My Blood Type is Tomato Juice

I have begun my transformation.  A recent email by my friend Margaret McCormick , the former food editor for the Syracuse Post Standard, alerted me to the fact the heirlooms are now on the stand at Schoolhouse Farms in Borodino.

Not for three summers has the crop of these treasures been so successful.   The abundance this year of heat, sunshine and just enough rain has the Schoolhouse Farmers bringing tomatoes to the classy stand on Rose Hill Road by the bushel.

I arrived yesterday to buy everything they had, but even my overdue appetite for this favorite veggie was no match for the yield.  Two large boxes later, I hardly put a dent in the supply.  There is plenty more for all who wish to take the scenic drive to the farm.

My supply of heirloom tomatoes

I am a feast or famine gal.  When something is in season I eat it until I can’t take it anymore and then it takes a full 11 months to want it again.  That’s how I handle the “dry” months when produce gets transported from Argentina and much of the flavor is missing.   Even local tomatoes fresh off the vine are dull compared to the robust flavor of heirlooms.  That’s because scientists have spent a century trying to create a super tomato; combining a version that resists disease with another that handles drought.  They take the end result and combine it with a tomato that produces good color, and on and on it goes.  The problem is, every tomato tastes pretty much the same.  Aside from the texture and size, a beefsteak tomato tastes like a grape tomato.

Heirloom veggies and Bram, Beryl, Morel and Finan Malcolm

Heirlooms are different.  They’re like purebreds, unique from one another in appearance and flavor.  Slice a variety of heirloom tomatoes, sprinkle with sea salt and let the taste test begin.  Once you start, it’s hard to stop, and if you don’t stop your blood turns to tomato juice like mine.

I don’t know of any supermarket or local farm with the variety of heirlooms as Schoolhouse Farms, on Rose Hill Road in Borodino.  Their roadside stand is open for business from 9:00 am until dark and there are other unusual vegetables as well; chocolate peppers, scallopini squash, okra, to name a few.   Richard and Rebecca and their four school aged children are knowledgeable and eager to share ways to use it all.   You can also find the Schoolhouse Farmers at the Skaneateles Farmer’s Market at the Community Center, Thursdays 3:30 till 6:30 and Saturdays from 10:00 till 1:00.

Heirlooms cost a little more, but they taste a little "more" too.

Next time I’ll include a few recipes for heirloom tomatoes, or any tomato for that matter.  But the heirloom harvest is so outstanding this year you’d be cheating yourself out of something special.  Get some before they’re gone for another year.

Tagged as: Heirloom tomatoes, Schoolhouse Farms, upstate New York Farming