The ideal storage temperature for tomatoes is about 50-55°F. If held at temperatures less than this for extended periods of time, tomatoes will suffer chill injury that affects the texture of the skin and flesh as well as robbing the tomato of its flavor. You may receive some tomatoes that are still a little on the green side. It’s best to ripen these on your kitchen counter at room temperature and eat them or preserve them as soon as they are ready. We do not recommend storing tomatoes in the refrigerator for more than a few days at most.
Tomatoes are actually a fruit, referred to by some as a vegetable-fruit. Technicalities aside, tomatoes are a very diverse crop and are represented by a wide range of sizes from less than 1 ounce to as much as several pounds per tomato! They are also diverse in colors ranging from white to red to green. They may be either a modern hybrid or a traditional heirloom. We have a carefully selected lineup of tomatoes we’ve found do best in our valley.
Red Slicers: This is one of the most common tomatoes, an old standby. The varieties we grow have a nice balance of sweetness and acidity. As far as texture goes, they are fleshy enough to hold up on a sandwich, yet still with enough moisture and acidity to create a pleasant eating experience. These tomatoes are kind of an all-purpose tomato that is excellent on sandwiches, in salads, used for salsa or cooked into a sauce.
Golden Slicers: Our golden varieties have been chosen specifically because they are good yielders, but also because they have a deep orange color, consistent sizing and a bit of sweetness. In general they have more flavor than many gold varieties which are known to be lower in acid. These are similar in use and texture to a red slicer tomato and add a beautiful contrast to a tomato plate.
Japanese Pink: The Japanese certainly know how to do tomatoes. This is another all-purpose tomato that has a nice balance of acidity and a discernible sweetness and is our top vote for “all-around” tomato. It’s a bit softer than a red or gold slicer, yet still able to hold up nicely on a sandwich. The reason the pink tomatoes are pink is because the skin is transparent allowing you to see the true color of the flesh. Peel a piece off and hold it up to the light…you can see for yourself!
Black Velvet: This has become our favorite black tomato in recent years. It’s classified as a “Heritage” variety which means it’s an improved heirloom. The fruit is rosy mahogany when ripe and will always have a slight greenness on the shoulders. It’s a very fleshy tomato and will never get really soft like many other tomatoes, hence the squeeze test is not a good way to check ripeness. You’ll know this tomato is ready to eat when the bottom starts to get a nice red blush that extends down the sides of the tomato. The flesh inside has a pretty pink blush with a nice smooth texture and a sweet, tangy flavor. It makes for a stunning display on a tomato platter or in salads.
Red Riviera: This is another improved heirloom variety that is a descendant of the Italian oxheart. It has somewhat of a pleated pear appearance with deep red skin and flesh when ripe. Its flavor is mild when raw, but the flavor really shines when cooked into sauces. It’s a very popular tomato in Italy and we’d have to agree it’s a keeper.
Red & Yellow Grape Tomatoes: This is a standard pop-in-your mouth tomato, but within this class there can be a lot of variation in flavor and texture.
Sunorange Tomatoes: Those who know the sungold tomato appreciate it as one of the sweetest, most flavorful tomatoes on the market. The downside of a sungold is its thin skin which makes it prone to splitting. We grow a variety very similar to sungold named sunorange, except that it has a thicker skin. I have to admit it tastes pretty darn good, although sungold still has a slight advantage on flavor.
Roma Tomatoes: Often described as a plum or paste tomato, romas are most often used for making sauce, salsa and preserving. The reason they are used for sauce and such is because they are a fleshier tomato so you get more bang for your buck and less water. This makes a nice sauce without spending more than a day in the kitchen.
Tomatoes are delicious eaten both raw and cooked. Variety can be a factor in deciding which tomatoes are better eaten raw versus those whose flavor and characteristics may be enhanced with cooking. Some varieties are more “fleshy,” meaning there is more flesh and less juice. These tomatoes are often better choices for cooking down to make sauce and soup as they result in a thicker finished product. If you’re serving tomatoes raw, aesthetics may come into play as well.
Tomatoes are also a popular selection to preserve for use year round and there are a variety of ways you can preserve them. You could do something such as tomato jam or make salsa and can it. Of course you can also can tomato juice, diced tomatoes or make tomato sauce and can or freeze that as well. I often don’t have a lot of time during tomato season for complicated preservation, so I tend to go the route of either freezing tomatoes whole or freezing tomato puree. If you want to freeze tomatoes whole, simply wash them and cut out the core. Pop them into a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. When you thaw them, they will collapse and be juicy, but that makes them perfect for using in soups, chili, sauces, etc. You can choose to either pull the skins off before you use them or I usually just blend them into the sauce. For my quick method frozen sauce, I just chop up any extra tomatoes I have, skins and all, and cook them down on the stovetop in a wide pan. Once they have cooked down, I cool them and puree them in the blender. Pour the puree into freezer bags and lay them flat to freeze into “pillows.” In the winter, when I have more time, I pull out the puree and turn it into spaghetti sauce, etc.
Cultural & Historical Background: Tomatoes may be considered a staple food in many American’s diets. From a culinary perspective, tomatoes are used all around the world. They are a New World (South America) crop thought to have been spread to Old World Europe by Spanish explorers. They have since made their way all around the world and are included in the cuisine of many cultures including Mediterranean, Spanish, Italian, French, South American, Central American, Asian and American cultures.
Growing Information: Especially in a wet year, we can see disease set in early which causes the vines to die before the fruit is fully ripe. Thus, we mostly plant more disease resistant hybrids and ‘heritage’ tomatoes which have some heirloom genetics in them, but also carry some modern hybrid characteristics which make them more attractive to our growing situation.
We use a stake-and-tie method for our tomatoes where we weave twine around the main stem and vines as the plants grow in order to keep the tomato plant upright and the fruit off the ground. It’s a pretty labor intensive system, but it helps the foliage dry out faster and makes it easier to pick the tomatoes and keep them clean.
Additional Fun Facts: I’m not sure anyone really knows how many varieties of tomatoes there are across the world, but I do know that one seed company, Tomato Growers, offers over 500 varieties in their catalog!
