Heirloom Tomatoes in 30 Seconds
By Amelia Tucker
An heirloom is an old fashioned breed or strain of tomato that is not scientifically altered and can be reproduced from seed.
They are full of flavor and style - meaning they can grow a wonderfully unsymmetrical, often wacky shape.
These tomato seeds are treasures because they are not the mainstream, grocery store fruits that are picked while green and gas-forced to change color but never ripen naturally.
Heirloom tomatoes are not only flavorful, the seeds can be stored to grow plants the following year.
Most big market tomatoes are hybrids and are designed to survive the long transit from large-scale farms with thick skins and low moisture. Many of the seeds are sterile and won’t grow plants.
An Heirloom tomato is worth the effort to grow and saving seeds can help make the practice of growing them sustainable.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Thank you for posting this. I miss the taste of a real tomato, it’s juice running down my arm when I bite into it. My mouth waters thinking about it. I buy heirlooms whenever I can, but they, too, seem to have been picked green so they could make it to market. Alas.