In the picture above are he tops or shoulders of ripe heirloom tomatoes starting clockwise Starting top left Striped German, Pork Chop, Paul Robeson and Pink Berkeley Tie Die. The picture belo is the bottoms of the same ripe tomatoes.
This week we harvested enough heirloom tomatoes to put them in every CSA share. We grow these tomatoes exclusively in the high tunnel where they are protected from the rain. Soil splash and wet leaves aid the spread of disease in this humid climate, and heirloom tomatoes tend to be sensitive to disease pressure. There are three qualities that make a tomato an heirloom, it has to be old, typically pre-dating 1960, it has to be open-pollinated (meaning non-hybrid), and it has to be a variety that was not developed for commercial production. Typically these are tomatoes with stories. Beloved varieties that were grown on homesteads and handed down from generation to generation. As such our Pork Chop and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye are not really heirlooms because they new varieties bred by modern plant breeder Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms who calls his tomatoes the Heirlooms of the Future.
We have included a photo to give you an idea of what the different varieties look like when they are ripe. Some of these tomatoes have green shoulders, meaning they may still have some green on top even when fully ripe. The gene that gives them green shoulders also makes them extra tasty compared to tomato varieties that ripen uniformly. Heirloom tomatoes don’t wait around. Unlike a sturdier hybrid that might wait on the counter fully ripe for several days, heirloom tomatoes tend to go from perfect to over-ripe (mealy and soft) very quickly. If your tomato is ripe before you are ready to eat it, put it in the fridge. I know that we have been conditioned to never ever refrigerate a tomato but trust me, it is better than letting it sit out and get too ripe. Just set it out and let it warm up to room temperature before you eat it. We hope you enjoy theses truly special tomatoes!
Our good friend Chris Peterson deserves a shout out this week. Patrick has been on vacation in Maine and Chris has helped out A LOT between doing deliveries last Wednesday, pitching in at the Farmers Market on Saturday, and putting in some extra hours to help us get our work done. Sarah Cole put in some extra time too and even brought her mom along to help for an afternoon and CSA Member Cindy brought Ally along to pitchin. We really appreciate our team!
