New Jersey Tomatoes

There’s nothing like a fresh New Jersey tomato. Growing up, I was assigned the easy summer chore of picking the tomatoes. Each summer we’d plant six cherry tomato plants in the backyard. I’d go outside daily in August and September to pick… but they never made it into the house. I’d end up eating all of them, warm and fresh, right there in the garden. My sister would always wonder why weren’t there ever any fresh tomatoes for the salad?

Lesson learned: six plants is simply not enough. This year I planted… well, let’s just say I planted a lot of tomatoes. Maybe too many. Seven different varieties, too. There’s still a lot of eating fresh from the garden, but now’s the time to start looking for new methods to use or store this beautiful bounty. Luckily for me, I found this fun book at the library:

The Tomato Festival Cookbookhas fantastic recipes for using fresh tomatoes, but it goes beyond that with history, seed source suggestions, and gardening tips. Lots of information about canning, drying, and other preservation methods, too. This is one-stop-shopping for tomato lovers!

For the true tomato aficionado, ready to do a deep dive into tomato history, try Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World: A History by William Alexander. The author definitely gives our state vegetable the respect it deserves. (And yes, it is New Jersey’s state vegetable even though it is botanically a fruit!)

Sometimes backyard gardeners move on into bigger missions. Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer is Tim Stark’s story of starting with seed flats in his Brooklyn apartment and progressing to owning a 70-acre tomato and chile pepper farm in Pennsylvania. After reading this, I feel better about my measly 60 backyard plants.

Whether you grow your own or find great ones at the farmer’s market, I hope you get to enjoy some of this wonderful, fresh, eat-in-the-sun summertime treat!

- by Sharon GR, Hickory Corner Branch