Heirloom tomatoes

Isn't it wonderful how many different kinds of tomatoes you can buy these days? And, of course, if you grow your own you would be able to supply yourself with even more. Nowadays even the supermarket has lots of different kinds - particularly in the cherry tomato field.

I can't remember how long this has been the case. Not long I think. When we first came to Australia there was really only one kind of tomato on sale and it was pretty tasteless. So I used to grow my own. Then I think eventually we started getting Adelaide tomatoes which I thought meant they came from Adelaide, but which I actually think now is a type of tomato. And they tasted so much better. Then there were Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes started to be sold. And nowadays there are truss tomatoes, vine-ripened tomatoes and cherry tomatoes of every conceivable colour and shape - black Russians, green zebra ... It's wonderful. I'm sure they are a boon for the children't lunch boxes - they're like little snacky treats.

So how did this come to be? Well I tried to find out but basically couldn't find what I was looking for - facts. Lots on how to grow them but nothing on why there is a boom in the shops and markets. Maybe it's yet another example of a mix of television cooking shows and technological advances, together with the interest of researchers in discovering new/old varieties, and maybe a little bit of demand from the customers. One interesting fact I did learn was that Victoria grows most of Australia's tomatoes for canning and Queensland grows most for the fresh market. What does New South Wales do one wonders - and - hey - what about Adelaide tomatoes - they must be called Adelaide for a reason? I'm sure that huge numbers of them, if not all, must be grown in greenhouses these days. We can get them all year after all. And I vaguely remember seeing some being grown in a news segment on television. Those vine-ripened and truss tomatoes are an example. We like them with the stalks left on these days don't we? It's trendy to serve roast tomatoes with the stalks still on them.

Whatever the reason - it's great. And what started me on this. Well when we were at the market last week I saw (and bought) some of this fabulous ox-heart tomatoes that I remember from my youthful visits to France. They're still a bit rare here so worth snapping up. But you can still find them in Italy and France, as this photo of some magnificent specimens we saw in Emilio Romagna will testify.

I could not live without tomatoes. When there really are none available at a reasonable price I resort to tinned tomatoes - which are lovely too. Though there's a different story there about Italians dumping them here.

Anyway here's to those enterprising growers of heritage and cherry tomatoes. I hope they will continue to grow and that they don't get squeezed too much by the supermarkets.