Tomatoes on the Brain

    The beginning of something good...

A few weeks ago, I read  7 Foods Even FoodSafety Experts Won’t Eat, a post on the blog ecokaren.  It’s an oldie, but a goodie.  Canned tomatoes made the top of the do-not-eat list.  I use canned tomatoes all the time!  They go into tacos, chili, pasta, marinades, and more.  In the wintertime, when fresh tomatoes aren’t abundant and grocery store tomatoes have no flavor, I rely on canned diced tomatoes.  I’ve even been caught eating them out of the can with a spoon.

But the information that ecokaren dug up made me cringe.  Basically, she says that the lining of a can of tomato products contains Bisphenol A (BPA), which we all know causes all sorts of health problems, especially when it’s heated and leaches into our food.  Acid does the same thing to BPA that heat does, and tomatoes are very acidic.  No more canned tomatoes for me.

Since reading that post, I’ve had tomatoes on the brain.  Growing tomatoes is easy, and anyone with some access to direct sunlight can do it.  My husband and I planted 5 heirloom tomato plants as part of the Horn Farm Center’s Patch Project two years ago.  The heirloom varieties produced the most flavorful and unique tomatoes I’ve seen and tasted.  I made salsa that my husband bragged about, bruschetta that friends could never duplicate, even with the same recipe, and tomato sauce with amazing depth.  I froze a lot of tomato sauce that year, so much that I dreamed about slicing and dicing tomatoes on a nightly basis. But when January rolled around, and I started to use that frozen sauce, it was all worth it.

This past growing season, my husband and I leased a garden space that was 4 times the size of our Patch Project plot.  The spring was rainy, and we couldn’t plant until the end of May.  And we got married in September.  That time in between slipped away from us, and our garden didn’t fare very well, and I miss the homemade tomato sauce.

After reading 7 Foods Even Food Safety Experts Won’t Eat, I got rid of the canned tomato products in my pantry and bought sauce in glass jars.  And now I’m starting to plan my spring garden, and I thought I’d share a few tips:

Small and manageable is the way to go.

 My first garden was 12 X 12 feet.  There was just enough room for the items I planted.  There was a row of 5 tomato plants, a row of 5 pepper plants, a row of 5 basil plants, and an area for 2 squash and 2 zucchini mounds.  For two people, I had double the veggies and herbs that I needed. 

Go the extra mile in the beginning to save time later.

I covered my garden with landscaping fabric and covered that with mulch.  Covering the garden with landscaping fabric (or 5 layers of newspaper if you don’t want to spend the cash for fabric) prevented the weeds and mulching helped to hold moisture in the soil.  On the first day of the project, while other gardeners from were packing up and driving home, I hadn’t planted a single thing.  But in the following weeks, while the other gardeners were spending an hour pulling weeds, I was watering my plants, picking tomatoes and getting out of there in 15 minutes.  Best of all, if I couldn’t make it to the garden, my husband went and didn’t complain!

Heirloom varieties taste the best.

My favorite for tomato sauce is the Amish Paste tomato  It’s traced to the local Lancaster Amish community.  The prettiest and the best to eat whole (or on sandwiches) is the Eva Purple Ball.  Find a local source for your tomato plants or purchase seeds from a reputable heirloom seed company like Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/. The beauty is that once you grow heirloom tomatoes, you can save the seeds and never buy them again!

You think you don't have space for a garden, but you do.

There's nothing wrong with a hanging tomato plant on your patio.  Just make sure it gets sunlight, you water it and you don't use pesticides.  If you want to go bigger, the Horn Farm Center in York County offers plots for rent every season.  If you’re interested in a plot, contact Horn Farm now!  Plots go quickly.

Horn Farm Center
(717) 332-8710
farmmanager@hornfarmcenter.org

$35 for a 20 X 20 foot plot ($25 for additional plots), you'll have access to some of the richest soil in York County between mid April and mid October (weather permitting).

Bugs like tomatoes.

But there are plenty of natural ways to combat them.  Put on a pair of gloves and start squishing the bugs by hand and spray the plants with an organic bug deterrent.  I like to use Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap.  Mix 1 part soap with 10 parts water in a spray bottle.  Find it in the health food section of your grocery store.  I always find it on the bottom shelf.  

Don’t follow the directions.

Tomato sauce recipes tell you to peel your tomatoes and remove the seeds.  I think that’s silly.  I took the time to do it once and never did it again.  I didn’t notice a difference and neither did anyone else.  I also didn’t waste time dicing tomatoes.  Chop the tomatoes into smallish chunks, cook them with your other ingredients then run your sauce through a blender or food processor.  No one will be able to tell that the tomato skin is in there.

Disclaimer:  If you're canning your tomatoes, don't stray from the recipe.  It's written for your safety.

Freeze or Can?

I live in a little condo, so the canning process and storing the materials needed just takes up too much space.  I freeze my tomato sauce in BPA free bags and containers.  When I pull a container out of the freezer, I submerge it in warm water to help the sauce come out a bit easier.  Then, I reheat the sauce in a sauce pan and use it.

Update:  Not all canned tomato products are canned with a plastic lining.  Check the linings of your canned tomatoes before you throw them out, and PLEASE post the names of brands that don't contain a lining in the comments section of this post!