Thursday, August 19, 2010

Tomato Season


I love tomatoes.  I have since I was a kid.  This time of year, when the tomatoes are coming in, I could just about live on them.   To eat a nice, juicy tomato with nothing but a salt shaker, and the kitchen sink to drip into - heaven.  Or tomato sandwiches - good crusty white bread, thick slices of tomato, and mayo......yum!      

I didn't grow the tomato in the photo above.  My office-mate gave me one.  It is called "German Pink," and is an heirloom type.   She grew it from plants she bought, but said her mother in Menefee Co has grown them for a long time. One website I found for organic seed (in Carmel, CA) described German Pinks like this:
    
Kentucky Family Heirloom. This was the only tomato grown by Lettie Cantrell of West Liberty since the ‘40s. Lettie died in November 2005, at 96 years. Her tomato won a “Best of Taste” award at our  Tomatofest in 2006 from over 100 entries. This produces big, regular-leaf, indeterminate plants with wispy vines that yield wonderful, large, 1-2 pound, slightly-flattened, pink tomatoes. Delicious tomato for eating fresh, cooking or canning. A great sandwich tomato." 

I agree - it was one luscious, meaty tomato, and I am trying to save some seed from it.   

My own tomatoes are a mixed bag this year.  The yellow pear salad tomato is still producing, the paste-type is just starting to get some ripened fruit, and of the 4 beefsteak types I have, 2 plants are enormous, healthy, but not setting much fruit.  1 sickly little plant had several large tomatoes on it that I picked (green) last night before it gives up the ghost altogether.   The 1 in a pot is finally getting some more blossoms after producing one nice, but lonely tomato. 

My whole garden has seen mixed success at best, but I will save that for the end of the season gardening round-up.

That's all for now from Wren Cottage.......

1 comment:

  1. I love tomatoes,too. I would like to make it to the farmers market, and get the 30 lbs of sauce tomatoes that it takes to make Barbara Kingsolver's tomatoe sauce from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. But I will be moving soon, and am trying to get ready for that,and haven't had time to do any canning. Maybe once I get settled I can do some. That tomato looks delish. I, too, like eating them accompanied by just some salt and pepper. I hope you continue to get some harvest from your garden. Take care, from a fellow Kentuckian.

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