Tomatoes

At this point in my life, I know a bunch of (probably unnecessary) information about tomatoes. Most of it is information that people mostly don’t care about or do not need to know to grow tomatoes successfully.

That said, I will just give a basic run-down of tomatoes today to keep things helpful for the average person and save the deeper or more nerdy information for another day!

Edit: I wrote this article and found so much stuff I missed that I will have to do at least a part 2, let me know if you want more tomato lore!

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: S. lycopersicum

Preferred Habitat: In the wild, tomatoes prefer

Edible Parts: Fruits

Distribution: Tomatoes are grown in many parts of the world. Wild tomatoes tend to be in South and Central America, but there are definitely feral cultivars and wild species that grow wild in some people’s yards and parts of Southwest North America.

Harvest Season: Mid to late summer in the Midwest, variable depending on climate.

Nutrition (per 100g, raw)

• Calories: 18

• Water: 95%

• Protein: 0.9 grams

• Carbs: 3.9 grams

• Sugar: 2.6 grams

• Fiber: 1.2 grams

• Fat: 0.2 grams

Other minerals, vitamins and compounds:

• Vitamin C (28% of DV)

• Potassium

• Vitamin K1

• Vitamin B9

• High in lycopene (antioxidant)

• High in beta carotene (antioxidant)

• High in naringenin (flavonoid)

• High in chlorogenic acid (antioxidant)

Lycopene is a very well-studied compound that is also found in autumn olive (which coincidentally is starting to ripen as I write this!) and is a very powerful antioxidant.

Lycopene doesn’t actually convert into vitamin A like most other carotenoids do when you consume it, but the pro is that its antioxidant properties are enhanced.

Generally speaking, lycopene can be more easily absorbed by the body when cooked and eaten with a fat source. So sauces, pastes, roasted tomatoes etc tend to be more effective than just raw tomatoes! Not everyone can absorb it at the same rate, but as a general rule this is true.

Lycopene not only fights free radicals in the body but also fights a handful of different cancers (lung, prostate, skin, stomach, breast, and bone). It also lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) and raises good cholesterol (HDL). It also protects the skin at about a 1.3 SPF level and in males can increase fertility by 40% if you take about 14mg of lycopene daily (which is not a lot!)

Tomatoes in general also support heart health and are a good source of other carotenoids.

Uses

Tomatoes are used commonly in sandwiches, soups, and a myriad other savory dishes.

Tomatoes are also often powdered, freeze dried, dehydrated, sun dried, fermented, and eaten fresh on its own or with other vegetables!

Generally speaking, tomatoes have a savory umami type flavor that ranges from acidic to sweet, but when you start getting deeper into the old heirlooms and even some modern heirloom hybrids, you'll find that the flavor varies a lot more widely than you'd expect!

Some varieties taste downright fruity and tropical, some are smoky, some are very smooth and fleshy, others are juicier.

Growth Habits

Tomatoes grow mostly as perennials in their native climate; however, most varieties are grown as an annual in North America.

Contrary to what you may think, tomatoes are actually an herbaceous vine that has clusters of fruits (although many varieties have been bred to appear more like bushes or leafy shrubs).

Tomatoes are heavy feeders and require a healthy amount of phosphorus among other nutrients.

In my area I have found that burying a fish underneath where you plant the tomatoes seems to make a large difference in how well they grow and when our plants suffer it is usually because we hadn't supplied them with a good phosphorus source.

A common tomato issue I see (among others) is bottom end rot which usually indicates a calcium deficiency. It seems like every so often I have that issue, but it's nothing a little bonemeal can't fix. (I just sprinkle it on the soil surface and water it in).

One of the most common pests I run into is tomato hornworms. These are large green caterpillars that gorge themselves on the leaves of your tomato plants (even a single worm can strip your plants of leaves overnight if you leave it!) These are best dealt with by picking them off manually. Thankfully, chickens love hornworms, and they are easy to spot in the evening with a blacklight flashlight. Planting calendula as a guild plant nearby can also deter hornworms (which we’ve found to be particularly effective!)

Additional Information

Tomatoes originated in South and Central America, but it wasn’t until the Columbian Exchange that they were seriously cultivated and bred. The Spanish introduced them to the Mediterranean region and after some hesitation, tomatoes were widely adopted world-wide.

