The Wonder of Tomatoes - Who Has Got the blues?

If we accept that there are around 7500 varieties of tomatoes according to Wikipedia and that Gerhard Bohl, a German collector grows 3000 varieties then the 60 plus varieties we trial at The Organic Centre this summer are actually ‘peanuts’, if you allow me that comparison. Nevertheless they are growing away, setting fruit, fighting aphids, some have leaf curl, they are side-shooted and given Comfrey liquid and get encouraging words each morning from dedicated staff and students to prepare them for their big day when chefs Neven Maguire, Piero Melis and Brid Torrades will be tasting and testing and answer the question: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the sweetest of them all?”. Assisted by our former head gardener Klaus and myself and everyone at the centre the task is to discover a variety that can beat the sweet cherry tomato Sungold on taste.

But back to basics first and the reality that growing tomatoes in Ireland has only really be made possible for the wider public with the arrival of polytunnels merely 30 years ago. So in comparison to the growers in southern Mexico, who cultivated tomatoes 500BC or the farmers of the Lower Andes, who have grown them since1500, or the people of Italy, where the tomato arrived in 1522, we are really “green behind our ears” when it comes to tomatoes. 

Size is not all that matters, colour does too!

We can classify varieties of tomatoes according to size and shape from round to cherry, plum to beefsteak, but today we will focus on colour, which originally was yellow to orange, than was bred mainly for red, later for yellow again and now for blue.The difference in color is not just superficial. The carotene lycopene is responsible for the red and pink colour of our classic or standard tomato with a balance of sweet and acidic flavours and two varieties that are tipped to be amongst the winners of our contest are Volkov and Sweet Aperitif.

Then there are the yellow tomatoes with a slightly different nutritional profile from that of red ones. They have lots of niacin and folate like red ones, but less vitamin C and less lycopene. Perhaps most importantly, they are lower in acid than red tomatoes. For people who love tomatoes, but suffer when they eat acidic foods, yellow tomatoes can be a good middle ground for salads, pizzas, sauces, and any other dishes where tomatoes may appear. The lower acid level also allows some of the more naturally sweet flavor of the tomato to come through, which can be an advantage in some dishes. I am especially looking forward to taste Yellow Zebra.

So what’s with the blue tomatoes? 

It’s just what ‘tomato-heads’ are talking right now. Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU), using conventional breeding techniques, have crossed domestic tomatoes with wild varieties to produce blue tomatoes that have high levels of anthocyanin, a compound that also appears in blueberries and that produce the healthy pigments in red wine. Anthocyanin, not present in red tomatoes, possesses antioxidant properties to make it a healthier tomato.

Blue OSU is the variety we try this year at The Organic Centre and the colour ranges from a purplish blue to a dark, almost black colour, but beware anthocyanin is only produced in the fruit in areas that are exposed to sunlight. If the fruit is shaded by a leaf or stem that part of the fruit will remain green. Intense sunlight will lead to the most beautiful purple colour say some breeders and here lies the problem: Can our unique Irish Summer live up to expectations?

And then there are the whites like Snowball, the Green Zebra and Black Zebra, red Shady Lady and yellow Beauty Queen, orange Hillbilly and silvery Freckled Child. 

PS: If you grow a variety that you like and that has great taste we would like to hear from you.