Tomatoes

Needless to say, the best tomatoes are grown locally and harvested ripe. And although it might appear that the supply of year-round tomatoes is better than it once was, it seems to me that the major difference is that the hard, tasteless tomatoes sold in February (and grown, for the most part, in hothouses in Holland) are simply redder than their orange counterparts of years ago; they are no more tasty. Often—more often than not—canned tomatoes are preferable to bad “fresh” tomatoes, especially if they are going to be cooked.