Tomato Time

A tomato plucked from the vine, eaten on the spot with the warmth of the midday sun, will always be a vivid memory. There aren’t enough summer meals to savor the perfection of their sun-warmed taste. When we were growing up, every-one had tomato plants and they were surely taken for granted. Now we marvel to see them on rooftops, fire escapes, and windowsills, knowing full well the joy these extreme efforts will bring.

To see a plump red tomato in the garden or at the greengrocer is pure pleasure and more and more varieties are coming into the markets year round from afar. If it’s just the pale hothouse varieties that prevail, there’s hope if you take them home and ripen them for two or three days. And in a pinch, we prefer either the canned Italian plum tomatoes, which are picked and preserved at their peak, or the robust sun-dried and oil-preserved tomatoes. They’re both Staples in our pantry, as you can see.