Heirloom Tomatoes

 0 0 0 104

Heirloom Tomato Heaven is Here!

I received an email from the folks at my local farmer’s market about a terrible hail storm they’d been through. Isn’t it nice how my local farmers keep me up to date with newsletter-like emails? Then about half way through the newsletter came word of the coming onslaught of August tomatoes.

Nothing makes me smile as much as summer tomatoes at discount prices. They’re invariably “seconds” or #2s as the email below says, but they make incredible Tomato Jam that I’ll share with you soon in another post. (A friend of mine calls Tomato Jam “Adult Ketchup!”)

At any rate, what is it about how local farmers are growing tomatoes better than homegrown? I think they have access to organic fertilizers that we just cannot get in Home Depot. I can only get fish emulsion and a kelp-based emulsion, but there just aren’t better products on the market. Is there anyone out there using a foolproof fertilizer that can make home grown toms taste as good as farmers market heirlooms?

If so, let me know!

Twin Springs Fruit Farm

From the farmers at Twin Springs Fruit Farm

FLAT OUT TOMATO TIME!

The biggest news is the wonderful tomato crop Arturo and the guys are picking, as it is the time of year when you can get the world’s nicest #2 tomatoes from Twin Springs to make into things like gazpacho, roasted or dried tomatoes, soup and sauce, as well as freeze and can for the winter. I sense that the old art of canning and freezing is making a bit of a come back, probably due to so many of you becoming very conscious of what you consume.

Many of my customers have stood there at the seconds display and said something like “these are nicer than most of the other vendors’ #1 tomatoes, what’s with that?” and at ½ the price; and when they get a sample of the same tomato at the “firsts” display they are just floored by how good they are. I should explain that these #2s, priced at only $1.49/pound, simply have a few cracks up at the shoulder or other minor defects which we choose to separate out to keep the #1 display looking terrific. At least 2 long term customers on Sunday said they gave up growing their own tomatoes as they just didn’t compare to ours (You can’t make this stuff up, no lie, even I was surprised to hear it). Must be Tom’s magic “JuJu” juice, secret foliar feed mix, as well as that Highfield Silt Loam fruit ground we are so fortunate to have.

We have a good enough supply to give an even better discount on the #1 beefsteak tomatoes, than the $1 a pound we dropped it a couple of weeks back. Our base price is now $2.99 per pound, but we are moving to the sale we often have at this time where if you purchase 5 or more tomatoes (Not pounds) we will charge you only $2.49 per pound. Half bushels of either #1 or #2 tomatoes may be purchased for $32.00 or $16.00 respectively, which makes #2s about 70¢ per pound and #1s about $1.40 per pound; for our quality I challenge you to beat that deal!

Twin Springs also has Heirloom tomatoes, both Cherokee Purple and German Slicers, as well as Romas. As we are picking lots of cherry tomatoes, both Sungold and Dasher, the price has dropped from $4.oo/½ pint to $4.oo/pint and $7.00/quart.

- See more at: http://www.alunchboxblog.com/farmers-market-exceeding-homegrown-tomatoes/?preview=true&preview_id=3884&preview_nonce=540ca41ece#sthash.61HhCK5m.dpuf