Kitchen Garden Journal

This year we’re growing over 50 varieties of tomatoes. About half of these were grown from our own seeds, and half are new varieties that we got from heirloom tomato seed companies. Now that the tomatoes are in full production, the pressure is on to select fruits for saving for next year. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this process, and the seeds are piling up.

Saving your own tomato seeds is really simple, and almost always results in better seeds. With our own seeds, we have nearly 100% germination and purity. By contrast, purchased heirloom tomato seeds can often be low germinating and totally impure. Of the purchased varieties in our patch, only about half have turned out 100% uniform. (This, of course, can be part of the fun of collecting heirloom tomato varieties. We’ve already saved the seed from one “sport,” or off type of mysterious origin.)

Tomatoes are “inbreeders.” Their flowers have both male and female reproductive parts, and about 99.9% of the time, the pollen from each flower pollinates itself, resulting in stable genetics from one generation to the next. This means that seeds from a tomato will produce the same variety the next year.

So to save seed, simply select a nice specimen of a variety you like. Cut it open, scrape out or squeeze out the seeds and juice into a little cup. Cover and let sit for 2-3 days until it ferments and develops a layer of white mold on the surface. (The fermentation process breaks down the jelly-like substance that clings to the seeds.) Pour the liquid and seeds into a fine mesh strainer and run water gently over it. All the pulp should wash away freely, leaving only pure, clean seed. (If there is pulp that hasn’t fully broken down, fill the cup with water. The seeds will fall to the bottom and the debris will rise to the surface. Simply pour off the pulp until you are left with clean seed.)

Pat the excess water from the bottom of the strainer with a dish towel and then transfer the seeds to a plate and spread them around. They take a few days to dry. Transfer to envelopes and make sure you label everything carefully!

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This is a very special year for tomatoes. After two very wet cool summers we are finally discovering the taste of good tomatoes again, only possible with the intense heat and dryness that has defined this summer so far. This year's tomatoes are beautiful, bountiful and so exquisitely flavored that they make your heart sing. One of our favorites, Cherokee Green, is pictured above.

We somehow found the time this week to make our favorite heirloom tomato tart (recipe posted last week) and we were reminded just how much more amazing and concentrated the flavor is when you roast these tomatoes, especially the plum types. The darker colored tomato in the tart is Purple Russian, which has rich, sweet and puckery flavor.

This was our spread at Saturday's Greenfield Farmers Market. It doesn't get much better than this.

Chez Albert in Amherst will be featuring our tomatoes in all their glory at a special Tomato Dinner on Wednesday, August 18. The menu will showcase Kitchen Garden ingredients and offer an opportunity to sample many of our heirloom varieties. Call (413) 253-3811 for reservations.

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This recipe has been a favorite of ours for years, adapted from Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook.

• For the Basil-Garlic Crust
• 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 medium garlic clove
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut in 8 pieces
• 4-5 Tbsp cold water

Place basil and garlic in the bowl of the Cuisinart fitted with the normal blade. Process until finely chopped, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add flour and salt and pulse to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse a few times until the mixture is the size of peas. Drizzle in the water and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. Remove and flatten into a disc wrapped in plastic wrap. Chill at least 1 hour.

• For the Tart
• 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced thin
• 2 large, ripe tomatoes (about 1 lb), sliced thin
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Fit the dough into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Preheat the oven to 375. Line the bottom of the tart shell with mozzarella slices covering it completely. Arrange tomato slices over the cheese in an overlapping ring starting along the outside edge and another on the inside to cover the entire shell. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with the oil. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese has golden blisters, about 35-40 minutes. Cool at least 5 minutes before slicing, or serve at room temperature.

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People are wondering: what are we growing that’s new and exciting this year? We have a few things that are new this year, but for The Kitchen Garden, the theme of the 2010 season is to buckle down and really focus on the things we do best.

New vegetables on the menu this year include some notable heirloom varieties. First off, we are dramatically expanding the number and types of heirloom tomatoes. Last September, I got a hold of a copy of Amy Goldman’s The Heirloom Tomato and it seriously got a hold on me.

The vastness of the tomato spectrum was laid before me and I was inspired to seek out new varieties. What we have settled on is a collection of about 50 cultivars that represents a broad sample of types: beefsteaks; oxhearts; small, odd-shaped ones; paste or plum tomatoes; and cherries, each in an array of colors. Some new varieties include Amana Orange, Marvel Striped, German Red Strawberry, Roman Candle, Ukrainian Pear, Purple Russian, and Zapotec Pink Pleated.

We are also participating in the RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions) Program this year, in an effort by the group Chef’s Collaborative to supply growers, free of charge, with seeds of historic American vegetable varieties, that will be sold to willing and eager chefs (and other customers). Varieties that we have selected include Boothby’s Blonde cucumber from Maine, Red Wethersfield Onions—an old Connecticut variety, and Gilfeather Turnips, a mild winter root from Vermont.

This year we’re adding an heirloom variety of Italian zucchini to our collection of summer squashes. Arguably the best tasting, Costata Romanesco is an old Roman variety with light green ridges and a huge female blossom. These things get massive if you let them but when picked small the flavor is much more concentrated than other varieties. We will be harvesting this type only as babies with the blossom still attached, perfect for dipping in batter and frying for an unforgettable summer treat: chefs take note.

Another thing we’re excited about this year is kimchi, and pickles in general, (after reading the Momofuku Cookbook), so even though we normally don’t grow napa cabbage and daikon due to low demand, we’re putting in one planting for the fall so we can do a big kimchi push in October.

In our unheated greenhouse we are growing an extra-early crop of carrots and beets that we hope will be ready in the beginning of June. After those come out we will plant the entire house to Middle Eastern cucumbers, those small, rock-hard seedless ones that you find in the supermarket in packages of 4 or 5.

But the biggest news for this year is that we are upping our commitment to bringing you more of the things that time and again, you have shown us that you like and that we love growing for you. We are doubling our bunched, multicolored carrots and onions of all types, tripling our beets, significantly increasing baby new potatoes and fingerlings, bunched herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and mint, as well as scallions, radishes, and leeks. We are discovering that these crops grow very well on our soil and that we are very good at presenting them.

So stay tuned. We begin planting in the field in mid-April and we will have products available starting the last week of May. 

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