I never really enjoyed tomatoes until a few years ago. There was something about the seeds and the tomato juice that literally made me gag. I never understood it. Finally, after some bravery I discovered the role one tomato can play in a sandwich, a salad, or even just sliced with a little salt and pepper. A tomato can give a nice complimentary taste to the other ingredients in a meal. Now I often find that a meal does not feel complete without a few slices of tomato. Tomatoes provide a delicious taste and can even better give a little lycopene to prevent prostate cancer.In the last few weeks tomatoes in the area have begun to reach their glory days. They are plentiful, cheap, beautifully ripe and coming from a nearby farm and not a distant hot house. A simple local tomato can cost you a dollar a pound in places like the 9th Street Market or The Reading Terminal. Most of them bare the simple label "Jersey Tomato" and boast a juicy, flavorful variety that easily trumps anything you can get outside of the summer months. In Jersey, tomatoes are so sacred that they are the official state vegetable. In some circles, I would be ridiculed for consolidating all the tomatoes grown in the state under the simple label "Jersey." I cannot pretend to know the intricacies of each variety, but I stand to reap the culinary benefits from those who do.
On your fork this month for people all over Philadelphia and New York enjoy a Jersey Tomato.
Resources:
20th Annual Great Tomato Tasting, September 1st, 2010. Pittstown, NJ
