Examples of the Common Varieties    

Description

Tomatoes range in size, color, shape and use.  Red is the most common color.

A few of the Tomato varieties  Cherry, Sungold, Cherry Grape, Jubilee, Tiny Tiger, Early Cherry, Currant, Cosmonaut Volkove, Early Cascade, Daybreak, Cascade, Sunrise, Springset, Early Girl, Lemon Boy, Gold Dust, Taxi, Ultimate Giant, Ultra Sweet, Basket Vee, Better Boy, Big Beef, Harvest Vee, Celebrity, Jet Star, Supersonic, Big Boy, Sunbeam, Harris Olé, Sun Gem, Mt. Spring, Sunrise, Nova, Roma, Viva Italia, La Rossa, SanRemo, Del Oro, Classica, Plum Dandy, La Roma, Big Rainbow, Black Prince, Black from Tula, Box Car Willie, Golden Queen, Green Zebra, Fruity Orange, Striped Roman, Striped German, Brandywine, Moscovich

The varieties of tomatoes may seem overwhelming, but they can be summed up by several major types:

Shopping

Tomatoes are available year-round, with the peak season from June through September.   Vine-ripened are usually the most flavorful.  Choose well shaped, firm and uniformly colorful tomatoes without blemishes.  Avoid bruised or cracked tomatoes.   A ripe tomato yields slightly to gentle pressure.  It is okay to purchase un ripened fruit.   If tomatoes need to ripen, store them at room temperature in a brown paper bag (or in a fruit-ripening bowl).   For the best flavor, its best to buy fresh seasonal produce.  A fresh, ripe tomato is a wonderful thing.

Canned Tomato Products

Canned tomatoes are available whole, peeled, crushed, pureed, stewed, diced, concentrated and with herbs.   Whole is best as it usually contains the fewest fillers and other additives.   Okay, its the middle of the winter, and vine-ripened tomatoes are expensive.   Canned whole tomatoes can be better than some store tomatoes are usually better than the "pureed" or stewed versions.   I use canned whole tomatoes for sauce and reserve vine-ripened ones to be eaten raw.   Canned tomato puree can be tomato paste mixed with water or tomatoes that have been cooked and strained.   Stewed tomatoes have been cooked with other vegetables and can contain other additives.  

• tomato paste are tomatoes that have been cooked, strained and reduced to a concentrate.

• tomato sauce is a generic term for any number of sauces that are tomato based.  Read your ingredients carefully.

• tomato juice is usually tomatoes blended with other ingredients.

• tomato soup is a generic term for any number of soups that are tomato based.

Storing

Ripe tomatoes should be stored at room temperature.   A ripe tomato will keep for a few days.  Refrigerate only if you need to store them longer.

Equivalences

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