Old Tomato Information!

I was looking on the internet for some good methods and recipes to prepare ripe tomatoes as a vegetable for dinner.

I found this informative page originally prepared by the Tuskegee Institute in April of 1918. It has some really informative information including some recommended varieties I've never heard of. It has some suggested methods for treating tomato diseases and pests. One concoction for moths and caterpillars included the use of acetate of lead. I bet that wouldn't go over well today. Some of the recipes sound really good, but I'm not sure where to get some fat back. I guess bacon will suffice.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...er_tomato.html

Ted

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tedln

I was looking on the internet for some good methods and recipes to prepare ripe tomatoes as a vegetable for dinner.

I found this informative page originally prepared by the Tuskegee Institute in April of 1918. It has some really informative information including some recommended varieties I've never heard of. It has some suggested methods for treating tomato diseases and pests. One concoction for moths and caterpillars included the use of acetate of lead. I bet that wouldn't go over well today. Some of the recipes sound really good, but I'm not sure where to get some fat back. I guess bacon will suffice.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...er_tomato.html

Ted

Ted, I've seen that link before and it was discussed elsewhere and yes, most of the varieties mentioned, with a few exceptions, are still around today. A couple of them are alternative names for varieties known by other names.

Interesting reading for sure, but what was done back then in terms of methods and potions used are not what we'd use today and that goes for most of the varieties as well.

Heck, back when I was a kid the Cornell Coop Ext was telling the farmers to mix this stuff in a big tub and spread it around plants to prevent cutworm attacks. It had molasses and orange slices and some kind of grains all mixed together in a gooeymess and smelled delicious when fresh, not so good as it aged, and no, it didn't deter Cutworms and they don't appear every year anyway.

Okay, I wasn't really taking it seriously; but I thought it was interesting including the recipes. I didn't find a recipe for tomatoes that appealed to me, so I cooked some bell pepper and onion, added some yellow squash slices, and topped it with the golf ball size Fourth Of July tomatoes. I seasoned it with basil, salt, and pepper. Every thing but the salt and black pepper came from my garden. It was a very tasty use for the tomatoes.

Carolyn, did you notice the treatment for Black Mold? "scrape the dirt away from the plant down to the top roots. When the mold stops attacking the plant, replace the dirt".

Ted

[casserole]

I liked this part "Tomatoes like the soil about them kept loose and mellow "

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tedln

Okay, I wasn't really taking it seriously; but I thought it was interesting including the recipes. I didn't find a recipe for tomatoes that appealed to me, so I cooked some bell pepper and onion, added some yellow squash slices, and topped it with the golf ball size Fourth Of July tomatoes. I seasoned it with basil, salt, and pepper. Every thing but the salt and black pepper came from my garden. It was a very tasty use for the tomatoes.

Carolyn, did you notice the treatment for Black Mold? "scrape the dirt away from the plant down to the top roots. When the mold stops attacking the plant, replace the dirt".

Ted

What you describe is what I call my summer stew and that means putting in a pot anything that's ripe out there which usually means summer squash, several kinds, peppers, onions, eggplant, small carrots, those small white turnips, tomatoes for sure and whatever else, simmer gently until almost cooked with some fresh basil, drain, add salt and pepper and butter and bits of sharp cheddar cheese, put the cover back on until the cheese melts, stir a bit...... and then feast on it.

[Stepheninky]

Originally Posted by tedln

I was looking on the internet for some good methods and recipes to prepare ripe tomatoes as a vegetable for dinner.

