BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...

Subject: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bobert
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 09:56 AM

Well, gol danged...

Another perfectly good tomaoto season has come to an end here in the Luray Valley of Virginia... And I sho nuff hate to see it go but...

.... I still have one very nice vine ripened tomater that I picked 4 days ago just before our first killer frost and this beauty has "bobert" written all over it...

...but, hey, got pole beans still makin' that are a tad more resistant to frost, plus lettuce, spinich and some yummy mustard greens comin' in but...

...sho nuff gonna miss the tomaters...

Sniff...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: GUEST, Topsie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:09 AM

Bobert, is that tomato big enogh to share? You could maybe get the P-vine back on your side.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: MAG
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:15 AM

I've got the last bunch I picked green -- still eating those bacon basil & tomato sandwiches, slathered with mayo -- think I'll go have one for brekkie --

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: JennyO
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:18 AM

Know whatcha mean, Bobert. Home grown tomaters are one of life's little wonders, and one of my most favourite things to eat. I even love sniffing the plants!

Down here at the bottom end of the world, all those goodies are just starting. The tomato plants are very happy in the no-dig garden - growing so fast you can almost see them grow, and the ones I put in first are setting fruit. Every couple of days I have to tie them higher up on the stakes. Today I had to put in extra stakes. It's gonna be a good crop this year!

My pole beans are just coming up and the first ones are starting to climb. Last year's crop was brilliant and seemed to go on for ages. Still picking lettuces and spinach from last season, and lots of herbs went right through winter and are still going. Mint is going crazy! Peppers and cucumbers are coming on too.

Savour that last tomato, but don't leave it too long - you want to eat it while it's at its best! Pity you're so far away - I could send you some.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: JennyO
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:20 AM

MAG, you've just made my mouth water, but it's after midnight here. Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:49 AM

Bobert, I didn't have a garden at all this year. Between the drought and the dogs now in the back yard (I didn't try in my old bed, and it was too dry and hard digging to put in a new one) I have had a tough season. I found a farmer's market where I could get fresh local produce for a while, and that helped a little.

My big improvement for the coming gardening year is that two weeks ago I was one of the first to discover an estate sale in the neighborhood (on my way back from an early school run with my son) and I bought an upright freezer for $30. It's 30 years old and harvest gold, but it in perfect condition and works just fine. I put castors on it and defrosted it and I'm ready for all of those garden goodies next year. I gave away a lot of produce in the past because I didn't have a preservation method beyond the kitchen side-by-side's freezer. I also want to learn to can, like my mom always did. I have a friend who will help with that. The tomato coming out of the freezer or the jar may not be the fresh beauty you're describing, but it sure is nice that you grew it yourself, instead of buying the cardboard grocery store variety.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 01:05 PM

I grow tomatoes and freeze the extras.

I like to put them in a hot-water bath so the skin comes off, then I put them in plastic bags and put them in the deep freeze. The texture is not the same, but the taste is wonderful in chili, spaghetti sauce, chicken cacciatore, meat loaf...

Here's another way to amaze your friends. In the middle of winter, thaw one of those packages, discard a little of the free water in it, then whiz the tomatoes in a blender with some oil and some basil. Use it as salad dressing, and you will be delighted at its fresh taste.

Putting red tomatoes on green lettuce results in a brown salad, so be sure to serve it by candlelight.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 01:30 PM

Stilly, canning is really easy. Start by saving every glass jar you finish, and the lids. You always need more than you think.

General principal of canning is to get it sterile, and get it sealed.

Whatever you're canning needs to have lots of liquid. This is vital. Wash your jars really well, and put them in a low oven. This gets them properly dry and sterile. Cook down whatever your preserving, and keep simmering gently. Now the fun bit...

Carefully, remove the jars from the oven as you need them, and give them 20 seconds or so to cool, then ladle them mostly full of the preserve. Wipe the rim to make sure you get a good seal, and screw the lid on firmly. Repeat ad infinitium...

After about an hour check the seal. There should be a partial vacuum, as per any commercial jar before opening. If a large number failed to take, then you either have too much stuff on the rim, or the preserve or jars were too cool. If the jars are cool, and the preserve hot, then you get jars cracking.

If you've got a good seal, then you've done it, canned aka bottled fruit, or whatever. No reason you couldn't do big batches of chilli or cassarole, and bottle that, for the times when you don't have time to cook.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Janie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 04:17 PM

Yep. Will miss them 'mater sammiches myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: artbrooks
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 04:39 PM

Maybe a few more yet. There is one huge one that's orange and green on the vine (repens to a dark orange, inside and out) and some green ones that may make it...including several growing out of the compost pile. And, of course, the cherry tomatoes are still producing a handful a day. And lots of jalapenos.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Sorcha
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 05:37 PM

You left out a lot of stuff, Bnna. Best if she can SEE how to do it. Pressure canning is a lot diff from water bath, and each food is different. Some things shouldn't be canned at all, but frozen. Local altitude has a lot to do with it too.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 06:35 PM

I grew up around canning, it isn't a mystery, it's just a lot jars and pots to accumulate and then taking the time and space to do it every so often when the fruits or veggies are ready. Mom used to can a lot of fruit, and I was her official peeler/blancher/whatever, as she got it ready to put into jars. I have a friend who cans every year and has given me a couple of books with the latest information about doing it safely.

I also blanch the tomatoes and remove the skin before freezing.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 06:40 PM

It was the way you said learn that threw me.....

