tomatoes

I took most of the remaining tomatoes off of the vines in our garden today. It's dipping to frosty cold at night now, and I thought it's time for them to come inside. I have left just a few cherry tomatoes on the plant on our deck. One vine is clinging to the outside of the patio window, which is not double glass, so poorly insulated. I think this last vine may be able to hold on with the warmth that must surely transfer to it from inside the house.

The rest of the tomatoes are in a bowl on the dining room table (the red ones) and in a shallow pan nearby (the green ones). I am eating lots of tomatoes, and serving them to those in my family who eat tomatoes. They are very good.

The three types of tomatoes that we grew this summer are a cherry tomato variety called "Gardener's Delight," something called "Patio Roma" and some "Manitoba." They are very different in size, shape, flavour and texture. The cherries are my favourite - very juicy and tangy-sweet. The Romas are wonderfully firm and nice for slicing, with good tomatoe-y flavour. The Manitobas are okay. I think I won't grow them again next summer, but will try another kind instead. We chose the Manitobas because they were advertised as early-ripening. They ripened after the Cherries and Romas.

One of my favourite ways to serve fresh tomatoes is to slice them and dress them lightly with a shaken-up mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tomatoes are best served at room temperature. These tomatoes are wonderful.

In all, I think we harvested over 200 tomatoes this summer. It was nice to eat them as they ripened, so I don't have to preserve a whole bunch all at once. I like them best fresh. I think I will make tomato soup when the green ones ripen.

question: do you say tomato?

mompoet - tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes