Tomatoes

tomatoey
tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I love tomatoes. I would ideally eat raw tomatoes every day. But the tomatoes in the shops near me are horrible, pink, and flavourless at this time of year. (My old neighbourhood store somehow had an in for great ones year-round).

What are your tomatoes like? How far would you go for a nice tomato?

Have you grown tomatoes indoors in winter successfully?

Replies

  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    I try to get all my tomatoes from Trader Joe's or Bj's warehouse. They're always good, heirloom cherry tomatoes in all colors and shapes from Trader's and campari tomatoes still on the vine from Bj's.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
    edited February 2015
    I grow my own in the summer and can + freeze them.

    This time of year, the only ones that seem to have any flavor are the grape tomatoes.
  • NicoleS9
    NicoleS9 Posts: 62 Member
    A friend recommended I buy organic canned (in glass, I believe) tomatoes at Costco. I love me some tomatoes - amish and heirloom are my favorite, the more weird & lumpy, the better. Bring on the lycopene!
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    SnuggleSmacks wrote: »
    I try to get all my tomatoes from Trader Joe's or Bj's warehouse. They're always good, heirloom cherry tomatoes in all colors and shapes from Trader's and campari tomatoes still on the vine from Bj's.

    Ah, nice. We don't have those stores, unfortunately. I def will be looking into alternative options, though, because the current situation is unsustainable.
    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    I grow my own in the summer and can + freeze them.

    This time of year, the only ones that seem to have any flavor are the grape tomatoes.

    Aw, I bet your summer tomatoes are amazing! I've just been reading (I have houseplants but no other experience), and yup, sounds like cherry and grape tomatoes are the ones people get something out of indoors in the winter..
    NicoleS9 wrote: »
    A friend recommended I buy organic canned (in glass, I believe) tomatoes at Costco. I love me some tomatoes - amish and heirloom are my favorite, the more weird & lumpy, the better. Bring on the lycopene!

    You can get these at Costco?? Neat! May make a trip :)
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    I grow my own in the summer and can + freeze them.

    This time of year, the only ones that seem to have any flavor are the grape tomatoes.

    Oh! You mean in the stores - yes, that's about all I can eat :(
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    They are in peak season in S. Florida :)
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    They are in peak season in S. Florida :)

    Aaaaah, enjoy!!!
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    It's hard to find tasy tomatoes in the winter in the northeast, but I've found that letting them ripen for a few days in the window helps improve the taste.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Thank you, I'll try that!
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
    I think tomatoes are an addiction for me lol I don't like hothouse tomatoes at all....pink, mealy, mushy and bland. Sometimes Roma tomatoes can be not so bad in the off season. Otherwise I just get unsalted canned or for intense flavor in a recipe I use sun dried - not the ones in oil. The sun dried can actually make a potent tomato flavor if you rehydrate them then chop or run through a food processor.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    They are addictive, aren't they? Sun dried tomatoes are great sometimes - that sounds good!

    I do sometimes get passata, which isn't a bad second, for cooked stuff.

    Thanks!
  • kayeiam
    kayeiam Posts: 215 Member
    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    I grow my own in the summer and can + freeze them.

    This time of year, the only ones that seem to have any flavor are the grape tomatoes.

    ^^^^ this. I don't like canned tomato at all, just fresh and this time of year, they are not good. I too have resorted to the grape tomato for now. In summer, I get all the cherry and salad tomoato's I want out of my dad's garden. (huge garden and he grows lots of tomato's (he can's them.. the regular size ones) and I think he grows lots of cherry/salad ones for me. I get big bags full (half of a plastic bag or more) or he will use the plastic containers from strawberries and send me home with like 6 of them a week. I eat lots of cherry tomato's in summer and they are all so very good. Nothing like fresh tomato's out of the garden
  • italysharon
    italysharon Posts: 195 Member
    I buy fresh salsa. Mexicana. Delicious. The mix of tomato, onion & spices…yum. Put it on my eggs with spinach in the morning, in my pita with chicken and hummus… delicious. Try it! :-)
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I grow my own for as long as the season allows. In the off season, I eat more canned than fresh, but there is a local hydroponic tomato producer that sells here and those are pretty good. Not as good as homegrown, but most definitely better than tomatoes picked green and allowed to ripen during transport.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
    I don't buy tomatoes in the winter, not worth it. I use canned tomatoes for sauces and otherwise wait for the first good greenhouse ones in the late spring.

    I usually have lots of extra tomatoes (I grow them), so am hoping that will be so this coming year and if so I will try canning them. Last year was a terrible tomato year for me, because the weather was weird or something.
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    edited February 2015
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I don't buy tomatoes in the winter, not worth it. I use canned tomatoes for sauces and otherwise wait for the first good greenhouse ones in the late spring.

    I usually have lots of extra tomatoes (I grow them), so am hoping that will be so this coming year and if so I will try canning them. Last year was a terrible tomato year for me, because the weather was weird or something.

    Last year hornworms ate more or our tomatoes than we did. I hate those buggers! I put the kids on worm picking duty and they fling them into the neighbor's yard. ;)

    In the winter, I make do with grape and Roma tomatoes. Those seem to have better texture at this time of year. And in early summer before our crop comes in, we go to the farmstand up the road.

    We all love tomatoes here.
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