heirlooms are back…and so am i!

i haven’t been posting much lately, not because i haven’t been cooking – i’ve been cooking like crazy.  and not because i’m not taking pictures – i finally figured out how to use my other lens and these summer hours lend me many more hours of favorable light.  and not because i don’t have recipes – i’ve written and shot several recipes that i’ve just been too lazy to post.

it’s easy to get caught up between my three jobs and grad school, but if there is one thing that can get me excited enough to post, it’s heirloom tomatoes.

the mere sight of these juicy beauties made me literally jump for joy when they finally appeared a little late in the season, after a long winter.  the farmers i work for grow a wide variety of heirlooms which become the focus of the whole stand, overshadowing any summer squash, broccoli, eggplant, peppers or corn – also currently at their peaks.

i have customers do double takes at the colors as they walk by.  some admit they are making the purchase just to bring it home to show someone, others pile bags full – enamored by the selection and unphased by the $3.50/lb price tag.

and besides questions about the names and subtle differences in flavors, i find myself most often answering, “what is an heirloom?”

what is an heirloom?

like a piece of jewelry that may be passed down from generation to generation within a family and considered an “heirloom,” these plants come from the seeds of ancient varieties, gingerly pasted down over the years and successfully avoiding modification by modern agriculture.

this modification isn’t restricted to the genetic modification which has become so popular in the past few decades.  long before we mapped the genome, humans manipulated the characteristics of plants through selective breeding.  this is a process in which the grower chooses only plants with favorable characteristics to continue breeding, eventually producing a bigger, sturdier, more uniform-looking offspring that is easy to grow and transport – perfect for mass production and global distribution.  those varieties may look picture perfect and travel well, but usually what happens when making a commercial variety of any fruit or vegetable (especially when grown in hot houses with artificial light) is that the flavor and texture are seriously compromised.  these products of agriculture are as closely related to the original heirloom varieties of the same plant as a poodle is to the wolves we originally began domesticating into house pets.

thus, the heirloom variety of any plant, which has bypassed manipulation, retains remarkable flavor and texture, while also showcasing colors and shapes never seen in commercial varieties.  their nutritional value is much higher, especially due to the fact that they are usually grown seasonally outdoors, and picked when ripe, because hopefully they are only traveling a short distance rather than being picked well before ripeness and allowed to ripen during a long commute to your plate.

in the case of tomatoes, heirloom varieties were never really plausible for resale in grocery stores for a number of reasons.  they are so very delicate they cannot be transported far, handled much or stored for long.  plus they have a tendency to grown in wild, very unique formations which may make them slightly more difficult to cut, or create little cavities which allow little bits of dirt, mold or bugs to get in.  when the farmers i work for drive down from fresno each weekend (about 200 miles and a 4 hour drive to los angeles) they end up throwing away nearly half of all of their tomatoes because they ripen too fast, get bruised from being handled, have a small little nick or go bad in the span of a day or so.  of the ones that actually make it home with customers, i worry how most of them fare in those grocery bags, and the ones that make it home safely usually don’t last more than a week.  it explains why these tomatoes are so much pricier than a lot of other items at the market, and why a grocery store could never commit to moving all that product so quickly, let alone eating the cost of all the tomatoes that are irregular or damaged.

but the last decade or so has brought quite a bit of popularity back to the heirloom varieties.  a popularity powerful enough to bring some of these varieties back into grocery stores.  but the difference between what what you find at the farmers market and trader joe’s is still freshness.  the higher-end groceries may make gourmet produce available to seem chic, but like any other chain grocery store that produce must be picked before its peak of ripeness so that it can travel better and arrive looking ripe.  what you find at a farmers market is nearly always picked just days, if not hours before you take it home.

and my favorite part of buying produce from the farmer’s market is that sometimes you can look at the person who grew your vegetables.  you can see if they have kind eyes or a bright smile.  you can talk to them about their land or their family.  and you can thank them.

this is how i’d like to think food used to be, how i wish it would be more often.

what to do with heirloom tomatoes?

if you need more a of a guide on how to pick, transport, store and serve heirloom tomatoes, check out this post i wrote last year.  as for how to prepare them, i think they pretty much speak for themselves.  they are great fresh in a salad, on a sandwich or simply with some salt, pepper and fresh basil.  but they are also awesome gently cooked, whether you lightly dress and roast some baby tomatoes or toss some thin slices on a pizza.  i like to stick them in my dehydrator to make fresh sun dried tomatoes and if you have access to an awesome discount on soft tomatoes – also called cooking tomatoes – then it may be worth it to cook them down into the best damn marinara sauce or chili you’ve ever had.

if you are still looking for a simple recipe then check back tomorrow, because i will be posting a super simple recipe for a rustic heirloom tomato salad.  and keep checking back for many many more heirloom tomato recipes to come!