The Tomatoing Begins

Rounds one and two of the tomato harvest are going to get sauced and stored for winter

Twenty-plus pounds of tomatoes washed and ready to be turned into sauce

The cool May and June slowed the tomatoes a bit, but they sprung back like champs in mid-July.

This batch is the second round of 20-plus pounds harvested over the weekend and processed into tomato sauce for fall and winter.

They’re a combination of Chef’s Choice, Heinz Processor, Classic Roma and a San Marzano variety called Tiren, which blend well for a nice, rich tomato flavor in sauces.

As part of our staple tomatoes, we grow these year in and out, but next year we may change up the sauce varieties.

Bowls of tomatoes (L-R): Chef’s Choice and Roma, Heinz Processor, Tiren and Roma

While we really like the Tiren for size, flavor and ability to stick through the heat pretty well, it seems to have more trouble with blossom end rot than similar varieties, so we lost a good portion of the fruit.

Right next to these we’ve got a bed of San Marzanos about one month behind and they have no issues at all.

Fortunately, we make use of even the stuff that’s not suitable for eating. Our ducks and chickens don’t care about the aesthetics of their tomatoes, so the bad ones go to them which they gobble them up and turn them into manure.

So even if those tomatoes don’t make into our food supply this time, they’ll go into helping the next batch come out big, healthy and tasty.