Abundant tomatoes can be used many ways

On Memorial Highway, a field of pumpkin leaves has turned white with mildew as its fruit of tiny Jack-Be-Littles is loaded into boxes on a farm truck, the excess piled in orange mounds in the rows.

October, cool and damp, has affixed itself firmly on the valley. The green beans have turned leathery and the zucchini look like sleeping alligators in the garden, but the big, juicy tomatoes are finally red.

We only need a few more days of warmth and strong sunlight to allow them to ripen instead of rotting. Sadly, some are already gone.

I’ve been waiting all spring, summer, and now into the fall, for this day to come. These are the plants I bought and planted on Mother’s Day and have been babying along for months. Now they are all ripe at once.

Some of the green tomatoes that have fallen off the bushes are ripening on the window sill in the house, and the fruit flies are having a heyday. (The completely rotten apple in a bowl on the counter might also have something to do with the fruit flies.) But even if you have fruit flies, never store tomatoes in the fridge. That inhibits the flavor and can make the flesh mealy.

I have mounds and buckets of tomatoes to find uses for and to give away — good thing tomatoes are the base of so many dishes and meals.

I always peel and cook down extra tomatoes and freeze them in baggies for use during the winter. In other years I’ve also canned salsa, but only when I’ve also had abundant onions and peppers too, which I don’t this year.

This has been a strange year for tomatoes, like the rest of the warmer weather crops: done before it’s started. But unlike some of the others, the flavor of the tomatoes has concentrated and intensified with the delayed ripening.

I continue to have the best luck with the Beefsteak and Early Beefsteak varieties for abundance, size of fruit and flavor, and Brandywine is an heirloom type that has produced the best, largest, juiciest and best flavored tomatoes for me. Both require frequent fertilizing and usually watering, but not this year.

Since tomatoes are native to South America, they need a lot of warmth and sun to grow. The only way I’ve even gotten them to ripen before the summer is over, is to grow them in a greenhouse. I wouldn’t be surprised it tomatoes were single-handedly responsible for the home greenhouse market in northern climates.

One of the essential delicacies of this time of year is a Caprese-style salad of sliced, perfectly ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, drizzled with a fruity olive oil. Cheryl Frazier introduced me to one with lemon-infused olive oil and sprinkled with lavender sea salt, which gives the salad a special twist.

If you cut the tomatoes into chunks and add the mozzarella, onions and day-old French bread, then dress it all with a garlicky vinaigrette, you have Panzanella. I first tasted this salad in Seattle at Tom Douglas’ restaurant Dahlia Lounge. It’s amazing how such simple and inexpensive ingredients can produce such a special result.

When I’m forced by frost or rot to bring in the last of the green tomatoes, I always fry them up, which sounds easy, but it must be done in a specific way to get authentic flavor. The key is to use fine-ground white cornmeal, bacon drippings, freshly ground pepper and of course an iron skillet. Cut the tomatoes into half-inch thick slices, dip in beaten egg and lay in the cornmeal, one side then the other. Fry on medium heat in the bacon grease until brown.

If you don’t do anything else before the season ends, you must get to a local farm stand or farmer’s market and get a real vine-ripened tomato. You’ll thank me for it.



Erin Earles works at Epicure in Anacortes when she’s not tending her garden, family and horses in Bay View. If you have a column suggestion or comment, or a question about food or gardening, please e-mail her at .