The return of the dishy tomato


By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Remember when a tomato was really a tomato? Big, squishy, juicy, seedy
and tasting like a tomato?
Old-timers do, and yearn to find one.
The tomato, in fact, was once upon a time almost erotically
luscious, called "the love apple," and even considered a bit naughty.
(The French, ever on the scout, considered it an aphrodisiac.) Young
people, who have grown up munching the hard, waxy and bland tomatoes
found in today's supermarkets, don't know what they missed.







Agricultural officials in New Jersey are trying now to help both
groups find and enjoy the tasty farm-fresh tomatoes of old.
The Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service at Rutgers University
has started a program to increase production of "heirloom" tomatoes,
so called because they were treasures of the heritage of the farm.
Rutgers is encouraging farmers to grow the older varieties favored
for taste, not appearance, along with heartier commercial fruits. As a
result, better-tasting tomatoes are being found at roadside stands and
tailgate produce sales on the back roads of the Garden State.
"The public really wants great-tasting tomatoes back ... and we're
going to get them," says Jack Rabin, assistant director of the New
Jersey Agriculture Experiment, the agricultural research branch of
Rutgers University.
"We're trying to restore tomatoes to the way they were more than a
half-century ago, and bring joy to those who eat them," Mr. Rabin
says.
He insists, with a diplomat's skill, that he's not condemning all
of the so-called "vine-ripened" tomatoes on the market today, which
are grown in Mexico, California and Florida, and bred to have a longer
shelf life.
"You can break the windshield of a truck with a vine-ripened
tomato," he jokes.
The big problem, Mr. Rabin says, is that breeders have emphasized
long shelf life and long growing seasons, firmness, durability and
crop yield. "But we forgot to have people eat them," he says.
As part of the project to restore the heirlooms, state agriculture
agents and farmers are testing different varieties that have been
around at least 50 years.
They have colorful names such as Red Brandywine, Eva Purple Ball,
and Mortgage Lifter. Unlike the hybrid red, round tomatoes that are
the mainstays at most supermarkets, heirlooms are softer because they
have thinner, more fragile skins. They come in different colors and
shapes and are not necessarily pleasing to the eye. They may only last
three or four days.
"They split open and crack," Gary Donaldson, a farmer in Mansfield
Township, N.J., who has grown about 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes,
tells the Associated Press. "They have big scars on them. They look
ugly, but they taste good."
Mr. Donaldson says customers don't grumble about the looks of the
tomatoes or their $2.99-a-pound price tag, which is about twice what
he charges for tomatoes that are little more than synthetics compared
to the older varieties.
Mr. Rabin says his office has been sponsoring tomato-tasting
booths in conjunction with wine-tasting events at different locations,
and they have been a hit. "There were 600 people crowded around our
tomato-tasting booth at one recent show."