Photo by Ben DeFlorio
We have now started full-on tomato season. For most people, they are the star of the summer veggies and we all have our favorites.
We choose our varieties primarily on taste. We mostly grow heirlooms for that reason. We are small, harvest often and can get them beautifully vine ripened and then directly to you. We are only growing ten varieties this year, but as part of our partnership with Hannah at Field Stone Farm, we are also offering a variety of her tomatoes each with their own delicious qualities suited to different uses and preferences. Here is our introduction – join us on Thursday, Aug 16th to sample and enjoy all of the varieties we are growing & selling!
A few years ago, in the Burlington Free Press, Debbie Salamon waxed on about tomatoes, really capturing our love for the fresh, delicious summer tomato in her column. She noted,
“Tantalizing, lush, dripping elixir — garden tomatoes, like summer romance, fade with the September sun.
Be quick. Love one now.”
It is true, enjoy now, we just never know how long they will be spectacular.
Jaune Flamme: This is our fourth year growing this French heirloom and it has become an all around favorite. It is apricot sized and colored with a sweet lovely taste. We like it sliced, chunked for salad or just for snacking. Julia Clancy, a writer & former test kitchen chef at Eating Well Magazine was smitten when she met the Jaune Flamme last year, calling it, “Intense, jammy and savory-sweet, the flesh was so fragrant that it came through the nose like a hit of spice.” in the Seven Days article she wrote about the farm.
Valencia
Valencia: A family heirloom from Maine this mid-sized orange tomato has an excellent, full, complex tomato taste, with a great balance of acidic and sweet. Slow Food has it on their ark of taste varieties. In size it is in between the Jaune Flamme and Yellow Brandywine
Mountain Princess
Mountain Princess: Perfectly rounded fruits with crowd-pleasing mild sweet flavor. An Heirloom grown for generations in the Monongahela National Forest region of West Virginia. This is our first year growing them.
Moskvich
Moskvich: We have been growing the Moskvich on and off for years. Ribbed, but not as big as a brandywine, but fills that large, red, heirloom tomato niche. Deep red, smooth, and globe shaped. A classic tomato with rich flavor.
copia
Copia: Copia has often, but not always, been voted the tastiest by our team. They really catch your eye as well. They can get big and unwieldy like a Brandywine but they are large gold fruits with a blend of orange/red and green/red striping. The sweet, juicy flesh is swirled with color throughout.
Black Prince: Medium sized, mahogany brown with a distinctive fruity tomato flavor.
Golden Rave: A golden yellow baby roma (smaller and oblong) with a sweet, well-balanced flavor great for fresh eating or cooking. One of the few non-heirlooms we grow, but the taste is lovely and they freeze brilliantly.
Juliette Tomatoes waiting to be frozen!
Juliet: A small, flavorful, versatile, mini roma – called a “saladette” tomato – great for fresh eating, salads, salsas, and sauce. We love to freeze them whole. When you open the bag in January, it smells of summer!
Amish Paste
Amish Paste: A big fat heirloom with bright red, heart-shaped fruits with meaty flavor and juicy texture. Flavorful and juicy enough for slicing and great meatiness for cooking down. Sweeter taste than other paste tomatoes.
gilbertie, various sizes
Gilbertie: A new heirloom paste tomato for us, so far so good! Long, slender shape with characteristically green shoulders and a slight crook in the neck. Narrow fruits average 7″ long with very solid, richly flavored flesh that makes excellent sauces and soups.
Lola tomato
Lola: a solid basic red slicer, one of our non-heirloom disease resistant tomatoes, just in case, that is still tasty!
Toronjina: This is the organic seed rival for the beloved Sungold. Neither are heirlooms – few cherries are. This is a medium-sized orange cherry with slightly thicker skin than Sungold, but still a sweet and fruity bright orange cherry tomato. Lovingly referred to as “farmer candy”.