To be honest, my love of tomatoes has not always been. I mean they were ok. Most of my experience as a kid with tomatoes came from a can, with the exception of my dad's spaghetti sauce which I believed was more about alchemy than tomatoes. In my teens I discovered that people actually grew tomatoes, but still my interest was never peaked. One day, while reading a magazine in a doctor's office, I saw an article depicting images of something called "Heirloom Tomatoes". now these were no ordinary red tennis ball sized veggies- they were purple and yellow, green and orange; ranging in size from tiny grape like fruit to ginormous grapefruit sized beauties. It was at that moment that I became intrigued.
Most cooks talk about flavor profiles as what draws them to a certain ingredient- but for me it's color, shape and texture that draws me in...which might explain my disasterous experience with some yellow egg-shaped tomatoes I grew last year . They were so bad that I couldn't give them away, at least to people who had tried them. I was not happy to see that the gorgeous little darlings had re-seeded themselves into my tomatoe patch to make a return visit this year...gotta admire them for their perseverence.
I planted several varieties of heirloom tomatoes this year. With the crazy weather, including a tornado that hit less than 5 miles from my home, my maters have struggled. Slowly but surely they have begun to ripen and are now yeilding their wonderful greens, yellows, blood reds and orange fruit. I woke up wondering what to do with them to preserve their uniqueness- other than of course slicing them up on a couple of pieces of toast with salt, pepper and balsamic dressing. I found this fom one of my favorite blogs. I believe Black Krim Tomatoe Butter may just be the thing for my favorite tomatoes...
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