Tomatoes, one of the world’s most popular and versatile foods, began its journey in South America as a native food for the Aztec culture. The early explorers took the fruit back with them and it was introduced in southern Europe first – Spain, France and Italy.
Yes, it is botanically a fruit but is used as a vegetable. When the mass migration to the United States came from Europe in the 1800s, the tomato and its recipes came with them. Every area of the world has its own tomato story and recipes. In the south, we hang over the sink with our summer tomato sandwiches! We make tomatoes with okra as well as tomato pie, tomato gravy and tomato jam – and almost everyone has his or her own recipe for fried green tomatoes. All you need to grow your own tomatoes is a balcony or a sunny window area in your home. They also grow in artificial light. Tomatoes are a powerhouse of flavor and nutrient density both raw and cooked.
Peak Time: June to October
Average Price: $1.85 per pound
Tips for Selection and Storage: Tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colors although various shades of red and purple are most common. Choose fruit that is plump but firm with no bruises or cuts or cracks. Tomatoes should stay on the vine until they are at least beginning to turn pink. They will continue to ripen when placed stem down on a counter. Fully mature out-of-the garden tomatoes should be eaten immediately. When overripe they can be stored in the refrigerator, but their consistency will change. Green tomatoes for cooking should be very green and firm with no pink.
Tips for Preparation: If used in cooking, fresh ripe tomatoes can be split and squeezed of most juice and seeds to avoid watering down the recipe. Although it is always best to leave the peel on, you can easily peel a tomato by submerging in boiling water for about a minute, let cool, and then pull skin off with a sharp knife. Tomatoes may be broiled, sautéed, baked, stuffed or made into sauces of all sorts. Raw vine-ripe tomatoes go with almost anything. Green tomatoes may be pickled, fried or sautéed. Tomatoes out of season can always be roasted or dried for more intense flavor. Roasting or drying any tomato concentrates the tomato taste, increases phytonutrient content and caramelizes the natural sugars.
Nutritional Highlights: Tomatoes contain few calories but are excellent sources of vitamins A and C and are rich in vitamins K, B6, biotin and riboflavin. Tomatoes are good sources of potassium, copper, manganese, chromium and molybdenum. The amount of dietary fiber depends on the size of the tomato. Smaller tomatoes have more fiber because of the amount in the peels. Tomatoes are excellent sources of the important carotenoid phytonutrients lutein, naringenin, beta-carotene and lycopene. These work together as antioxidants in the red pigments of the peel and pulp to decrease the risk of cancer and heart disease. Research studies have shown that cooking tomatoes with the peel raises the level of all of these phytonutrients, especially lycopene. Cooked tomatoes almost double the amount of lycopene found in raw tomatoes because cooking releases more from the cell walls. Keeping the peel on tomatoes also adds to the dietary fiber content. Adding a fat to a recipe with tomatoes like olive oil in a salad dressing or in cooked tomatoes increases lycopene absorption in the body.