I found this informative page originally prepared by the Tuskegee Institute in April of 1918. It has some really informative information including some recommended varieties I've never heard of. It has some suggested methods for treating tomato diseases and pests. One concoction for moths and caterpillars included the use of acetate of lead. I bet that wouldn't go over well today. Some of the recipes sound really good, but I'm not sure where to get some fat back. I guess bacon will suffice.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...er_tomato.html

Ted

Fat back is just that it is a piece of fat from the back portion of a pig. Some people also use salt pork (both look similar and look like a slab of bacon without the meaty parts.) Fat back is uncured and salt pork is cured. Yes you can also substitute bacon though I will list some more southern (and also soul food ((a lot of southern and southern based soul foods are the same foods and fixed in much the same manner)) Really in the south with the exception of a few ethnic dishes they (southern and soul foods) originated from best utilizing what they had or could get at a cheap price. So a lot the foods were at one time were economic based regardless of other factors such as color etc...

Either way and sorry for the drawn out post, other substitutions would be Jowl (pigs cheek and is similar to bacon with a bit higher fat content, hamhock (the top part of a ham that it is usually hung from when curing), Ham, you can also use neck bones (pork neck bones) or even Ox tail (the tail of a cow) Any of these can be used when seasoning southern dishes. Seasoning is the term we use down here. A lot of the poorer and rural south either could not afford large quantities of meat and/or were not industrialized like the north (most meat packing and large commercial type slaughter houses were located in the north in places like Chicago and New York) So you could not just walk into the store and buy a steak. So by using the cheaper cuts you could stretch out your supply of meats and above that impart great flavor to your foods.

As far as southern tomato based recipes with the exception of fried green tomatoes and eating fresh sliced tomatoes with salt on them for breakfast, supper (lunch) and dinner most of the southern tomato recipes are stews and soup based recipes as canning was a must (it is too hot down here for Ice houses to be used and again soups and stews were a frugal way of feeding a lot of people for less. Where my grandpa lived in KY was and still is a poor area, as a kid I remember visiting peoples houses that had no power, no water, no plumbing. In the cooler months if we wanted to keep something cold like cokes (any soda product) we would lower them in to the creek on strings or in winter they were keep at the foot of the guest bedroom bed ( I awoke many a times to the sound of an RC cola bottle exploding from freezing) Just so you folks know I am just 36 years old.

Gramps even up in till my teens used to smoke his own Hams (county hams) and we would place slabs of bacon in wooden boxes that we packed with salt. You have to pack the salt so tight to prevent any air pockets, those were then placed in the smoke house to cure.

Anyways sorry again for the tangent. Just trying to paint the image of where southern food comes from and what it is to me. I watch cooking shows and and try to read southern cookbooks but most of the time they are ritzed up recipes or even just outlandish. Most of what I would call real southern cooking is just simple but very good comfort type foods. For all our sakes please do not even get me started on Paula Dean and the likes LOL.

Hey Steph, I grew up poor in the south so I'm pretty familiar with everything you mentioned. I still enjoy the southern comfort foods. Maybe thats why I enjoy brisket and ribs so much. We did cool our watermelons and RC cola in a horse trough with a block of ice in it. I'm always looking for a southern comfort way of preparing the produce from my garden. Have you ever sliced up cucumbers and onions into a water/vinegar mix with some black pepper and refrigerate overnight? I still season a pot of red beans with some sliced, smoked hog jowl.Thats southern comfort.

Ted

[Stepheninky]

For cucumbers what most people do here is slice them up and put them in a bowl with water and salt and let them sit in the fridge, they are like a southern potato chip lol

[cloz]

For cucumbers I like a water/vinegar mix with chopped dill. Add thinly sliced cucumbers and let them sit in the fridge over night. Delicious.

[WVTomatoMan]

I too found that link a while back and found it an interesting read. I am fascinated by old time methods and vegetable varieties. I like reading about them and hearing about them.

I have the luxury of having access to some old timers. For instance, my buddy "Spud" is a wealth of information. I get some tidbit from every conversation we have. Spud is 85 and still gardens although he gets some help these days. He took to gardening from the get-go and started helping his father in the garden at age 8. He's talked about everything from old timey varieties (Stone, Break 'O Day and Bonnie Best to name a few) to techniques. As far as techniques all the growers in Back Creek Valley used to "hill" their tomato plants. Some people around here still do that. Carolyn has some good stuff too...speaking of which....

