Are you a tomato lover or...

[TZ-OH6]

Are you a tomato lover or tomato snob?


I feel bad for not being a tomato lover because I don't think of myself as being the snobbish type but I just can't bring myself to eat a storebought tomato in the off season or even my own tomatoes near the end of the season when flavor falls off. During the season when I have more than I can use I'll spit out and toss what would be a fairly good fruit any other time and place and I'll reach for something better. My mother, on the other hand, is a tomato lover and has to have some sort of tomato on her salad almost every night. She is perfectly happy with anything out of the garden, and buys from the market as soon as the long keepers in the basement run out.

I am a scotch whisky snob because most of the common stuff (J&B, Cutty Sark etc) makes me wretch and always has, but the best beer is free beer, the second best beer is whatever is in the refrigerator, and if someone left a box of wine on my doorstep I would drink it without complaint, maybe add some ice cubes and make a face at the first sip, but it wouldn't go to waste. Boxed mac and cheese is a different matter. if it isn't Kraft it isn't worth boiling the water.

[Worth1]

My high class boss called me a food snob some time ago at work. I must say I was very honored to have such a man of social status to make this comment.
It blows people away at work that with my southern accent and shoot from the hip attitude that I wont drink swill of any kind and rarely drink beer from anytihng but a real glass.
I cant remember the last time I drank from a can or even had a beer that started life in a can.
The only tea I drink is a high grade loose leaf tea I purchase from a middle eastern market.
As tomatoes go in the off season I will buy the little grape tomatoes from the store and that is just about it.
Yes I am a tomato lover but I refuse to eat something that would be better off used as a cannon ball.

No I will not pass judgment on others it is just a strange behavior I have picked up in past years.

Worth

[Tormato]

TZ,

You shoudn't get me started on mac & cheese.

Including Kra*, all boxed mac & cheese would be no worse if the box was also boiled. From scratch is the snobbish??? way for me.

Tormato

P.S. * You may substitute a "p" for the "ft".

[cleo88]

You raise a good question. I am not sure what I am going to do when the home grown tomatoes run out, which will happen very soon here in Massachusetts. 2009 was my first year growing from seed and it was a bust - Late Blight took everything in mid August. So this is the first year we've had a constant stream of tomatoes since the end of July, and man, are we spoiled.

So can I go from November to July without a tomato? I doubt I will, but I might be holding my nose.

I guess I think of it in terms of whether you are a tomato gourmet or a tomato gourmand (if I've spelled those correctly), and I ain't no gourmand.

[habitat_gardener]

I'm a homegrown produce snob! After tasting strawberries, cucumbers, summer squash, beans, and tomatoes from my garden, I can't bring myself to eat those fruits and vegetables from the store. Strawberries, especially, were a revelation. I've tasted some strawberries at farmers' markets, and some have come close but are not quite the same.

The only tomatoes that get composted are the rare spitters. Every other tomato gets eaten or given away, and if I have too many getting ripe at once, I cook some. I even gleaned a few pounds of tomatoes from a friend's plants, which she gave me to compost. She had Sungold and probably some hybrids, some of which are almost as bland as supermarket tomatoes, but I saved them all and it's interesting to compare them.

One year I bought a punnet of grape tomatoes in the winter, and I ended up composting most of them. Frost takes the last of my plants in early December, and usually I have some greenies that ripen through Dec. Then I buy at least a couple plants in Feb. or March so I can have fresh tomatoes in May. But from Jan. to May, I don't eat tomatoes. I do use tomato paste, though.

[rxkeith]

i am a tomato lover which is why i grow them. i rarely buy them from the store though because store bought never resembles the tomatoes that i love. i am becoming something of a green tea snob. we bought some longjing tea from a tea plantation in china when we were there in january. first harvest, really good. pricy, but worth it. the tea has a rich, mellow flavor that rises above anything else i have tried.
garlic is another thing i just can't bring myself to buy store bought. i grow several varieties, and usually have enough to last the year. long keepers like nootka rose get eaten last. they keep a loooooonnnng time.

keith

[cottonpicker]

I don't like stereotyping folks as "snobs" or anything else, but I agree pretty much with Worth..... life is too short to waste it on bad beer. I like better brew and I don't buy it in cans--ever! Drink mine from a clean glass or mug so I can appreciate the color, nose and frothy head. Seems to add to the "pleasure of the moment". My dear Mom always bought Romas for her salads in winter, but I don't buy grocery store tomatoes, except the grape tomatoes (Santa Sweets) during wintertime. Just my 2¢
"worth".

