The Tomatoes Are Ready And So Are We 6/25/2015
Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high liquid content, very soft flesh which breaks down easily, and the right composition to thicken into a sauce when they are cooked (without the need of thickeners such as roux). All of these qualities make them ideal for simple and appealing sauces. The simplest tomato sauces consist just of chopped tomato flesh cooked in a little olive oil and simmered until it loses its raw flavor, and seasoned with salt.
Optionally tomato skins may be scalded and peeled according to texture (especially thicker pelati paste varieties) and tomato seeds may be removed to avoid their bitterness.
They do not get fresher than this
FArmer Paul ....Right out of the garden!
What is "wysiwyg" or wizzie wig? It's an old computer term for
"What You See Is What You Get"... When windows first came out!
We have oodles of them... We picked about 80 pounds today
While picking tomatoes we kept looking for cantaloupe
...
The blossoms are there but the fruit has not set yet
Be careful of the hot water
which is needed to expand the tomato and its skin
We keep the water boiling... The tomatoes need to stay in long enough to
get not but not long enough to cook
We the tomatoes into boiling water for a few minutes... Maybe 3-5 minutes
Then into a cold water bath... The tomato skin comes loose form the tomato!
The water
is cool and clean at first
but after 30 or so tomatoes...
The water gets warm and not so clear...
The skin almost falls off ... We refill the sink about three times
Did You Know? - How it all began. Tomatoes are thought to originate in Peru. The name comes from the Aztec "xitomatl," which means "plump thing with a navel".
When the tomato was introduced to Europe in the 1500s, The French called it "the apple of love."
The Germans called it "the apple of paradise."
Then you core and peel the tomatoes... After they cool down a bit
It is messy but worth it!
Did You Know? - Tomato cousins. Tomato is a cousin of the eggplant, red pepper, ground cherry, potato, and the highly toxic belladonna (a herbaceous perennial, also known as the nightshade or solanaccae, that has historically been used as both a medicine and poison).
Squish by hand to remove many of the seeds
and toss into a colander
Our green colander fits just right inside the white one so we can squeeze
as much moisture out of the tomato as we can
Now they are ready for the food processor
Into the processor they go!
Sue drives the processor and purees the tomatoes
Did You Know? - The heaviest tomato on record weighed in at 3.51 kg (7 pounds 12 ounces). A "delicious" variety, it was grown grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. Gordon sliced the tomato to make sandwiches for 21 family members.
The largest tomato plant (a "Sungold" variety), recorded in 2000, reached 19.8 meters (65 feet) in length and was grown by Nutriculture Ltd. of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest tomato tree grows at Walt Disney World Resort's experimental greenhouse and yields a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and weighs 1,151.84 pounds (522 kg). The plant was discovered in Beijing, China, by Yong Huang, Epcot's manager of agricultural science, who took its seeds and grew them in the experimental greenhouse. Today, the plant produces thousands of golf ball-sized tomatoes that are served at Walt Disney World's restaurants, and can be seen by tourists riding the "Living With the Land" boat ride at the Epcot Center.
Official veggie and official fruit. The tomato serves as both the official state vegetable and the official state fruit of Arkansas, in honor of the South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato, sometimes known as "Bradley Pink."
Official state beverage. Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio.
Then into the food processor
for about 30 seconds...
BTW... This food processor is over 40 years old!
...and finally into the pot to cook for four or more hours
Just getting started
but we filled both of these pots and had to add another!
We filled up both pots and them some
Let it lightly boil all afternoon to remove the excess water
...
The whole house smelled like tomato soup!
Beautiful color and smell
..
Just tomatoes!
We Use A Not-So-Secret Receipt...
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
from Macbeth
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
Enter the three Witches.
1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Six quarts of fresh tomato sauce is ready to be used!