Each Saturday morning during tomato season, farmer Neil Taylor sells plenty of what he calls “country reds”: round red tomatoes that appeal to his customers looking for the traditional bright red tomato of summer.
Depending on the week, the variety of tomatoes in that country red mixture can be Early Girl, Rutgers, Celebrity, Big Boy or one of a dozen other hybrid red tomatoes that usually extend the season from July until September. This year, with the early onset of summer, the tomato harvest began in mid-June.
Taylor farms on an old cotton plantation in Ellenwood and sells his tomatoes and other produce each Saturday at the Sandy Springs Farmers Market as well as the Piedmont Park Green Market and Smyrna farmers markets. Lots of his fresh tomatoes are diverted into the canned tomatoes, tomato juice and other products he also sells.
TaylOrganic also offers a year-round community-supported agriculture program with drop-off points throughout metro Atlanta as well as pickup available on the farm. He even offers a “tomato contract” where customers can buy 10 weeks’ worth of just tomatoes for those who can never get too many tomatoes.
He plants thousands of tomato plants each year. Not just those red tomatoes, but a variety of heirloom tomatoes such as Cherokee Purple and Lemon Boy as well. “A lot of it is education. People discovering Cherokee Purple think they are rotted. I have to explain that it’s a purple tomato and it tastes so good. We just have to convince them to try it. Our regular customers will buy the heirlooms, but the ones they buy in volume are the country reds,” said Taylor.
His favorite tomato? The Cherokee Purple. “It’s got so much taste to it. Of course I never eat the Bo Derek tomato; that’s the one I will sell. I eat the one that’s bug bit on one side, deformed a little on another. Those are the best-tasting ones anyway,” he said.
When you get your tomatoes home, give them a quick rinse and then leave them out on the counter. Never refrigerate a whole tomato. Keeping them at room temperature lets you enjoy the full flavor.
If your recipe requires peeled tomatoes, you can just use a paring knife to cut away the skin, or plunge the tomato into boiling water for 30 seconds and follow that with an ice water bath. The skin will peel away easily then. To seed a tomato, cut it in half crosswise and squeeze it gently to release the pulp and seeds.
One pound of tomatoes will be about 3 or 4 medium tomatoes and will produce 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes.
At local farmers markets
Cooking demos
6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4. Chef Seth Freedman, Ruby Root Connections. East Atlanta Village Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.farmeav.com
9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug 6. Chef Linton Hopkins, Restaurant Eugene, working with tomatoes. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com
10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6. Chef Justin Burdett, Miller Union. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
For sale
Vegetables and fruit: arugula, beans, beets, blackberries, blueberries, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, corn, cucumbers, edamame, eggplant, fennel, field peas, figs, garlic, herbs, lettuce, mizuna, okra, onions, pea shoots, pears, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spaghetti squash, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon and specialty melons
From local reports
Tomato Jam
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Makes 2 cups
Think of this as a fresher version of ketchup. You can peel and seed the tomatoes if you wish. Extra tomato jam will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week. For our pictures, I served the jam by making upscale cheeseburger sliders. Instead of American cheese, I topped each beef burger with a round of goat cheese and then substituted tomato jam for the usual ketchup.
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
4 minced cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped fine
Pinch red pepper flakes
4 cups coarsely chopped plum tomatoes
Salt and pepper
In a medium saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add onion, garlic, rosemary and pepper flakes and saute until soft but not brown, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook down until the tomatoes have released most of their water, about 20 minutes. Stir in remaining olive oil and season to taste.
Adapted from a recipe by Neil Kleinberg, Clinton St. Baking Co., New York City.
Per 2-tablespoon serving: 52 calories (percent of calories from fat, 69), 1 gram protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 4 grams fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 13 milligrams sodium.
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