# The first tomato **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236 "2017-08-10T08:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/1 "2017-08-10T08:52:51Z")
Folks, tonight I ate the first tomato off the plants in my garden. And it tasted sooooo good! I realize that some of you enjoy garden-fresh tomatoes year-round, but up here in Alberta, we have a short growing season. It’s long enough for us to grow tomatoes, but just barely. So I was pleased when this one ripened early. I sliced it up, and ate it. Mmm, good! So much better than supermarket tomatoes that have travelled a few thousand miles. Mundane and pointless, but I had to share. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/2 "2017-08-10T09:28:04Z")
> [@](#): > > The tomato is the edible fruit of Solanum lycopersicum commonly known as a tomato plant, which belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae. > > The species originated in Central and South America. The Nahuatl (Aztec language) word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word “tomate”, from which the English word tomato originates. We still don’t know about the _ **first** _ tomato. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/3 "2017-08-10T11:44:36Z")
Here in Northern Ohio, the first from our gardens usually hit about now. We had Southern Ohio tomatoes in the local market about two weeks ago and they were the first good ones of the year. I’ve been feasting on tomato and fried egg sandwiches and BLTs every other day. Eat 'em while you can. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/4 "2017-08-10T11:52:20Z")
I am envious. This year, I’m trying an heirloom variety that normally grow in the ground (I grow in pots). I have some small tomatoes, but they are slooooow. Also, they want water every damn day. Prima donas, this batch! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/5 "2017-08-10T12:28:14Z")
I am growing several different tomato varieties this year. The best-tasting ([Purple Calabash](http://goodmindseeds.org/product/purple-calabash/)) is also the ugliest (full of wrinkles, it’s the Shar-Pei of tomatoes). It has almost a wine-like flavor. I’ve also started to not refrigerate newly-picked tomatoes (refrigeration is supposed to kill the taste, though I’m still on the fence about that). I’ll say this for supermarket tomatoes - in recent years some offerings have been pretty good, especially the smaller sorts (you can even find “heirloom” varieties on occasion). My father used to start making pilgrimages to buy the huge “Jersey” tomatoes that appeared in farmers’ markets around this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/6 "2017-08-10T13:08:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I am growing several different tomato varieties this year. The best-tasting ([Purple Calabash](http://goodmindseeds.org/product/purple-calabash/)) is also the ugliest (full of wrinkles, it’s the Shar-Pei of tomatoes). It has almost a wine-like flavor. > > **I’ve also started to not refrigerate newly-picked tomatoes (refrigeration is supposed to kill the taste, though I’m still on the fence about that).** > I’ll say this for supermarket tomatoes - in recent years some offerings have been pretty good, especially the smaller sorts (you can even find “heirloom” varieties on occasion). > > My father used to start making pilgrimages to buy the huge “Jersey” tomatoes that appeared in farmers’ markets around this time of year. Cook’s Illustrated did a study that found no difference between refrigerated and unrefrigerated tomatoes except that the fridge ones lasted twice as long. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/7 "2017-08-10T17:35:51Z")
If there are no perfectly ripe, warmed by the sun, tomatoes to pick directly off the plant and eat like apples in heaven, then I have a much-diminished interest in the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/8 "2017-08-10T18:29:24Z")
I wish I could say I was harvesting right now. Some accursed rats and their evil cousins, grey squirrels, have been nabbing all my tomatoes just as they ripen. Are air rifles legal in the suburbs? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/9 "2017-08-10T19:33:07Z")
I’ve been unable to garden the past two years due to health problems ☹ . Fortunately, this year a friend has been bringing me some of their surplus. When you haven’t had home grown for awhile, you forget how damned good it is. “Only two things that money won’t buy, and that’s true love and home grown tomatoes.” [Guy Clark, _Home Grown Tomatoes_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QzLIjL1u4) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/10 "2017-08-11T08:24:24Z")
Quick – look up recipes for Green Tomato desserts. Pie is best but nobody makes pie crust anymore, so just make pie filling and eat it as a dessert. Or fried green tomatoes, which is a real thing, very popular in Kansas and Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/11 "2017-08-11T10:35:18Z")
I’m experimenting with a balcony mini-garden this summer. The tomato plants I got are bearing small fruits, but they sure are tasty. They’re ripening at a pretty good rate. My first harvest, I got 15 (the size of cherry tomatoes); the other day, I picked 24. Pretty good for one pot, I think. They’ve even got some fresh blossoms; with any luck, I’ll be able to pick new tomatoes periodically until the frost gets the plants. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/12 "2017-08-11T17:57:54Z")
I’m looking forward to my first Ramapo on maybe, Sunday. BLT! And then a Rutgers 250 in about 10 days, maybe less. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/13 "2017-08-11T20:42:44Z")
I look forward to tomato season every year like a child looks forward to Christmas. Most folks thing that’s strange. Best way to eat them: tomato in one hand, salt shaker in the other, leaning over the sink. mmm ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/14 "2017-08-13T02:26:27Z")
MMM You and I would get along famously during tomato season, I think sir, until it got down to the last tomato, then a duel to finish. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/15 "2017-08-13T13:49:26Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > MMM > You and I would get along famously during tomato season, I think sir, until it got down to the last tomato, then a duel to finish. Ditto. My tomato season(s) are about the opposite of the OP. Just last week I tore out the last of the Spring tomatoes. This year I tried a couple of the new heat-resistant varieties, and the (relatively mild this year) Texas summer was too much even for them. But I had delicious eat-from-the-hand tomatoes, one-slice-makes-a-sandwich tomatoes, salad tomatoes, and fried green tomatoes from about May 1st through last Tuesday. The Fall plants are ready and will go in the ground this week. With any luck I will have more fruit of the gods by October. Unless there is a hard freeze this winter I will pick the last tomato from a scraggly, barely alive plant sometime in February or March. And start all over 🙂 again. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/16 "2017-08-13T13:51:34Z")
[QUOTE=Mean Mr. Mustard] I look forward to tomato season every year like a child looks forward to Christmas. [/QUOTE] _The first to-ma-to the Italians did say was to make marinara for pasta that day_ ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/17 "2017-08-13T14:04:50Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > MMM > You and I would get along famously during tomato season, I think sir, until it got down to the last tomato, then a duel to finish. That could get ugly. We shall split it. One person slices it in two, the other chooses which half s/he gets. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/18 "2017-08-13T14:43:04Z")
I thought the First Tomato was Melania Trump. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/19 "2017-08-13T16:40:00Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > That could get ugly. > > We shall split it. One person slices it in two, the other chooses which half s/he gets. > mmm Agreed, however, we need an impartial third party to help negotiate the rules, proceedings and any by-laws, observe the proceedings and enforce the agreed-upon rules if needed. Preferably someone with a demonstrated lack of interest, perhaps even dislike of tomatoes. The Last Tomato is not something to be taken lightly, or to be lightly trusted to the hands and safe-keeping of Others. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236/20 "2017-08-13T17:18:32Z")
My wife planted 5 tomato plants in her new raised garden bed. The harvest started a few weeks ago now we are swamped in fresh tomatoes. We now have 2 large bowls on the counter that are full and have already given many away. The plants, many that grew well over 6 feet all are still loaded. We also ended up with a bumper crop of carrots. A couple pepper plants will be harvested soon, they are loaded and the Hubbard squash vines already have basketball sized squash. Those shouldn’t be ready to harvest till October so they should get huge. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tomato/793236.md?page=2)