@Carolyn:
I've tried to figure out what the fascination old timers had with molasses. They did a lot with it and it seems like they called for dried molasses quite a bit.

Here's my concoction. Jalapenos, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. The first picture is the ingredients and the second is prepared.

Randy
Garden2005mmmSideDish001.jpgGarden2005mmmSideDish003.jpg

Randy,

I use the dried molasses with alfalfa pellets in my garden bed preparation each fall. The dried molasses is simply crushed soybeans or corn soaked in Molasses and then dried. It is normally sold as a food supplement for horses. The purpose for the molasses is to enhance microbial action in the soil and deliver some minerals. The alfalfa is nothing but food for earthworms.

Your dish looks much like the dish I prepared. I normally would have topped mine with cheese and seasoned Italian bread crumbs before baking. The wife and I are losing a little weight so the cheese and bread crumbs were left off. My wife can't eat the jalapenos so I used a bell pepper instead. I think next time, I will use poblano pepper instead for a little more pepper flavor. I had a huge crop of very large sweet onions this year, so I have to include them in the dish as well.

Ted

[sic transit gloria]

Originally Posted by tedln

Hey Steph, I grew up poor in the south so I'm pretty familiar with everything you mentioned. I still enjoy the southern comfort foods. Maybe thats why I enjoy brisket and ribs so much. We did cool our watermelons and RC cola in a horse trough with a block of ice in it. I'm always looking for a southern comfort way of preparing the produce from my garden. Have you ever sliced up cucumbers and onions into a water/vinegar mix with some black pepper and refrigerate overnight? I still season a pot of red beans with some sliced, smoked hog jowl.Thats southern comfort.

Ted

Your cucumber and onion dish is exactly what we do in our house. I prefer more white vinegar than water, kosher salt, a little pepper. Sliced cucumbers and onions are added and refrigerate. But it doesn't end there...no, no. The trick is to get your brine set up and as you eat the cukes and onions, you add more to the same brine all summer long. It'll be August and you'll find a slice of cucumber that has been in there for a long time and man, those pack the real vinegar whallop. I learned this method from my grandparents.

My grandmother always kept this cut glass cruet filled with vinegar on the dining table in the summer. It had a glass stopper and you would sort of lift it slightly and pour out vinegar onto whatever you liked...usually steamed spinach. Much better with vinegar, imo.

Then there's the fried zukes and onions

Originally Posted by sic transit gloria

Your cucumber and onion dish is exactly what we do in our house. I prefer more white vinegar than water, kosher salt, a little pepper. Sliced cucumbers and onions are added and refrigerate. But it doesn't end there...no, no. The trick is to get your brine set up and as you eat the cukes and onions, you add more to the same brine all summer long. It'll be August and you'll find a slice of cucumber that has been in there for a long time and man, those pack the real vinegar whallop. I learned this method from my grandparents.

My grandmother always kept this cut glass cruet filled with vinegar on the dining table in the summer. It had a glass stopper and you would sort of lift it slightly and pour out vinegar onto whatever you liked...usually steamed spinach. Much better with vinegar, imo.

Then there's the fried zukes and onions

Yep, I forgot to mention that you can use the vinegar mixture all summer. Just keep adding cucumber slices and onion slices to the mixture.

I once gardened in my back yard which had a four foot chain link fence around it. I had neighbors on both sides and behind the house. I would typically fill Walmart bags with veggies and hang them on the fence for the neighbors. The neighbor behind the house was ex military whose wife was born and raised in Germany. One day, they brought me some small aluminum foil packets of herb mixtures which they used on cucumber slices by mixing the contents of a packet with olive oil. The ladies family in Germany kept them supplied with the packets. Because the contents were in German, I have no idea what was in them, but it was really, really good.

Ted