Product Crush: ‘Tis The Season
The Times on the Ramapo tomato’s triumphant return: “When I hear these young chefs gushing about heirlooms, I wonder: haven’t they ever tasted a Big Boy, or an Early Girl?”
The article implies that a big part of the Jersey tomato’s mystique is just that — that the J.T. is good because it’s grown locally and not bred for longevity or shipping, not because it’s grown locally in the Jerz.That makes sense, I guess, but because I myself was grown locally in the Jerz, it’s one of my primary associations with summer’s end, not to mention one of the few things I could point to that my state did well.The quintessential Jersey tomato is like the state itself: it presents as homely, but inside it’s harmonious, not grainy or sour or viscous and tough like the perfect red orbs at the grocery store.
The sweet corn’s pretty damn good, too.
(Thanks to the various readers who tipped me to the article.)
Tags: food local biz news pomodori Product Crush
Useless comment: I’m glad this was tagged “pomodori.” I’ve always thought that word sounded more like a tomato than the word tomato does. And the French “tomate”? I can’t be troubled.
I am growing what appears to be a metric ton of Jersey tomatoes in my Jersey backyard. One of the first ones to ripen was plucked yesterday and I ate it right then and there. I almost wet myself, it was so good.
We have already marked out a MUCH larger portion of the backyard to be the Tomato Jungle for next year. Yum.
Not sure I agreed with everything they said as I do believe part of it is the climate. Having grown up on a 1000 acre farm raising tomatoes for Campbells, the South Jersey sandy soil does make a difference. Of course that was many years ago and the main variety was the Rutgers.
Also have grown tomatoes in CT from seed that Dad provided from his South Jersey garden and the taste was not the same.
Sarah, speaking of the Times and tomatoes (as one so often is), last week they had a piece on these organic shirts:
http://www.foodtee.com
I thought you would find the tomato one quite apropos!
Both of my grandfathers would have loved your attachment to the Jersey tomato. My paternal grandfather (now deceased) was a Gloucester County tomato farmer (and asparagus, peppers, etc). He also represented NJ on state boards of agriculture & on trade delegations abroad. My maternal grandfather retired to Florida 30 years ago (because it’s the law – you retire to Florida past a certain age), but he still waxes nostalgic for his Jersey tomatoes.
The Jerz also grows some fine blueberries. Fat, sweet and exactly what mid-summer should taste like.
Here’s the question. If you were to eat a tomato, just slicing it up on a plate and digging in, would you put anything on it? Sugar? Salt? Pepper? Olive oil? What’s the proper way to eat a true Jersey tomato?
I think Jersey tomatoes are delightful; I don’t get them nearly enough to suit my taste.
But I have to represent a bit here.
I’ve had sweet corn in various places in the South and the East and while it is certainly edible, it is nothing compared to fresh Iowa sweet corn. Especially when its ripped off the stalk, tossed on the grill then shellacked with enough salt and butter to clog all your pores. Summer rules.
@Michael: Florida tomatoes are pretty damn good. I had one at a produce stand in Naples a few years ago that I kept talking about for AN HOUR afterwards (in my defense, it was January, and that time of year is the tomato nadir around here).
@Kristen: Sprinkle of salt, sprinkle of pepper. My grandma used to eat them like apples, tomato in one hand and salt shaker in the other.
@Hawkeyegirl: I agree on the sweet corn, except Wisconsin. I remember my uncle bringing over a bushel of ears as big as my forearm & sweet as can be. (Although I will eat a roasted ear anytime, anywhere. LOVE!)
Sars, that pic looks like there’s some lakeside veggie romance about to start!
My father (son of the Gloucester County tomato farmer I mentioned above) used to tell my brother & I how when they were in the fields, they would take a salt shaker with them to sprinkle on the tomatoes & they’d eat them right there in the field. He told that story so many times by the time I was twelve, my brother & I would quote the story back to him verbatim, as well as the one where they’d break open a watermelon in the field to wash their hands & break open another watermelon to eat. I don’t think he’s told either story since 1984, but by then my brother & I had heard them so often, ANY “When I was a kid…” stories from him got those 2 stories regurgitated right back at him. My mother would laugh her ass off.
@ Jeff – my paternal grandfather’s farm sold tomatoes to Campbell’s as well (and others) & my maternal grandfather was in receiving at Campbell’s, so I completely identified with your post.
@Marg/CO: Oh, totally. And the corn is their chaperone. Bam chicka peach tomato!
“…project that involved retrieving fragile seeds from a retired plant geneticist…”
I can’t help it, but the first picture in my head was someone picking tiny seeds off an old guy’s lab coat. (Now everybody knows exactly how wierd I am!)
And the one and only tomato I ever ate and actually *liked* was from my roomate’s garden. Said tomato been on the vine until two minutes before she told me to dig in, and it was gooooooood good good. Given that every other tomato has tasted like paste to me, it sounds like a real Jersey tomato is not something to pass up.
@sarah: word on the blueberries. they are huge and way way better than what you can get in the grocery store
words can not express my excitement when our local farmer’s market started up again this spring. besides the tomatoes, there’s the corn, beets, berries, and squash! I can’t contain myself! plus you can buy local honey which has a much richer flavor than grocery story honey.
I’m gonna go make that recipe for tomato-bread salad that was on the side of the article
Still laughing at “bam chick peach tomato” and the idea of Peach and Tomato trying to ditch stuffy old Corn to get their hybridization on…
I didn’t know that Campbell’s iconic soup was based on the Jersey tomato. Apparently I have to taste the real thing at some point. I’ll spare you the superfluous but sincere shilling for Ontario tomatoes, corn and peaches, except I can tell you I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve eaten corn on the cob that was more than an hour out of the field. (The only way…)
I gotta disagree with the guy in the NYT article who stated that most Jersey tomatoes are eaten locally, and any fresh local tomato is good, no matter the “local” involved, so Q.E.D.
I used to bring my parents’ tomato overage into my NYC office. My boss, who was raised on a midwest farm and then lived in Seattle and California, was a gardening nut. She had just arrived in NYC, and grew tomatoes in her Brooklyn brownstone’s garden.
She told me mine were better and asked why. I went through the whole “because they’re Jersey tomatoes” schtick and explained my belief that it was the soil. “But I’m in Brooklyn, how different can the soil be? What varieties do your parents grow? How do they grow them?”
I told her: The variety that’s sold as small plants, six in a box, at Kmart. Add water and Miracle Grow on a regular basis and wait.
She was a fancy heirloom organic tomato/organic mulch person. This pissed her off NO END. And pleased me inordinately. She could not comprehend that something store-bought and Jersey could beat something organic and Park Slope.
Hee.
We were “down the shore” this weekend and saw some Jesrey tomato obsession first hand. We were at a farmers’ market and these two crunchy guys who looked like they probably also grew other things, if you get my drift, sold my wife this enormous, but delicate tomato. As she’s trying to find a place to put it in our son’s stroller, the guy who sold it to her is holding it like a baby, reiterating how delicate this tomato was. It seemed like he was about to refuse to sell it to her because she didn’t appreciate this $4 tomato’s delicate sensibilities. Of course, it was goddamn good tomato.
Big Boy and Early Girl are old family friends, so this caught my eye. But I’m growing Celebrities (compact bush type) this year, due to a short season and limited space.
Hawkeyegirl–as a fellow Iowan, I totally agree about the corn. But as far as I’m concerned, the best fruit or vegetable is always the one growing in the backyard. If I could grow broccoli where I live, I’d be in heaven.