Tomatoes

Tomatoes are integral to Lowcountry cuisine. Many soups, stews, and vegetable dishes owe their distinctive qualities to the humble tomato and its miraculous saucing abilities. With our subtropical climate, 2 crops per year are normal. It is a waste not to have a few tomato plants here, if only on a balcony: nothing matches the flavor of juicy vine-ripened ones. In their absence I often use canned tomatoes in cooked dishes calling for tomatoes; they are invariably better than store-bought and out of season. When the harvest is in, though, I do make my own catsup and sun-dried tomatoes using very old Carolina receipts.