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 06:52 PM

It has changed a lot since I was a child, is what I was alluding to. I need to learn the up-to-date methods. But thanks for your remarks!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: MAG
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 08:56 PM

Canning was fun when I watched my Gram do it.

In my hippie days I discovered it was drudgery,especially when it's hot.

If you know the drill well enough to do it automatically, you are a better woman than I.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 09:48 PM

Whaddu I do with all the big green ones?

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Old Guy
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 10:58 PM

I heared that if you pick the vine with the green mater hanging off and hang it upside down in a paper bag they ripen slooooow and will last till Christmas.

Likewise if you just wrap up green ones in paper and put them in a dark, cool place they will ripen real slow and last for months.

When I was a kid they called me Tommy Toes because I liked tomato sandwiches so much.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Janie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 11:18 PM

Old guy is right. Wrap them up in newspaper and put them is a cool, dry place, and you can eat 'em at Christmas.

Or slice 'em, dip them in cornmeal, and fry 'em up right now!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:53 AM

My parents used to pull up the entire tomato plant right before the first frost and hang them in a dark room in the basement. It looked odd, but those lasted for quite a while and did gradually ripen. That was in Seattle.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 05:03 AM

The ripening for many fruits and vegies is acetylene - given off by a ripe apple. The old Aussie trick was to put one in a bag with green bananas. Probably work for many other items too.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 05:09 AM

The ripening agent for many fruits and vegies is acetylene - given off by a ripe apple. The old Aussie trick was to put one in a bag with green bananas. Probably work for many other such items too.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:55 AM

Green TOmato CHutney.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Old Guy
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 02:01 PM

In grocery stores they used to have a ripening cabinet where they would put tomatoes, banannas and such in there and fill it with ethylene gas.

http://www.qasupplies.com/2007000.html

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: TIA
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:46 PM

Slight change of subject. Did anybody get tomato hornworms this summer? For the first time in dunno, we did not. Good for the tomatoes, but watching the hornworm caterpillars sprout ichneumon wasp coccoons is a fascinating natural phenomenon for the kids, and we missed it this summer. Anybody know what I'm talking about, or am I just nuts?

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:44 PM

I do, and we didn't have any either. I think the pesticides are finally winning, if that is the right word. No toads or butterflies either.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 09:01 PM

Horn worms get pulled out with pliers and stomped into oblivian here.... Grrrrrrr... Thay ain't cute... They can't be house-broken and they make lousy pets... Varments is varments an' gardeners don't coodle no varments...

In the words of the local ol' farmer, Mr. Clifford, here in the holler: "Give 'um the gun"....

But on a nicer note, we put up 7 quarts of applesauce today....

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Den
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 09:11 AM

I think this is appropriate.

Homegrown Tomatoes. Guy Clark

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden
Get you a ripe one don't get a hard one
Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one


Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes


You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat `em with egss, eat `em with gravy
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy
Put `em on the site put `em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle


If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetary
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: kendall
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 10:08 AM

I don't understand it. I can eat almost anything that's made of food, but raw tomatoes? I'd rather eat Marmite ot Haggis.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 10:23 AM

Your daughters inherited your dislike of tomatoes, Dad. Bleck, ick and yuck. Just the smell of them turns my stomach.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Wesley S
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 02:57 PM

I love chopped tomatoes in my scrambled eggs.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 05:52 PM

Tomatoes are wonderful. Tomato sandwiches are an inponderable mystery, a waste of good bread and tomatoes....

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 06:13 PM

Heck, Bobert, if you'd just come off of some of that moldy money of yours and invest in one of these, you'd have 'mater sammiches year-round.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Bobert
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 07:42 PM

Yeah, Beezer, I been thinkin' of settin' up a hydroponic garden in my farrowing barn... Wouldn't take but partitioning off 30 or 40 sguare feet with some grow light and a little heat... And cheap... Maybe next year when I find some more of that "moldy money"... Thought I had some more stashed 'round here but, nah, and so now I gotta hustle for a year 'er two...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 07:56 PM

Sell a bit more land? :-P

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: kendall
Date: 23 Oct 06 - 07:57 PM

I love tomato sauce in spaghetti and meat balls. Also pizza

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Old Guy
Date: 24 Oct 06 - 12:32 AM

How about a good ol' BLT with plenty of mayo?

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Gurney
Date: 24 Oct 06 - 03:20 AM

There's only one way to eat tommytoes. Squash them into the frypan and then fill it up with bacon, eggs and sausages. take out the tommytoes last, when they are dry and sticky and sharp-tasting. Italian plums work best.

It's the only way to make them worth the risk of eating them. They are related to deadly nightshade, you know.


I thought you were all vegans, but then I read about Bobert's farrowing barn.

Hydroponics are popular in certain quarters in Auckland, but they sell the produce in little baggies.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: The PA
Date: 24 Oct 06 - 04:21 AM

Still picking tommies from our polytunnel here in sunny Worcestershire. We've grown some strange ones this year. Same colour as a pumpkin, size of a cooking apple, they dont keep but they taste fantastic, fresh or cooked. Sorry don't know the name.

Subject: RE: BS: Sniff... Last Tomato Samich...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 06 - 10:54 AM

A couple of years ago Martha Stewart Living ran an article on types of tomatoes grown in northern climates. In particular, Russian gardeners have been working on some interesting types.

SRS