You Say Tomato, I Say Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicum
Family Solanaceae
Warm Season Crop
It’s really hard to imagine Italian food without tomatoes. But tomatoes are relatively recent to Italy, and Europe. When colonizers raided the newly discovered lands to the west of them, the found tomatoes in markets throughout areas we now know as South America, Mexico, and Central America. They brought these strange fruits back to Europe, and for hundreds of years, tomatoes were grown as a culinary curiosity. But because they are nightshades, superstitious Europeans wouldn’t touch them. Eventually people realized that the plants were not only edible, but delicious.
But still to this day, people think the plant is poisonous—the leaves we mean. It might surprise you to learn that the entire plant is edible. The leaves, in fact, make an excellent pesto. This is what happens when you conquer a people, steal from them, but don’t bother to learn about the culture behind the things they have. The diversity in tomatoes was incredible at the time of contact. So much of that technology is gone.
Around the time of contact, a Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún, reported seeing a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at Tenochtitlán (now called Mexico City), "large tomatoes, small tomatoes, leaf tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, large serpent tomatoes, nipple-shaped tomatoes", even in this account are mentioned “leaf tomatoes”, varieties selected for the use of the leaves. Our current relationship with tomatoes is a mere few hundred years compared to the thousands of years the indigenous people of the americas had with the crop. They knew how to use this crop.
The wild ancestor of the tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, is native to western South America. These wild versions were the size of peas. The first evidence of domestication (about 500 BC) points to the Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica, who used the fruit fresh and in their cooking—the actual domestication date is much earlier, as the evidence shows they had BEEN using tomatoes for a while already.
The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derives. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food probably originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Tomatoes are a significant source of umami flavor. They are consumed in diverse ways: raw or cooked, and in many dishes, sauces, salads, and drinks. While tomatoes are fruits—botanically classified as berries.
Tomatoes are basically a perennial tropical plant. In our region, tomatoes are grown as an annual, since they tend to freeze in winter. Though with warmer winter temperatures, many people find their tomato plants persisting, especially in warmer parts of our region, being the perennials that they naturally are.
USES
Though tomatoes are featured prominently in Italian cuisine, it wasn’t until the rise of nationalism in the 18th century that tomatoes were featured. The Italian patriots wanted a national food to represent their pride, so they chose foods that would represent the colors of the flag: mozzarella for white, basil for green, and tomatoes for red. Basically, pizza.
Around the world tomatoes are eaten raw, cooked, fermented, dehydrated, and juiced in almost countless ways. One thing is for sure, using fresh tomatoes will spoil you—the taste of a fresh tomato will have you lament ever having to purchase tomatoes in the grocery store. The variety available to the home gardener utterly shadows what is available in the produce section, even though more heirlooms have made their way to the grocery store.
We encourage you to explore the various cuisines of the world to explore the tomato, especially cuisines of Mexico, and the tropical americas.
Here is a list of 57 tomato recipes to inspire.
PRESERVATION
You can dehydrate, can, freeze, and ferment tomatoes. Here is a list of 13 ideas for preserving your crop of tomatoes.
GROWING
SEASON & PLANTING
Tomatoes are warm season crops in our region, but there is more than one time to plant them. They are traditionally planted after the threat of frost is over, in spring. The earlier the start, the better, to get as much time for fruiting as possible before the summer will slow down or stop plants from fruiting (more on that below)
You can start seeds indoors or in a greenhouse early, or obtain starts from savvy nurseries, and protect the young plants from frost to get an early start.
You can also start plants in the monsoon season for a fall crop that will last until frost, if we get a frost. This is called a “second season” tomato crop. It has become more popular as the summers have gotten hotter, and as gardeners have gotten creative instead of just following old fashioned planting guides.
Tomatoes are usually either determinate or indeterminate: determinate plants are dwarf, and don’t “vine”. Indeterminate tomatoes (most are of this variety) need staking or tying as they “vine”.
SOIL & NUTRITION
Tomatoes are a fruiting crop, and fruiting usually takes more nutrition than just growing, so prepare the soil with lots of organic material. If you grew crops in your garden bed in the winter, you will need to freshen up your bed. Feed plants throughout the season with a general purpose organic fertilizer.
As it gets hotter in the season, you will be watering more often. Our water (whether you use city water or have a well) tends to be a bit alkaline. So the more you water, the more alkalinity tends to build up in the soil. You can counter this by adding gypsum to the soil, or acidifying your water with epsom salt or vinegar. Bringing the pH of the soil down will help plants continue fruiting. Though people usually blame the HEAT for causing tomato plants to slow down or stop fruiting, it is usually not so much the heat, but the buildup of alkalinity which locks up phosphorus and other nutrients.
TEMPERATURE & SUN EXPOSURE
Grow tomatoes in full to part sun. Avoid reflective heat. The more sun, the more fruits. But also, the more sun, the more care (watering, feeding, managing pH). Tomatoes will grow until frost kills them. Some people will try to preserve their crops of tomatoes by protecting their plants from frost.
WATER
Water regularly, but don’t keep plants water-logged.
HARVESTING
Harvest fruits when they become sweet, the intended color (different for every variety), and pull easily from the plant. You can also harvest fresh foliage for use in pesto and other recipes. The fresh new growth is best for this purpose.
