When it comes to tomatoes, marketing hype seems to override reality. Consider the “vine-ripened” tomato, which by law merely means that the fruit was picked with a tinge of color. Shipped green in refrigerated trucks, such tomatoes eventually ripen to a red, albeit hard and tasteless, state. “Trussed” tomatoes merely means that tomatoes are picked and sold still on a stem in small bunches. This will not improve the taste, although varieties sold trussed may have thinner skins. Likewise, premium prices are charged for the presence of a “kalix” – the green spidery top. Again, this will neither improve nor decrease the flavor.

Standard, round, hybrid tomatoes have been around since the 1950s, especially in the United States, and shipping these hard “baseballs” cuts cost and wastage. But at the real detriment of flavour. Refrigeration ruins a tomato’s taste and texture. Ideally, tomatoes should be picked at or near full ripening. Second best is to ripen store-bought tomatoes at room temperature, and never in direct sunlight.

Surprisingly, tasteless orbs are what American marketing organizations decree by law, and both heirloom and “cat faced” varieties, such as the beefsteak (pictured left), are generally not allowed to be sold interstate. The issue took prominence this (northern) winter when one Florida grower was forced to plough under $3 million worth of beefsteak tomatoes, because they didn’t adhere to the cosmetic criteria allowed by the Florida Tomato Committee. Such marketing committees were originally set up by Congress in 1937 in the middle of the Depression, and allowed small farmers to join together and set standards. They have since been taken over by the big guys…

Tomatoes are at their best in summer and early autumn, but consumers demand its availability year round – hence the suggestion to cut the acid by adding sugar to tomato dishes in winter. Our solution: Burpee’s seeds, or better yet, a seed and plant stock source for heirloom varieties, such as in William Woys Weaver’s excellent book Heirloom Vegetable Gardening. www.amazon.com