A really good steak is the only thing I get a little snobbish about. Tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, onions, and other veggie's are highly preferred from my garden, but when the garden is resting; I take what I can get. I may be a beer snob because if I don't have a Shiner Bach around every month or so, I will wait another month or so before I have a beer. If it still isn't handy, I can wait until it is.

Ted

[tam91]

Snob. Well there are a few store-bought tomatoes that are ok in cooking, but not really raw. Real beer does not come out of cans (unless it's being stuck inside a chicken, but I digress). And I'm a "snob" for food being made from good quality ingredients, and prepared well. I don't need fancy, I like all sorts of stuff - but not if it's cooked badly.

Oh yes, mac-n-cheese - homemade, with bacon, peppers, onions, and tomatoes... mmm....

[mjc]

First off, if you must eat the boxed stuff...DON'T follow the directions to make the sauce...don't use margarine (EVER)...use real butter (unsalted, there's enough salt in the powder to preserve a horse) and melt it, on low heat. Then sprinkle in the orange powder (while the pan is still on the heat); stir constantly. Then slowly add the milk (whole milk only...or better yet half and half), while still stirring...only add enough to make a sauce of medium consistency...that's probably not going to use all the milk called (sometimes, though it will be more milk). Then remove from the heat and stir in the boiled pasta.

If you must use a store bought tomato, in the off season, the Romas or 'stem' tomatoes are often the better flavored ones. But if you have to use one of the 'baseballs', try to get it a few days before you need it and let it sit on the counter.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by cottonpicker

I don't like stereotyping folks as "snobs" or anything else, but I agree pretty much with Worth..... life is too short to waste it on bad beer. I like better brew and I don't buy it in cans--ever! Drink mine from a clean glass or mug so I can appreciate the color, nose and frothy head. Seems to add to the "pleasure of the moment". My dear Mom always bought Romas for her salads in winter, but I don't buy grocery store tomatoes, except the grape tomatoes (Santa Sweets) during wintertime. Just my 2¢
"worth".

Romas for salads in winter... I cannot add to that. That's the only way for me, also.

Originally Posted by mjc

First off, if you must eat the boxed stuff...DON'T follow the directions to make the sauce...don't use margarine (EVER)...use real butter (unsalted, there's enough salt in the powder to preserve a horse) and melt it, on low heat. Then sprinkle in the orange powder (while the pan is still on the heat); stir constantly. Then slowly add the milk (whole milk only...or better yet half and half), while still stirring...only add enough to make a sauce of medium consistency...that's probably not going to use all the milk called (sometimes, though it will be more milk). Then remove from the heat and stir in the boiled pasta.

If you must use a store bought tomato, in the off season, the Romas or 'stem' tomatoes are often the better flavored ones. But if you have to use one of the 'baseballs', try to get it a few days before you need it and let it sit on the counter.

My grandkids grew up believing Mac & Cheese was a vegetable variety. If they had some meat with Mac & Cheese, they had a well balanced meal. It was a fast and easy meal to fill that spare thirty minutes between soccer practice and a ball game. They were not connoisseurs. If it was kinda orange or yellow in color with macaroni in it, that was good enough. If it spent a day in the refrigerator, they could hold it like a brick and just eat it like finger food. If they asked why the colors were never the same, they were told it depended on the growing season it was harvested in. My 27 year old grandson is just now learning that if you mix some green leafy vegetables and put some dressing on it, it is called a salad. If it has some of those red things called tomatoes on it, he won't touch it. We are afraid that someone, someday; will tell him where ketchup comes from.

Ted

[mjc]

Originally Posted by tedln

My 27 year old grandson is just now learning that if you mix some green leafy vegetables and put some dressing on it, it is called a salad. If it has some of those red things called tomatoes on it, he won't touch it. We are afraid that someone, someday; will tell him where ketchup comes from.

Ted

My daughter, when she was about 3, used to carry a salt shaker into the garden...and she wasn't slug hunting. Now, 13 yrs later, unless they are 'sauced' tomatoes are vile, gross and won't pass her lips, if they are the last thing to eat, on the planet.

[cleo88]

I'm gonna agree with the Roma-tolerant folks out there - they really are the best choice in supermarket over the winter. Not great, of course, but WAY better than anything round and red on the shelves.

Originally Posted by cleo88

I'm gonna agree with the Roma-tolerant folks out there - they really are the best choice in supermarket over the winter. Not great, of course, but WAY better than anything round and red on the shelves.

The grocery store Romas work for us in the winter. I don't really like them, but they do add some color. I grew some Romas this year to see if home grown Romas are any better than store bought Romas. They aren't. Have you noticed that the store bought Romas now have a waxy, oily, coating on them? That doubles the repulsion factor for me.

Ted