WILDLIFE
The tomato horn worm is a common “pest” of the tomato. We usually grow enough tomatoes at our house that we don’t worry too much about them. Plants will come back from being fed upon. But if you don’t have enough plants to share, identify other nightshade plants you can transfer the caterpillar to (Datura, ground cherries, wolfberry, wild tobacco, and other nightshades).
INVASIVENESS
Tomatoes only occasionally escape cultivation in our region, and don’t seem to persist. They are definitely not invasive.
POPULAR SELECTIONS
There are so many selections, we are reluctant to even post any here, but here are some of the varieties we tend to carry.
Atomic Grape Large, elongated cherries in clusters. Lavender and purple stripes, that turn to Technicolor olive-green, red, and brown/blue stripes when fully ripe.
Black Krim Dark red-purple fruit, rich sweet flavor. One of the best. It always places high in tomato taste trials. It’s very juicy. An heirloom from the Crimean Peninsula with very unique looking, large fruit.
Black Strawberry Fantastic, sugar-sweet tomato flavor, that is fruity, with a hint of grape and plum flavors. This 2-ounce fruit is marbled in purple, pink, green and gold.
Canestrino A rare heirloom sauce tomato brought to the US by Chef Cesare Casella from his hometown of Lucca, Italy, Canestrino di Lucca captivates with its unique flavor profile, which is loaded with umami and sweetness. It is a very dry sauce tomato with a deep, rich red color and voluptuous pleats.
Celebrity This classic cultivar is a hybrid that produces long fruit-bearing stems holding 20 or more very plump, robust tomatoes. Fruits weigh approximately 8 oz., and are 4 inches across.
Cherokee Purple This cultivar, originating from Tennessee, is thought to have been passed down from Native Americans of the Cherokee tribe. This heirloom tomato variety consistently ranks very high in taste tests. They are large fruits with a deep, dusky-rose color while maintaining a somewhat greenish hue near the stem when mature for eating. The deep crimson interior and clear skin combination give it its distinctive color.
Chocolate Cherry A cherry tomato that produces heavily. The 1-in. cherry-like fruits are rich brick red with deep chocolate shading.
Ciudad Victoria These tomatoes have a bright, slightly acidic, classic tomato flavor, and are abundantly productive, even in hot/dry conditions. Their vigorous vines produce ample leaves to shade the 1/2" diameter fruit, and they don't need shade cloth even in the midst of the Tucson summer. A sprawling semi-cultivated tomato from dooryard gardens in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Indigo Cherry Drops Indigo Cherry Drops has dark blue anthocyanin coloration and red flesh. The plants produce copious amounts of tomatoes.
Pearson A determinate tomato with red colored fruit that are small, averaging one to three ounces each, globe to flattened-globe shaped, with smooth, tough skins, firm yet juicy flesh, and have a nice, mild flavor.
Pink Berkeley Tie-dye Compact plants produce beautiful 8-12 ounce fruit with a very sweet, rich, dark tomato flavor. Basically a port wine colored beefsteak tomato with metallic green stripes
Prairie Fire Compact vines produce fruit that are 1 inch across and 3 inches long. The scarlet, elongated fruit shimmers on the vine with its gold-flecked skin.
Punta Banda Collected from the Punta Banda Peninsula in Baja California. Indeterminate plants produce hundreds of red meaty, thick skinned fruits despite heat, water stress and poor soil. Great paste tomato.
Red Cherry The classic cherry tomato. Produces heavily, even during hot summers.
Speckled Roman An elongated plum tomato, avg. 6-8 oz., with bright red skin and golden streaks. Meaty red flesh has little juice, is good for fresh eating, and cooks quickly into sauce. Excellent flavor.
Stupice Bred in the mid-’50s at an ag station in the community of Stupice just east of Prague and introduced to the US by Abundant Life Seed Foundation in 1977. 2-3” deep red tomatoes with a nice balance of sweet/acid flavor. At this point, Stupice (pronounced “stu-peach”) is a reliable old friend regardless of whether it is one of the first red tomatoes out of the garden year after year. Potato leaf foliage on compact 4’ Indeterminate vines.
Sungold Exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange cherry tomatoes leave everyone begging for more. Vigorous plants start yielding early and bear right through the season.
Sunrise Bumblebee Oblong little fruit of red and orange swirls. The fruit weighs barely an ounce, and sometimes shows a pronounced beak at the blossom end.
Sweet 100 A small, classic cherry tomato that bears long, branched clusters of deliciously sweet tomatoes.
Taxi A determinate yellow tomato that produces tons of small to medium-sized yellow tomatoes, low in acid. Taxi tomato is a super mildly flavored tomato and an excellent container variety choice.
Tasmanian Chocolate Dwarf A dwarf plant with stout central stem, produces a big crop of oblate, 5-7 oz., tomatoes that ripen to a deep mahogany color. The flavor is well balanced, sweet and delicious.
White Currant The super-sweet fruit has about twice as sweet as many standard tomatoes. The fruit is tiny, barely an inch across, and creamy colored, with skins having a yellow tint.
Yellow Pear This classic heirloom tomato variety makes a vigorous plant that bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d'oeuvres.