If you live in the mid-Atlantic region, you might also be harvesting tomatoes from your home garden now. From my many years of gardening, I have discovered that there are only two kinds of harvests: nonexistent or over-abundant. It doesn't matter how many seedlings or seeds I plant in my beds, how often I water and weed, the end result is always either total failure or ridiculous bounty.
For the past two years, the tomato crop has been a total disaster. I always thought growing tomatoes in Maryland was the easiest thing. I mean, everyone does it. Even people who don't have a yard grow tomatoes in containers on their decks. Then the stinkbugs arrived. One day our tomato plants looked perfectly fine; the next day the fruit began to shrivel. This was due to the juice being sucked right out of them! We tried hand-picking the smelly bugs, but the sheer number of them was overwhelming. We even tried some organic-type sprays, but these had little to no effect. The cucumber plants succumbed before a single cucumber could be picked. The beets were all ruined. The garden soon became a wasteland of dying plants and dashed hopes.
This year, we decided to try outsmarting those stinking bugs. Our plan was two-fold: start early and start with plants instead of seeds. I have always grown my tomatoes from seed as I like to experiment with interesting heirloom varieties that are usually not available in plant form. This year, my husband purchased your run-of-the-mill tomato varieties that are named after some kind of girl and some kind of cherry. Perhaps not as unique as my yellow currant and zebra striped tomatoes, but these plants are actually alive and bearing fruit, so who am I to complain?
Today, my biggest tomato problem is deciding what to do with a huge bowl full of ripe tomatoes, and another container of cherry tomatoes. In the past, I have made tomato jam with ginger and coriander seeds. But this is a long, hot process involving sugar, which I am attempting to purge from my diet once again! (Insidious sugar keeps sneaking back into our home and my mouth!) Perhaps a chunky tomato sauce? But I don't eat pasta so then the question is what to put that sauce on top of? Perhaps a tomato salad with fresh mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil. Now we're talking!
If you have any brilliant ideas for using large numbers of ripe tomatoes in recipes that do not involve sugar or grains, I am all ears! I invite you to leave your comments and suggestions, including recipes if you have them. Thanks in advance for all your help!
hocofood@@@
For the past two years, the tomato crop has been a total disaster. I always thought growing tomatoes in Maryland was the easiest thing. I mean, everyone does it. Even people who don't have a yard grow tomatoes in containers on their decks. Then the stinkbugs arrived. One day our tomato plants looked perfectly fine; the next day the fruit began to shrivel. This was due to the juice being sucked right out of them! We tried hand-picking the smelly bugs, but the sheer number of them was overwhelming. We even tried some organic-type sprays, but these had little to no effect. The cucumber plants succumbed before a single cucumber could be picked. The beets were all ruined. The garden soon became a wasteland of dying plants and dashed hopes.
This year, we decided to try outsmarting those stinking bugs. Our plan was two-fold: start early and start with plants instead of seeds. I have always grown my tomatoes from seed as I like to experiment with interesting heirloom varieties that are usually not available in plant form. This year, my husband purchased your run-of-the-mill tomato varieties that are named after some kind of girl and some kind of cherry. Perhaps not as unique as my yellow currant and zebra striped tomatoes, but these plants are actually alive and bearing fruit, so who am I to complain?
Today, my biggest tomato problem is deciding what to do with a huge bowl full of ripe tomatoes, and another container of cherry tomatoes. In the past, I have made tomato jam with ginger and coriander seeds. But this is a long, hot process involving sugar, which I am attempting to purge from my diet once again! (Insidious sugar keeps sneaking back into our home and my mouth!) Perhaps a chunky tomato sauce? But I don't eat pasta so then the question is what to put that sauce on top of? Perhaps a tomato salad with fresh mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil. Now we're talking!
If you have any brilliant ideas for using large numbers of ripe tomatoes in recipes that do not involve sugar or grains, I am all ears! I invite you to leave your comments and suggestions, including recipes if you have them. Thanks in advance for all your help!
hocofood@@@
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