posted by Susan Sueiro
August is tomato time in these parts, and it goes by so quicky, I am willing to attempt an all-tomato diet for the next few weeks.
There is nothing better than a homegrown tomato, but alas, I'm no gardener. I'm the city girl rifling through the expensive and often disappointing stack of heirloom tomatoes at the grocery all summer long. Then it happens: you get your first perfect tomato, and suddently they are ALL unbelievable, and on sale! That is when all I want to eat is a massive plate of tomatoes, horizontally sliced, drizzled with olive oil and a crusty loaf of bread.
There are literally hundreds of heirloom varieties, only a dozen or so consistently available at our area groceries. Inexplicably to me, the displays are always a jumble of several varieties, with no information on which is which. I know a few of my favorites, but generally I apply a wine grape logic to selecting tomatoes.
As the dark, thick skinned grapes varieties produce wines with intense flavors, the "black" varieties of tomatoes tend to be the richest and sweetest, with a meaty texture. See below for a few of my favorites.
While I'm a huge pinot fan, I've never gone for the thinner skinned pink tomato varieties (Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Early Girl), they strike me as a little bland, and often have a mushy texture. Though I've had a few perfectly ripe ones that I've loved, so perhaps they, like pinot, are more delicate and hard to get right when they are ready.
Yellow and orange varieties are juicy and fresh, not as sweet or complex (Jubilee, Hillbilly and the small Ida Gold). Nice on occasion, great for adding color, but never the object of obsession. Like most chardonnay for me.
I LOVE green tomatoes, not the southern fried unripe kind, but true green varieties that are fresh and almost crisp in their sweetness. I love them all, but the green zebra (below) is far and away my favorite.
Here is my ideal 'flight' of three tomatoes:
The Cherokee Purple.
Black from Tula.
This was the first heirloom I ever obsessed over. I remember it by name thanks to my favorite song by The Buena Vista Social Club, it is memorable for its dark color, unique shape, and rich, sweet flavor. A little goopy, but in a good way, the gel around the seeds is usually quite viscous and tinged green. For relative comparison, I'd say the Tula is to the Cherokee as syrah is to cabernet sauvignon.
Green Zebra.
A drive around Sonoma offers many options for farmstand varieties right off the vine, always my favorite regardless of type. And in Sonoma, there is really only one good use for those bland, tasteless, commercial tomatoes: the tomatina. I'll leave that one for Jeff to explain.
