Posted on 10 March 2010 by tomatocasual.com
By Vanessa Richins
Last summer, headlines everywhere blazed about a salmonella scare that was supposedly connected to tomatoes.
Many stores and restaurants stopped carrying our favorite fruit for a while, severely hurting the tomato industry.
As Michelle Fabio pointed out here last year, ” a report from the University of Georgia estimates that the salmonella scare of this past summer cost Georgia’s economy approximately $25.7 million—and that is just one state.”
Later, the FDA changed their position and said the outbreak was actually caused by jalapeño peppers.
However, this doesn’t mean that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on 28 August 2009 by tomatocasual.com
By Kira Hamman
Let’s get this cleared up right now: the late blight is not the fault of the tomatoes, heirloom or hybrid.
Nor is it the fault of the home gardeners who are trying to distance themselves, even just a little, from the corporate food grid.
It’s not the fault of potatoes, or the recession, or Michelle Obama.
And it’s only kind of the fault of the big box plant brokers who sold the infected plants.
No, the bulk of the blame for the epidemic of late blight this growing season belongs squarely where the blame for epidemics nearly always belongs: Mama Nature. We had a cool, wet spring and early summer, and the blight just loved it. Hey, it happens.
It’s all part of a little process Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on 21 May 2009 by tomatocasual.com
By Vanessa Richins
When I was attending community college, my favorite class was Italian Cooking.
A friend from high school happened to sign up for the same class, and we had many adventures together, whether it was a hand mixer that sparked or accidentally using up all of the good Parmesan.
Since then I’ve been fond of trying as many different Italian foods as possible. The day that a little Italian deli opened near my house. I’ve spent as much as $26/pound for a good imported Italian cheese.
The inspiration for this sandwich comes from my local airport, of all places. While I was waiting for a plane, I decided to grab a sandwich at Granato’s. The result was simple but delicious.
Ingredients:
Posted on 28 March 2009 by tomatocasual.com
By Vanessa Richins
Students in robotics at MIT are getting additional lessons in horticulture.
At the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, robots are watching over tomato plants.
Through new technologies, they are able to watch for the plants’ needs and act accordingly.
As the Christian Science Monitor reports, Nikolaus Correll, creator of the experiment was experimenting with the capabilities of swarm robotics.
“Each robot is outfitted with a robotic arm and a watering pump, while the plants themselves are equipped with local soil sensing, networking, and computation.
“This affords them the ability to communicate: Plants can request water or nutrients and keep track of their conditions, including fruit produced; robots are able to minister to their charges, locate and pick a specific tomato, and even pollinate the plants.”
The robots use highly sophisticated Read the rest of this entry »
