Tomatoes

They can be sweet or tangy, but rest assured they are always juicy and bursting with flavour. Fresh tomatoes are delicious for sandwiches, salsa, salads and can be juiced, pureed, dried, canned, made into sauces and much more. There are endless ways of consuming tomatoes, making them extremely versatile and well worth celebrating. Now let’s get ripe into the good stuff!

What Actually Are Tomatoes?!

Often mistaken as a vegetable, tomatoes are actually a fruit! They belong to the nightshade family, along with potatoes, aubergines and peppers. Most commonly red in colour, native tomatoes were yellow, but can also be green, purple and orange. With countless varieties ranging from cherry to beef, tomatoes come in an assortment of different shapes and sizes.

The History Of Tomatoes

Tomatoes originated from South America, possibly the Andes Mountains of Peru and Ecuador, and its name is derived from the Aztec word tomatl. Tomatoes were regarded as poisonous for a long time, in fact, the tomatoes Latin botanical name is Lycopersicon esculentum which translates to ‘wolf peach’. Peach because they’re round and wolf because they were thought of as deadly. It wasn’t widely eaten in the UK until the 18th century for this reason, although they were brought to Europe and grown as ornaments in Spain from the 16th century.

It’s thought that the first variety of tomatoes in Europe were actually the size of blueberries and yellow in colour as they were known in Italy and Spain as pomodoro / pomi d’oro which means golden apples.

Checking The Quality Of Tomatoes

You can judge the quality of a tomato by its colour and how it feels. When ripe, all tomatoes should be firm and wrinkle-free, but slightly soft to touch. Green tomatoes, however, should be extra-firm as essentially they are just under ripe tomatoes.

Colour is harder to judge as tomatoes can be a variety of shades. Green tomatoes should be a fully uniform light green colour, if they have an orange tint they have already started to ripen so will be unsuitable for dishes like fried green tomato. Many of the typically red varieties such as beef, plum and cherry should be vibrant, smooth and shiny with no blemishes. Whereas, heirloom tomatoes are more likely to be a range of red, yellow, orange and green, so it’s best to use firmness to test quality.

How Should Tomatoes Be Stored?

When ripe, all types of tomatoes should be stored at room temperature and whole tomatoes should not be stored in the fridge for long periods of time as it makes the flesh mushy. As a softer fruit, tomatoes can bruise easily, so treat them delicately and avoid stacking them or any other fruit and vegetables on top of them. When ripe they are best stored on a flat surface with the vine removed an upside down to help them retain their juicy goodness. You can often get a good idea of how to store fruit and veg from how they are kept in stores, for example, you will often see tomatoes in cardboard trays. This, or a gastro tray, is a great way to store them, a lid isn’t necessary, but if so, only cover loosely to maintain good ventilation Cut tomatoes however, should be stored in the fridge, again in a gastro tray is fine, but in this case they should be covered adequately with a lid in order to prevent bacterial growth.

How To Prepare Tomatoes

Tomato preparation is pretty simple, just remove the stem and wash, simples! Then you can prepare as needed:  leave whole, halve or quarter, slice, chop or dice them to fit your dish.

To make into a sauce you may want to remove the skin, so cut out the green stalk and tough core at the top of the tomato and score a small ‘X’ at the base. After placing in boiling water, removing and allowing to stand for around 30 seconds, the skin should loosen and where scored with a cross, it should be easy to peel the skin off.

Nutritional Benefits Of Tomatoes

Tomatoes have many nutritional benefits as they’re packed full of vitamins, especially A and C, which help keep your teeth, bones and skin healthy and boost your immune system. As a great source of carotenoids and flavonoids, both of which have antioxidant properties, tomatoes can help regulate cellular activity and help fight off free radicals that may harm the body. Specifically, they’re high in the carotenoid lycopene which can aid in reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

Are cooked or raw tomatoes better for you?

