I love gardening...vegetable gardening. I like to eat fresh produce that comes directly out of the soil. I do not like produce from the store. So when I write about a garden it's not as many of you think as a flower garden. I'm not very good when it comes to growing flowers but I certainly appreciate them.
Gardening is in my genes if that is possible. My maternal grandfather was obsessed with gardening. For part of his life he made his living with a market garden. My paternal grandmother worked hard at her garden as it was a vital source of food. My Dad loved gardening so gardening is in the family.
Now one of my favorite plants to grow and eat is the tomato. Now I have a favorite way to eat a tomato and I learned it as a boy. We would come home from school and usually we had some small thing to eat before we did our chores. In the fall there was usually a box of tomatoes at the door. We would help ourselves to two or three of the best. If somebody managed to grab a salt shaker so much the better. Then we would eat tomatoes as you would an apple! These tomatoes were fresh and juicy. I ate one the other day . It was just great.
Try it!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have eaten a tomato like an apple too. But, my favorite is a tomato sandwich with mayo. Take care, enjoy your day! Have a happy new week!
My favorite tomato sandwich is toasted with cheese whiz. Try it.
DeleteI think most of us realize that homegrown vegetables are better than store bought. But some things are improved more than others. To my taste, at the very top of the list, is the tomato. Yes, I have eaten a tomato that way, but if you slice 'em up they're good too!
ReplyDeleteThere are many good ways to eat a tomato.
DeleteWe are at the very end of our gardening season here. No garden tomatoes to try this, but I will remember for next year. Sounds like a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that your gardening is finishing at the same time as ours is finishing.
DeleteTomatoes are great. Home grown cherry tomatoes are my favorite.
ReplyDeleteThere are many varieties of cherry tomatoes. Most of them are a bit tart for my taste.
DeleteAnother tomato story for you. Found a guy on YouTube who is a chef. His channel is called Cooking with the Blues. Here’s a link to one of his recent videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XmIjCKClmU To make a long story short, I watched one of his videos where he talked about cooking with tomatoes they use in fancy restaurants. They come in a big 6 pound can and are called Stanislaus Alta Cucina Whole Tomatoes. The chef said they were the best tasting tomatoes he had ever eaten. I bought a can from Amazon and have to agree … they are amazing. I guess they originated in Italy and are only produced on a few farms here in North America. You know how Italians are about tomatoes … they want the best.
DeleteI used to eat tomatoes that way in Florida, too, though we preferred them sliced on a plate. (Just neater to eat!) We used to put sugar on ours instead of salt.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had tomatoes with sugar. It was very good.
DeleteThere is nothing like a home grown tomato! My Dad used to eat tomatoes like that. He grew up on a farm and that was a common snack for the kids. The tomatoes you get in the store today are awful. They are hard and have no flavor.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been a rural thing to eat tomatoes as apples.
DeleteI remember eating tomatoes like that too when I was small. I still love them today but without the salt. Great memories, Red.
ReplyDeleteI guess with the tomatoes great taste , little kids just helped themselves.
DeleteI love fresh homegrown tomatoes just as you describe. But I sure need salt added! I've got one huge tomato that is just waiting to be bitten into. :-)
ReplyDeleteFor a long time I have gone without salt.
DeleteWe had some tomatoes from the garden tis year. What a difference!
ReplyDeleteTomatoes from the store aren't worth it.
DeleteMy father's method was to take a salt shaker into the garden.
ReplyDeleteThat's more direct than sneaking a tomato from Mother's box of tomatoes.
DeleteThe home garden produces such great food. We’ve enjoyed our produce this year. We have lots of tomatoes still.
ReplyDeleteThis year has been the best garden I have ever grown.
DeleteThis post made me smile, Red, because my husband told me that when he was a boy he and his grandfather would walk in the garden and eat them the same way. His grandfather had a salt shaker in his pocket!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I was too lazy to pick from the garden . It was just too easy to help myself from what Mom had picked.
DeleteI've never been much of a gardener but we've had huge crops of cherry tomatoes and a few pumpkins over the years. It's satisfying, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI like tomato sandwiches but my favourite way to eat tomato is fresh tomatoes cooked lightly with garlic and used as a pasta sauce. My daughter Caitlin's signature dish
I often wonder where we pick up these habits.
ReplyDeleteWe fry tomatoes with garlic. We freeze tomatoes and use them in sauces.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby's grandmother used to spend all day in the veggie garden. He lived with them. She's like me, rather be out than indoors!
ReplyDeleteTomatoes fresh from the garden are really delicious!
ReplyDeleteI admit, gardening is not in my genes!
ReplyDeleteGardening is in my blood too. We had a great crop of tomatoes this year, but alas, they are almost all gone. As a kid we loved tomato sandwiches: sliced fresh tomatoes on buttered white bread with a liberal sprinkling of salt.
ReplyDeleteOh how amazing that either my maternal grand parents were also basically farmers
ReplyDeleteDespite of being an army man my grand father loved to work in his farms whenever he had time
Grandma and my mom had great love for gardening specially vegetables gardening
I think staying connected with soil is in my genes too dear Red
Yum! I don’t think there is any wrong way to eat a tomato, though. The ones from the grocery store, however, are an abomination! Hard and tasteless, ugh.
ReplyDeleteI was never a fan of tomatoes, but my mother told me she used to eat them like an apple too. Now that I’m older, I do like tomatoes a lot, but ummm... I still don’t eat them like an apple.
ReplyDeleteTomatoes are a great food...I like tomatoes and Romaine salad with French Dressing yes I like salt on my tomatoes too:)
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