A Journal of Urban Living

Tomato tasting at Loteria Grill

Today we went to a tomato tasting at Loteria Grill in Hollywood.It was hosted by Tomatomania! who sold us all those interesting seedlings last March, a food blog I’ve never heard of called SippitySup and Loteria. Admission was one homegrown, correctly identified tomato — which for us means FREE! because we are swimming in tomatoes.

We decided to pick the tomatoes just a couple hours before, but the plants have slowed down a bit. There was only one ripe Black from Tula. I forgot to pick the adorable little Red Currants who live in a container out back unfortunately. That’s ok tho, b/c I got to show them off at a party a couple weeks back — I brought a small salad bowl full, and people ate them like candy.

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Figures that we leave town for 10 days, just as the first tomato is beginning to blush. Not that I’m complaining about a vacation!

Well, now we’re back and there are more tomatoes than I know what to do with.

basket of goodness

In the hat, Ramapo. In the basket, start at the Gypsy pepper and go clockwise: Ramapo, Black from Tula, Costoluto Genevese, Jaune Flame. Also Swiss chard (Neon variety) and radishes.

ripe

You can’t tell, but the plants are so heavy with fruit and branches that they’re toppling over their sturdy cages. That’s the Jaune Flame on the left with the orange orbs of goodness. The best producer is definitely the Ramapo. The prettiest are the wrinkly Black from Tulas that go from burgundy at the bottom to dark greet at the neck.

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Purchased as seedlings March 29 at Tomatomania! and planted about a week after that. We amended the soil with “zoo poo” — free compost custom blended by the Dept. of Parks and Rec. with herbivore excrement from the LA Zoo in their custom mixer. It was broken down for a while earlier this year because of an OSHA investigation (yikes!) so we are glad the piles of compost are back. At the lovely compost center, they also sell composters and free mulch. So far we’ve stayed away from the mulch because it might contain eucalyptus, which has some nasty chemicals which inhibit growth or sprouting.

The plants have gotten one treatment of fish juice and are laden with blossoms, flowers and fruit.

Black from Tula (where is Tula anyway?)

We chose varieties for variety (duh!) and suitability to our climate — a blazing hot hillside about 15 miles inland between the LA basin and the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. Pure Mediterranean. The tomato was domesticated and bred not far from here in Mexico, so we’re hopeful.

• Costoluto Genevese: an ugly Italian heirloom that does well in the heat
• Black from Tula: tasty heirloom that’s more like purple than black
• Ramapo: a hybrid beefsteak developed by Rutgers and named after the NJ hills where I grew up
• Jaune Flame: a productive golfball-size orange
• Country Taste: another hybrid that likes the heat

Behind our apartment building we have three pots so we chose 3 varieties that do well in tight quarters:

• Red Currant: the tiniest cherries of them all. So cute you want to string them on a necklace!
• ???: already forgot what this one is but it’s red and suited to containers.
• a volunteer: We planted cherries and heirlooms in pots in the backyard last year, recycled some of the soil and this one popped up in a houseplant! He’s doing great now, so we’ll see what he is.