill the produce  counters. Heirloom mania is a revolutionary rebellion against the bogus tomatoes that  dominated the grocery store shelves for years. 

Last Year The Produce Pair did a live remote broadcast from the Heirloom Tomato Festival at the Kendall Jackson Winery in Santa Rosa. We saw and tasted well over a  hundred different varieties of tomatoes.

After the show, we "cruised" the festival booths and tasted several different dishes prepared with tomatoes. The tables were full of bright red, orange green & yellow tomatoes and imagine this: They all had flavor!

We tasted the Amish Salad tomato, the Aunt Lucy's Italian Paste tomato, The Big Beef, the Fuzzy Bomb, The Earle of Edgecomb, The Cosmonaut Volkov Red, & Hillbilly just to name a few, and I mean a few.

Each tomato has a story behind it's name. The 'Mortgage Lifter' for instance, so named because a radiator shop owner in the 40's sold so many of his prized tomato plants on the side that he was able to pay off his mortgage. Another variety called the 'Moneymaker' which traces back 300 years in England was the first tomato grown for market sale. 'Marianna's Peace' is named after a 17 year old Czechoslovakian girl who escaped a Russian round up of school children. She was shot in the leg as she jumped from their moving truck, but with the help of friends managed to escape into Bavaria. She eventually ended up in the state of Washington bringing with her tomato seeds that her father gave her before he died.

Several heirloom varieties came to us from behind the Iron Curtain. Other varieties have been handed down from generation to generation. Hence the name Heirloom.

Here in the US, over 80% of tomato varieties that existed before World War II are now extinct. After the war improved highways & improved transportation helped farming tremendously. With refrigerated trucks on the road growers could send their crops anywhere in the country. This led to the development of tomatoes that could withstand machine picking and green harvesting for longevity during transport. The problem is that although they were tough and could handle a long haul, they lacked one key ingredient. Flavor!

This is how we ended up with tomatoes that taste like sawdust in the stores. Nothing like big business to lower quality for the sake of profit. We're lucky to have the varieties that we have.

Consumers finally became fed up with tasteless tomatoes and for several years now many varieties have hit the stores claiming to be "the one" but never coming through with the promise.

But Heirloom Varieties have proven to be "the ones." They began their journey to the commercial market in the 80,s mainly through organic growers. With organizations like the Seed Savers clubs and the fall of the iron curtain we have so many varieties available to us today.

We should see heirlooms on the market right up until the first frost. Local crops finish up in October then we pull from Southern California until season's end.

If you live in the area I would urge you to attend the Kendall Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival In Santa Rosa. If you don't live in the area, Sonoma is a great get away. Stay at one of the many bed & breakfast inns and visit the festival one day and taste the wine the next day!

Selection Tips

Rule #1 Keep tomatoes out of the refrigerator! Your best bet is to purchase ripe ready to eat tomatoes and keep them stem up on the counter. If you must refrigerate them, make sure that they are fully ripe. Don't keep them in the refrigerator for more than a couple a day as they will deteriorate in flavor.

Yellow or white variety tomatoes are  very low in acid leaving room for a milder, sweeter flavor. 
High acid red varieties have a good bite to them and are great for slicing thick and making sandwiches. Green varieties can vary in flavor from sour to sweet. They surprise me every time I try a different variety. Most green heirloom varieties are ripe when they are green.

Heirlooms are always picked when ripe and do not hold up for weeks at a time like commercial   tomatoes. One thing to remember with heirlooms: buy 'em & eat 'em!  They break down fast.

Preparation

Peeling- Dropping tomatoes in boiling water for 45 seconds to a minute will make them mushy and dilute their flavor. Dropping them into ice water afterwards will further dilute their flavor.

Try securely placing the tomato on a fork. (preferably one with a a long wood handle) at the stem end. Hold it above a gas flame for 10 to no longer than 15 seconds. The fire intensifies the flavor. Let them cool before you peel them and the skin will come off just fine.

When cooking fresh tomatoes, cook them quickly. The longer you cook them the more the water will evaporate and the  sugars start  to release and then they are only good for sauce.

"Beefsteak Boogie"

• 2 Big Beefsteak or Heirloom Tomatoes sliced thick
• One sourdough round sliced in half. Brush it with olive oil and lightly toast it in the oven.
• Remove and top with shredded Mozzarella, or Monterey, or even a sharp cheddar or a mixture. It depends on what you are in the mood for.
• Place the tomato slices on top.
• Sprinkle with Greek oregano & cracked pepper.
• Then add some fresh finely chopped garlic or shallot.
• Place a few fresh basil leaves on top and lightly sprinkle some more cheese on top of that.

Put it in the oven on broil about 350 and let it melt. Check it in about 5-7 minutes and if it looks done take it out, otherwise let it cook a little longer. Chopped tomatoes works well as well. This can also be done with Portabella Mushrooms instead of the tomatoes. Or both. This is a great meal, my kids love it! Cut up into strips It makes great party snacks

High acid tomatoes which are lower in sugar have their place in this recipe. It can be done with sweet tomatoes as well but, the flavor changes appropriately.

Pizza Topping
Sliced and marinated tomatoes in Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil & thyme. Place them on top of a cheese pizza about 5 minutes before pulling it out of the oven.

Tomato Cheese Platter
Tomatoes with basil, sliced fresh mozzarella vinegar and olive oil. Add Armenian or Kirby cucumbers which have a very small and compact seed cavity which gives it the crisp of all crisp in the cucumber family.

Dipping Sauce
Cut 6 good sized Heirlooms. Mix yellow and red varieties for fun. Add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil. Slice thinly of you can, 4-5 cloves of garlic. Dice ½ of a torpedo onion. Dice one Jalapeno pepper (be careful here) and one green bell pepper. Add a sprinkle or two of dried basil, fine ground black pepper, and a small pinch of salt. Place all this in a clay pot or even a crock pot. Do not use aluminum. Put the oven on 350 or the crock pot on low. Let this mixture cook down until it has the consistency of a thick soup. ¼ more cup of extra virgin olive oil.
Using a hand blender, mix it well. Use a bread dipping sauce or a pasta topping.

On the grill
Saladettes, & cherry type heirlooms on a skewer in the oven or on the grill with other veggies like onions and peppers marinated tofu squares, fennel, and the list of imagination goes on…

Nutrition

Recent studies have shown that consuming tomatoes and tomato products help lower the risk of heart attack, prostate cancer & are believed to help lower the risk of other cancers in the colon, cervix, gastrointestinal tract, rectal and breast cancers.

It is all due to their red color or should I say the plant chemical or phytochemical Lycopene that gives them their red color. Lycopene is an antioxidant that is believed to help offset destructive substances in the body called "free radicals which may be a factor to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Although fresh red ripe tomatoes are loaded with Lycopene the greater benefit comes from cooked tomatoes such as tomato sauce, ketchup and canned tomatoes. It seems that, heat breaks down tomato cell walls, releasing lycopene that would pass through the digestive system. In fact there is four to five times more lycopene in cooked tomatoes than in the equivalent amount of fresh.

Keeping fat out of your cooked tomatoes such as butter or animal fat will help the body to absorb lycopene more fully. Olive oil is a great substitute for fat and they marry well together.

Other nutrients in tomatoes are vitamin C, minerals calcium & iron and vitamin A that is converted in the body from the lycopene and beta carotene.