You say tomato.....

I am one of a few people who has been known to strongly dispute the membership in the fruit family of the tomato.

That was until today when I was shown how they should be grown in a proper, cared for garden greenhouse, fully organic, ventilated and tended.

I came away with not only an education on how to successfully cultivate a tomato but also a carrier bag full of four varieties, each a celebration of colour, shape and .......yes, I did sneak a taste before showing them off to the family upon my return home. Gorgeously delicious.

Of course, such was my amazement at the sight of the vertically strung vines with their heavy slung crop that I was not really listening to Dennis, the grower, when he described the individual types and their names and origins. This is quite shameful and disrespectful on my part. I have therefore only laymans terms to try to convey what the tremendous fruits look like and what they taste of.

Here is my big tomato taste off experience.

Tomato Type 1. I have called this the human heart because of its distinctive shape. Tapering down to a delicate flat nosed point, quite sensual in appearance and with a finely natural stitched seam in the best handiwork of a skillful surgeon. The stem  is tightly bunched around the crown and with that very distinctive smell that reminds me of sneaking into Uncle Harolds Greenhouse when I was young, must have been about 1968. A sharp knife cut through the soft flesh reveals the dense, juicy flesh almost like a water melon without this pips and yet more of that evocative fresh flavour that only a tomato, harvested within the last 2 hours can provide.

Tomato Type 2. Nectarine. Pure fruit in style and texture. Sweet tasting and making it necessary to put both my shirt and tie into an overnight wash following the pressurised escape of finely shaped seeds upon first bite. The red ripeness is tempered by a dusting of green around the stem but otherwise unblemished from careful tending and nurturing through the early weeks of becoming established on the vine. There has been some threat from a leaf based mite ( I was listening at that moment) which works its way between the inner and outer surfaces of the leaf of the vine leaving a trail like a demented woodworm. It has been a constant battle to counter such threats in the growing season.

Tomato Type 3. Money Maker. This is an actual variety of widespread commercial growing and most likely to be the one packed and sealed by your local supermarket at 6 for £1. It has, in the interests of longevity and volume, been tampered with on a regular basis with genetic modifications and cross fertilisation with other types. It resembles a standard tomato in size and texture and is very much a pale imitation of what I have referred to as the human heart and the nectarine. It still has its merits of ease of cooking, storage and preservation and no doubt would make a great chutney.

Tomato Type 4. Traffic light. The smallest variety of tomato in my carrier bag of spoils from Dennis's garden with red, orange and green colouration and still on the vine in long strands, tight and firm. Unfortuately they had worked their way to the bottom of the bag and under the sheer and dense goodness of the rest of the larger sized crop were a bit crushed and split with seeds spilling out. I had to resort to eating these first. A few sneaked out from the admiring gaze of the children and like forbidden fruit, savoured and enjoyed immensely. I will hang up the vines for a few days to allow the green tomato's to ripen a bit more as I am led to understand will be the natural process.

I have taken a  few photographs of the visual and taste feast that I have been privileged to receive and will look forward to working my way through the sensational textures and sweetness of what is now my firm number one favourite fruit.