By Thomas Cenci

Avocados are now ripe in abundance and it’s time to make that famous duo of tomato and avocados.

From salads to salsas, it’s a classic combination that we all love.

Ingredients:
• 1 ripe avocado
• ½ small onion
• 1 small red chilli
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and chopped
• 15 cherry tomatoes, quartered Read the rest of this entry »

By Kira Hamman

Where I live, in the Catoctin mountains of western Maryland, tomatoes are a given in the summer.

Gardens teem with them, farm stands overflow with them, and farmers’ markets sell them by the bushel.

But except in a few gardens, they’re exclusively hybrids – Early Girl, Better Boy, and the like – and they’re rarely organically grown, even in spirit.

If you are bold enough to broach the subject of heirlooms and compost with the elderly women who sell these tomatoes they are likely to snort in derision.

Customers around here aren’t looking for organically grown heirloom vegetables and are not willing to pay more for them, and therefore Read the rest of this entry »

By Thomas Cenci

We all know green tomato chutney.

It’s the first recipe that comes to mind when even mentioning the green fruit, but it doesn’t have to be just green tomatoes.

Why not try adding something else to help liven it up a little like using cardamon, coriander, chilli or even extra fruits like apple or pears. Try this recipe using poppy seeds or tell us what you add to yours.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Green tomatoes
• Large pinch poppy seeds
• Half an onion Read the rest of this entry »

By Kira Hamman

I know what you’re thinking: I don’t need chickens.

I can’t keep chickens where I live. My spouse would not be pleased. My neighbors would not be pleased. I have enough to take care of.

Well, you’re going to have to do better than that.

Tomatoes may love carrots, or basil, or garlic, or whatever, but tomato gardeners love chickens. If you have tomatoes, then you have tomato pests, and chickens are just the ticket to organic pest removal.

Furthermore, chickens love to eat tomatoes. Although this means that you’ll have to keep yours staked off the ground if you get chickens, it also means that they’ll turn overripe or fallen fruits into fabulous organic fertilizer for you.

So let’s deal with these objections in order:

I don’t need chickens. Oh, but of course you do! Chickens provide Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

While thumbing through an old Italian cookbook that belonged to some long gone member of my family, I learned a great deal about the history of the tomato in the country that now considers the fruit a staple of daily life.

The most surprising thing I learned was that it wasn’t always that way.

The first time tomatoes were mentioned in Italy came from a 1557 translation of a text by the Greek physician Dioscoride. The description mentioned tomatoes turning from green to red and being eaten fried (like mushrooms) or juiced (for sauces).

In a letter to a pen pal dated March 10, 1572, Costanzo Felici wrote of the “Pomo d’oro or pomo del Peru…either intense yellow or vigorously red, either round or ridged in slices like a melon.”

He would go on to say that Read the rest of this entry »

By Thomas Cenci

Here is a quick tip on how to remove the skin of a tomato.

It’s called blanching and can also be used on other fruits such as peaches or plums.

It’s great when using for garnishes or sauces when you don’t want bits of the skin left in, or can be used for half cooking vegetables to be reheated later.

Method:
1. Take a tomato and cut out the green stem.
2. Then make a small incision on the other end of the tomato.
3. Place into boiling salted water for no more than 10 seconds (longer for half cooking other vegetables).
4. Take out and place straight into iced cold water.
5. Drain from the iced water and peel the skin straight off.