TOMATOES

First of all, blame this blog topic on Amy. She talked about her home grown tomatoes in a BLT. So naturally, after my mouth stopped watering, I got to thinking about the round, red, juicy, luscious vegetable or fruit, whichever you prefer to call it.

No matter where you live, store bought tomatoes can't come close in taste to your own home grown ones.

I remember the years after Mt. St. Helen's erupted in Washington, the farmers realized their crops grew bigger and better than before the eruption. They attributed that to the volcanic ash supplementing the soil.

Here in the anthracite coal country of northeast Pennsylvania, our tomatoes are world famous . . . literally.

Every August, the city of Pittston, boasts to have the best tasting tomatoes in the country.
They celebrate their tomatoes every year with the Pittston Tomato Festival. People come from around the world to attend it. (Well maybe they just happened to be visiting someone locally and got to attend by default).

I grew up in the coal town of Hughestown, which abuts the city of Pittston. My Dad always planted a garden, and his tomatoes were to die for. My Mom preserved them in jars for stewed tomatoes in the winter. She made tomato juice and canned it. The tomato juice on grocery shelves doesn't come close to the taste of homemade canned tomato juice. Next came spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and chili sauce. I can still smell the aromatic, spicy aroma of chili sauce cooking on the stove.

I, like Mom, have grown many a tomato in my gardens and canned them all summer along with all the other delicious vegetables. Not to mention the jams and jellies, pears, peaches, and applesauce.

Alas, I now have an empty nest and no longer plant a garden. Once I get past that time in the spring when I should be harvesting lettuce and green onions, I pretty much am okay the rest of the summer.

Although the coal industry isn't prevalent anymore, the coal dust is still in the soil. Perhaps that, like lava ash out west, is why our area grows great tomatoes.

Besides tasting so good, tomatoes are good for you. They are high in Vitamin C,
Potassium, Lycopene, plus a lot more antioxidants . . . but don't tell the kids, they may never eat pizza again!

The tomatoes around here will keep producing abundantly until the first frost. Before that happens you have to pick all the green ones, let some ripen on a window sill, save some to fry up. Have you ever had green fried tomatoes? Oh are they good.

My personal favorite is Bruscetta. Chop up some tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella cheese mixed with salt, pepper and some olive oil (garlic is optional). Put the mixture on toasted Italian bread. Sometimes for variety I add sliced black olives. M-M- Good.

So celebrate summer with a BLT made with home grown tomatoes.

Enjoy, enjoy.
Thanks Amy.