"Monsters"- from a Portuguese market.

[michael johnson]

I have just returned from a very nice visit of portugal, which was primarily a bit of a pilgrimage to see the Shrine of Fatima in northern Portugal-which was indeed well worth seeing-wonderous and awe inspiring to say the least-very beautifull especialy the main Basilica with the statue of our Lady on top wearing a crown of real gold that shone in the sunlight for miles to see,apparently all the women of portugal gave small pieces of gold jewelry towards making the crown itself- I came away from the visit feeling spiritualy uplifted, but humbled by it all- I could recomend it to anyone.

We were based in the Algarve area of portugal and had to make long coach excursions from there to any place we fancied during our stay, the main problem with the Algarve is total lack of shops close by where you can purchase your basic daily needs,theres just hot crowded beaches- beautifull sea and temp raging in the 35 degrees region day after day, between the beach and where the main shops start is usualy about four miles inland,so every itme its a trip by minibus just to shop.


One day we decided to take a trip to Loule market which had a bustling gypsy market where all the usual leather goods and clothing can be bought and bartered for, them we decided to try and find the local Fruit Market, after about half an hour we eventualy found it- inside was a real husstle busstle of activity going on- local traders and small holders were selling their products on long lines of stalls-my wife shreiked look at that monster-I turned and looked-only to find she was refering to a huge 30lb watermelon,walking a bit further I suddenly spotted some more monsters-but this time they were tomatoes-I said to my wife-just look at these monsters-and there were four of the biggest tomatoes I have ever seen-a woman just pipped me at the post for the very biggest one which must have topped 5 -1/2 lb easily, but I managed to secure one of around a touch over 4-1/2lb when they weighed it, and another around 3-1/2 lb.I asked the owner what variety they were and with an interpreter we managed to gather that he didnt know what they called them but they were originaly from seed of his grandfather gave him which he saves every year for them to grow more, I also purchased some very sweet long roma type tomatoes- of which I can only describe the flavour as being like tomato ketchup in a skin- very nice indeed-smooth firm flesh with juicy tangy seeds and gel a very good general purpose tomato,-the large monster tomatoes turned out to have a very good flavour also-they were so huge when you put them on a flat surface their own weight started to squash the base in a bit, a bit further on I bought a couple more of the monters from another stall holder who had simular ones of over 3lb in weight.

Apparently -all the tomatoes on sale there are grown in impoverished local soil outside in the open in fields or plots, with no added fertiliser at all- just think that with the right culture and plenty of good fertiliser I can visulise 6lb'ers a possibilty in forthcoming seasons,we went on to buy 3 kilos of ripe figs--which we ate all of on the way back home to the appartment- (but thats another story" of a fast sprint to be first indoors ) and my wife would insist on buying this huge 30lb watermelon she saw-we eventualy carried it back to the coach by making a hammock for it out of a large plastic bag and grabbing two corners each and carrying it between us in 100 yard stops and starts the half mile back to the coach-what an effort in 36 degrees of hot sun.

Needless to say when I got back to the apartment I hunted around for a plastic tea strainer, and some polythene clear food bags, and feverishly set about de-seeding the tomatoes and cleaning them in the strainer under a running tap of cold water, and putting them to dry on the polythene bags, which they did beautifully- and where done to a turn in about five days,and then bagged up seperatly and named roughly which was which etc.

If anyone wants to have a go and try some of these unusual seeds for next season they are quite welcome to try some, as I shall have about 20 pkts of around ten seeds in each to spare, and a few pkts of the roma type if anyone wants to give them a go- just let me know around early sept and place your order, for some suitable exchange with another seed variety, or failing that and you just want to try a few with no exchange thats perfectly ok too.

I am entering the Portuguese giant -seeds, and the roma type on my exchange list also in the other TV exchanges section. :wink: