By Michelle Fabio

Who says that there are already enough tomato varieties to please everyone?

If you’re someone who loves a sweet, deep red tomato, researchers at the University of Florida had you in mind when they came up with the brand new Tasti-Lee.

The new tomato has high levels of sugar as well as red pigment, which the tomato breeders say means the Tasti-Lee provides more antioxidants than your average tomato. Red-colored lycopene is reportedly nature’s most powerful nutritional antioxidant, which means that it reduces the amount of damage done to body cells by oxygen—damage that can eventually lead to cancers, heart disease, and other illnesses.

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By Michelle Fabio

New Jersey is known for its tasty tomatoes, and the Ramapo, named after a New Jersey Indian tribe and developed at Rutgers University in 1968, is reportedly one of the best.

And now it’s back after a 20-year absence thanks to eight years of research, including countless taste tests by willing subjects.

Back in Israel that is.

This is thanks to the “Jersey Tomato Working Group,” which is comprised of tomato enthusiasts from a variety of disciplines from economy to horticulture. The group chose a seed company in Israel to help develop the Ramapo at a reasonable price, and earlier this month nearly 600,000 of the seeds Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Fabio

Perhaps eighty-one-year old former finance Ford executive Cy Buersmeyer used to be more concerned with bean counting, but now he’s shifted his focus—to tomatoes.

Grape tomatoes, to be exact, from two plants that he bought on a whim at Ken’s Country Produce in Westland, Michigan, outside of Detroit.

Before you hear the final numbers, you should know that Buersmeyer, an admitted very amateur gardener, bought the 12 inch plants as they were just blooming and on May 13 put them outside under glass, protecting them from chilly late spring temperatures in Michigan.
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By Michelle Fabio

If you want to impress someone (including yourself) with the best pasta sauce, San Marzano tomatoes are the way to go.

They are a type of plum tomato that grow in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius in the region of Campania, Italy and benefit from the rich, fertile volcanic soil. They are generally thinner and pointier than the Roma tomato, and have a stronger, less sweet, less acidic taste.
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By Michelle Fabio

Israeli company Nirit Seeds Ltd. has come up with what it calls a “fool proof” and the world’s first interactive tomato plant—the Minimato.

It’s a dwarf cherry tomato plant that grows to about 14” and is designed for growing in the home. For the most inexperienced (but willing to learn) harvesters out there, there is even a website in the works to help out with any questions.
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By Michelle Fabio

If you’re looking for some of the sweetest, firmest, shiniest tomatoes with a long shelf life to boot, you need the small, red, juicy variety from Pachino, Sicily.

Pachino tomatoes are rightfully famous, especially in Italy and Europe, and so treasured that a few years ago in their home country they were granted IGP status—a designation similar to the D.O.C. designation for wines, in this case certifying that at least part of the production of a product is in a particular area.
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