Heirloom tomatoes are a hot topic again as more people seeks the purity of traditional breeds against artificial hybrids, and seek also the authentic flavor.

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES, heritage tomatoes and hybrids

Now is the perfect time of year to start thinking and planning your spring garden. With snow still on the ground and temperatures dipping, there is hardly a better way to spend and evening then looking through seed catalogs, and dreaming of summer’s bounty.
     
One thing that every garden should include is the tomato. Oh but I don’t like tomatoes! Of course you don’t, in fact neither do I, at least in their rawest form. What I do like are the things that can be made from them, everything from ketchup, spaghetti sauce, to a bloody Mary.
     
With the abundance of tomato varieties out there, it can be hard to decide what is best for you. In general you might want to stay away from anything labeled as a new hybrid, or if your area has a law, anything labeled as GMO. Some of the new hybrids and all of the GMO have been genetically modified to suit consumer’s needs. The problem with this is that when one starts messing around with DNA sequences you can never be sure what type of monster one will create. With tomatoes you have a poison concern; they are a relative of the deadly nightshade. The poisons are in the leaves, not the fruits, but the concern is still there. Tomatoes have been naturally bred, using open pollination, for hundreds of years. F1 hybrids are safe for us, but not necessarily safe for the heritage tomatoes.
     
The majority of plants and seeds that can be purchased are F1 hybrids --meaning the first filial generation made by crossing two different parent varieties, the offspring of which produce a new, uniform seed variety with specific characteristics from both parents. Even your heritage and heirloom seeds were once hybrids. The difference is that a heritage tomato has bred true for many years, and will continue to breed pure if you decided to seed save and replant the following year.
The only problem that could arise to cause your heritage tomato to not breed true, is if one of your neighbors is growing a hybrid, and open pollination occurs. However tomato plants are self pollinating and rarely outcross naturally. Because early cultivars didn’t change much, the plants were kept in a local area for a long time, these tomato plants are known today as heritage or heirloom tomatoes. To be considered a heirloom the variety must have been grown for at least 50 years, must be stable and able to reproduce itself -staying true to it’s breed every year and it must be open pollinated in nature, and has a known history regarding the area of origin, the people that used it or it’s outstanding qualities.

Heirloom tomatoes date back hundreds of years. They are making a comeback in popularity due to their wonderful complexity and variety of flavors, from rich and sweet to tart and refreshing. Their textures range from being very, dribble down your chin, juicy to being firm and meaty. Their colors –spreading across the rainbow- predict their flavors. Orange and yellow tomatoes taste sweet as they are low in acid, the dark red and black tomatoes play a balancing act between being sweet and acidic, and because of their high acid content, and green and white tomatoes will be tart. And their many shapes make them esthetically pleasing.

Yet the same qualities we praise on the heirloom plant are found in the hybrid. One of the biggest differences is that the American hybrids are far blander than their heirloom counterparts, but there are some European varieties that are just as flavorful. Hybrids are bred with thicker skins, so that they are not damaged while being shipped half way across the country. You can knock one onto the ground, and it will bounce and roll away, while an heirloom that has been vine ripened would simple make a large mess. The typical hybrid bought at your local grocer is plucked from their vines while still green and can be treated with ethylene gas to ripen them. Hybrids also are bred to keep a uniform size and shape -which also aids with packing, transport, and how long they can sit on a shelf before going bad. None of these things can happen with an heirloom tomato.
     
We can not talk about the heritage tomato without bringing up the issues I have already covered, as they have an impact on your garden, and your choices as a food consumer. You will be hard pressed to find a heritage tomato in your local grocery. Try the farmers markets to find them if you chose not to grow your own. And if you have never tasted an heirloom tomato, you are in for a surprising treat.
     
This is not a gardening magazine, but to understand and make decisions on what you eat and what is truly considered a natural food, you need to understand the process of our foods. Our edibles have undergone years of hybridizing. Believe it or not, most of the plants we eat today produce poisons to kill us. They do not want to be eaten, they want to survive and populate. This is why, in an article about heritage tomatoes, I am discussing hybrids as well.

If you do choose to plant and grow heritage tomatoes, there are many resources out there to aid in your search; Places like seedsavers.org and Council for Responsible Genetics are great places to start.

Quick Ketchup

3 tsp corn starch
2 cups tomato juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
a little onion and garlic salt
a pinch of red peppers

Place the cornstarch in a pan over medium heat and make a paste by gradually adding the tomato juice. mix in the remaining ingredients. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Spaghetti sauce

This recipe calls for the use of a bouquet garni. A bunch of herbs (the classic trio being parsley, thyme and bay leaf) that are either tied together or placed in a cheesecloth bag {Sometimes is refered to as a sachet} and used to flavor soups, stews and broths. Tying or bagging the herbs allows for their easy removal before the dish is served.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 Onion (chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper (chopped)
1 Green Bell Pepper (chopped)
3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
12 Roma tomatoes (chopped)
2 small cans Tomato Paste
3 small cans Tomato Sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bouquet garni {ingredients below}
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried parsley

1. Place in a large soup pot, over a low heat, olive oil, bell peppers, onion and minced garlic.
2. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add chopped tomato and cook 5 more minutes, stirring continuously.
4. Stir in the tomato paste and tomato sauce.
5. Fill the empty cans with water and add to pot.
6. Place in the bouquet garni, mix in the salt and pepper.
7. Cook over a low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Stir often to keep sauce from sticking to bottom of pan. Add water if needed
8. Remove the bouquet garni and serve over noodles.

Servings: 6

Bloody Mary

1/4 cup vodka
1 cup tomato Juice
1/4 cup lemon Juice
black pepper & Salt
2-3 drops Worcestershire sauce
2 drops tabasco sauce

Garnish: 1 lemon wedge, celery

Place all the ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake well and strain into a highball glass over crushed ice. Garnish before serving.