snowball wrote:Anne are those tomatoes .... just hate it when the term is gone just almost there but not quite... a type that was common years ago but now people want more perfection hardiness ect sorta taken the taste out of the tomatoes... I might be back to edit it later when the term comes to mind I came up with the wordHeirloom are they Heirloom tomatoes the misshapen ones?
Sheila, yes the large tomatoes in the photo are called Cherokee Purple, and yes they are an Heirloom variety. I wouldn't say they are misshapen, because this might imply that there is something wrong with them. There is nothing wrong with them, they are of a normal (although unusual compared to other tomato varieties) shape for this kind of tomato.
Each tomato on the vine (at least those that I am growing here) is shaped a bit differently one from the other; some are quite large and convoluted (I had one that was nearly 1 1/2 pounds for that one tomato), others are smaller and have less nooks and crannies.
When ripe, they are not red, but a deep reddish purple (both the skin and the flesh). Also, the skin of this tomato when it is ripe is very delicate. Even with care it is difficult not to bruise them or accidentally tear the skin when picking them. The plants themselves are very hardy, and particularly heat tolerant in my climate.
They have an outstanding tomato taste, are fabulous in salads, salsa, soups and sandwiches (they are an excellent slicing tomato) - good just about anywhere one might want to have a particularly tasty tomato.
But, although the plants themselves are hardy and very heat tolerant, neither the fruit size nor fruit shape is uniform. Add to that the delicate skin of the tomatoes of this variety, one will never see them in the store. Why? Because commercial tomatoes need to have a somewhat standard size and shape, and the constant jostling and bumping of shipping would likely turn them to mush long before they reached their destination - so they can't be shipped commercially.
I think what has taken the taste out of tomatoes that are commercially grown is that commercial tomatoes all need to be of a fairly standard size and shape, and be tough enough to withstand shipping. Commercial tomatoes have been genetically selected for a long time for these characteristics. So these days at the store we have a bin full of bright red tomatoes of much the same size and shape and weight - and not much tomato taste.
Since I am a tomato lover, these days it seems that the best way to guarantee a wonderfully tasting tomato is to grow it one's self. I don't enjoy canning, but tomatoes freeze well, so I mostly wash them, slice or quarter them (I don't blanch nor skin them, although I do remove the cores), and then freeze them (the small grape tomatoes in the photo I just wash and then freeze whole). Frozen tomatoes, once thawed, are excellent to use in sauces, salsa, soups and whatever. I especially like the wonderful home-grown tomato taste in home made salsa.
The way things are going (knock wood!), if I am lucky and we don't have too much heat, I hope to soon have enough tomatoes in my deep freeze to last until tomato harvest begins next year.
Yum!
Anne
OMG!