Natively tomatoes are a tropical plant, but there are at least 10,000 varieties bred for all different uses and climates worldwide.

That said, here are a few common misconceptions to clear up to any of you who may be new to tomato growing:

“Heirloom” just refers to an old variety, of which there are thousands. When you see a mix of tomatoes at the store and it says they’re “heirloom cherry tomatoes” that doesn’t tell you anything.

“Beefsteak” was originally one particular variety of tomato but now just refers to the size of tomato. “Cherry” is not a variety, it’s a size. The tomato sizes and description terms include:

Sizes

• Currant (very tiny tomatoes)

• Cherry

• Grape

• Plum

• Roma (yes, also a size not a variety)

• Slicer

• Beefsteak

Shapes

• Heart (Large upside-down teardrop shaped)

• Pyriform/Pear (Pear-shaped)

• Globe (Fairly spherical)

• Oblate/Flat (Somewhat squished looking)

• Ridged (Ridges on the sides similar to a pumpkin)

• Cylindrical (Elongated like a pepper or like a San Marzano)

There are more, but I wanted to hit you with the basics!

*My local tomato guru can probably add way more than this

Another common misconception is that a variety will taste the same every year when grown in the same region. This is incorrect.

Tomato flavor can shift based on microclimate and even varies with whatever you’re feeding them. I’ve known people who have grown a variety not even 10 minutes away from where I grow and they get completely different results than me and actually dislike a variety that I love. (I’ve heard this about “Brad’s Atomic Grape”, the flavor is wonderfully complex and savory to me but I’ve heard others report it as bland and watery).

Tomatoes also have two main types: determinate (meaning they’re bred to grow to a predetermined size and produce at a specific time then stop) and indeterminate (meaning they continue to grow until the season ends and will produce a little less over a long period rather than all at once).

I personally am partial to the indeterminate varieties because I get more tomatoes over the course of the summer, but determinates can be very helpful in a short season!

Cultivars

Ok so since there are over 10k cultivars, I’m not going to list them all or even the best ones. I’m just going to list ones I personally love or have heard good things about:

• Pink Berkely Tie Dye - A striped mostly globe-shaped heirloom that has the perfect acidic savory taste.

• Brad’s Atomic Grape - A favorite of ours, very large pretty grape tomatoes with a rich savory flavor.

• Orange Accordion - A deeply ridged orange/yellow tomato that gets very large. Good balanced flavor, beautiful fruit.

• Soldacki - A Polish heirloom that is so incredibly smooth and complex, this is my favorite variety by far!

• Moskvich - A solid cold-climate tomato that produces well and bears pretty fruit.

• Barry’s Crazy Cherry - A pale yellow cherry tomato that yields massive grape-like clusters of fruit (it definitely lives up to its name). The flavor is solid, and I find this tomato to be fairly easy.

• Orange Hat - One of the few micro-dwarf varieties I’ve tried, solid flavor and an excellent compact size!

• Kellogg’s Breakfast - A large golden yellow slicer that bears very balanced beautiful fruit.

• Health Kick - A newer hybrid canning tomato with higher lycopene levels! Very good yields, classic flavor.

• Karma Apricot - A very fruity sweet variety with light orange, round, plum-like fruit. I was impressed at how much more like a fruit this one tasted! Very pleasant to eat out of hand.

• Alice’s Dream - An orange-purple slicer with great flavor. I loved this one last year.

Varieties I plan to try (or am still waiting on):

• Gold Medal - A beautiful multi-purpose short season tomato, we have yet to taste them ourselves.

• Buratino - An elongated orange multi-purpose Russian heirloom tomato, we haven’t gotten any to fruit just yet.

• Ochre Veil - A beautiful multicolored heart-shaped tomato with an alleged amazing flavor.

• Pink Fang - Elongated pinkish tomatoes good for processing, apparently it has a great flavor!

• Orange Peach - A medium smooth orange tomato with a peach-like sweet tangy flavor I have seeds, I just haven’t grown them yet!

• Prairie Fire - A striped grape tomato that supposedly performs very well in shorter seasons.

I would highly recommend you check out Baker Creek, Carmel Bella Farm, Wild Boar Farms, and Plants With Stories (if you’re local) for more tomato varieties. Explore what’s out there, you’ve got nearly 10k varieties to choose from!

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