You’d think it wouldn’t make a difference, but cooking tomatoes can actually reduce the contents of vitamin C and flavonoids. However, it can boost levels of lycopene which can help reduce the risk of cancer, so its swings and roundabouts!

Seasonality Of Tomatoes

Tomato can be grown all year round. Prime season in the UK is May to early October. In Europe tomatoes are often grown in Holland, Spain and Italy, not only because they are a regular component of their cuisines, but because they have the warm temperatures and sunlight needed for growth.

How Do Tomatoes Grow?

Tomatoes grow on vines and can be grown indoors in greenhouses or outdoors when the weather is appropriate. They need sun for photosynthesis and warmth to be able to grow to the best of their ability and require plenty of room to grow as some varieties can sprawl up to 20 feet tall, so staking the plant is essential to stop it collapsing. One vine can harbour many fruits so it can get pretty heavy!

You may hear the term determinate tomatoes, these are bush tomato plants, while indeterminate tomato plants are vining types. Now don’t get confused as all tomatoes grow on vines, however, determinate tomato plants generally grow to heights of around three or four feet tall, so look more like a bush. Whereas, indeterminate or vining tomato plants are those that grow much taller, it really just depends on the different varieties.

Where Are Our Tomatoes From?

We buy fantastic heirloom tomatoes from Westlands in Evesham during the summer months. You can find out more about the suppliers we work with here.

During the winter when the UK tomato season finished we import tomatoes from the Mediterranean.

Types Of Tomatoes

Heirloom / Heritage Tomatoes

Heritage tomatoes are open-pollenated and their seeds are actually what give them their name as they have been passed down from season to season for decades. As said by the British Tomato Growers’ Association ‘tomatoes are like people, the best-looking ones aren’t always the nicest’ and this is definitely the case with heritage tomatoes as they are often multi-coloured and weird and wonderful shapes and sizes! Yellow heirlooms are milder in taste, whilst the red are tarte and the green have a light zesty taste. The darker almost purple heirlooms are more savoury than sweet.

Cherry Tomato

Small, round and often sold on the vine and in protective packaging to keep from bruising, but only due to their size and they tend to be firmer than larger varieties of tomato. As the name indicates they are usually a vibrant cherry red, but can sometimes be orange and as they are vine ripened are usually a sweeter variety.

Plum Tomato

Also known as Roma tomatoes, these are larger and more oblong in shape with blunt ends compared with cherry tomatoes. Plum tomatoes are most commonly used in cooking such as pasta sauces, tomato puree and tinned tomatoes as they are a dense, meaty variety with less water content.

Inca Tomatoes

Like Heirlooms, Inca tomatoes are an array of colours and irregular shapes and sizes, sometimes with ridges and bobbles. They are a sweeter variety perfect for salads and garnishing.

Beef Tomatoes

As the name implies beefsteak tomatoes are beefy and one of the largest varieties. With a flatter more oval shape and pronounced ribbing, they’re thick skinned and fleshy and have a mild taste, so are often used on burgers and sandwiches or for grilling and stuffing.

Our Tomatoes

We stock all sorts of tomatoes for all uses! Here you can find some of the varieties of tomatoes we stock, when available. Please contact our team to discuss your requirements, or login to our online ordering or app to place your order for tomatoes.

Tomatoes

Tomato Baby Plum

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Tomatoes

Tomato Beef

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Tomatoes

Tomato Cherry On Vine

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Tomatoes

Tomato Inca

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Tomatoes

Tomato Large On Vine

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Soups, Sauces & Dips

Tomato Salsa

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Tomato Recipes

Here’s some delicious recipe inspiration for your menus featuring tomatoes.

Recipe

Burrata, Wild Garlic, Baby Leeks, Toasted Hazelnuts & Heritage Tomatoes

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Recipe

Heritage Tomato Salad Topped Sourdough – Whipped Goats Cheese And Pickled Pink Onions

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Recipe

Pan Fried Mackerel Fillets, BLT Salad – Heritage Tomato, Little Gem, Smoked Bacon Lardons, Herb Mayo Dressing

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