Anyone that knows me personally, knows that I came back to NJ kicking and screaming after living in the woods of beautiful Valley Forge, PA for the greater part of twenty years, and being bicoastal, spending a lot of time in Marina Del Rey, CA. (Not rubbing it in. I’m just verbalizing my struggle being back in NJ!)
I realize that all of my millions of subscribers do not reside in NJ. (That was a joke!) With the high taxes and ridiculous car insurance rates, I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing! But I recently discovered after being away from NJ for a lot of years, there is something really good about it! Tomatoes! Fresh from NJ farms you can visit, or from the weekly farmer’s markets the local farmers visit.
You hear a lot about Jersey corn and tomatoes in food circles, but it’s almost embarrassing to say, I never gave it much thought. (And I grew up here in NJ! Palmyra, NJ to be exact. Yeah, there’s more to Palmyra than just the Kerbeck Car Dealership.) I’ve been avoiding most grains, so I haven’t really eaten much corn this summer, but I am all over these tomatoes!
I believe it is common knowledge that Jersey tomatoes have received a lot of notoriety as being the best in the US! Whatever they call this horrid weather here is obviously ideal for growing some of the juiciest and most flavorful tomatoes I have ever tasted.
Peter Nitzsche, an associate professor and agricultural agent for Rutgers Cooperative Extension, said, “Many consumers believe they are buying Jersey tomatoes from the grocery store in the middle of the summer, but they are not. That is why people are often disappointed by the taste, “A lot of the fruit in the grocery store is picked green and ripened during long distance shipping,”
Today, most of Jersey tomato production comes from smaller, local, family owned farms who sell their tomatoes at local farm markets, and from home gardeners, who select varieties that are bred for their taste and not for long-distance shipping.”
Well if you don’t live in the land of extreme real estate taxes and sky-high car insurance, right now, it sucks to be you. (Only during tomato season!) Unlike mankind, I hate to break it to you, but all tomatoes are definitely not created equal!
You might find this hard to believe, but I recently tried Gazpacho, I believe, for the first time. I know. If I had it, I don’t recall or I must not have been impressed. Maybe it just wasn’t a Jersey tomato.
Until I tried it, my favorite tomato dish was a Panzanella salad I used to make with cubes of garlicky toasted Italian bread, chopped tomatoes, diced red onion and cucumbers, capers, fresh basil and whatever else I was tempted to toss in. Splashed with a little red wine vinaigrette or a nice aged balsamic vinegar. Yum! I never made or tried gazpacho! Hard to believe! I thought, I had to have made some in culinary school, but I truly don’t remember. Well, I doubt I forget it now!
My daughter and I had a spoon battle over the tiny bits of cucumber, red pepper and red onion we discovered at the bottom of the dish!
Further inspired by the local tomato, last week I threw a few into a grill pan to serve along side and inside my omelet. I am hooked on these Jersey tomatoes. Luckily, we are only half way through the season, so I can enjoy them for a few more weeks at their peak!
And, just in case you need some additional motivation to go ahead and enjoy some juicy red tomatoes…….How about the fact that tomatoes are considered an anti-aging super food?
“Lycopene is a carotenoid—a family of pigments that give fruits and vegetables their brilliant red, orange, and yellow coloring. Lycopene is also a powerful antioxidant that eliminates dangerous free radicals that can damage DNA and other fragile cell structures.
Eating tomatoes may also help lower your risk of stroke.”
Need even more motivation to pop over to the farmer’s market and grab a few? Numerous studies show that lycopene can assist with cardiovascular health.
According to this article from Lifeextension.com, (with studies to back it up) Lycopene may not only strengthen your skin, but also inhibit the destruction of collagen. Collagen production slows as we age, leading to sagging and wrinkles, so I will take all of the help I can get to slow that process! Lycopene has been shown to benefit the skin in a number of ways including protecting your skin from UV radiation!
https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2012/9/topical-lycopene-improves-skin-cellular-function
I haven’t created a recipe of my own yet, but in the interim, I thought I would share some of those that I discovered!
So, whether you are in NJ or not, it’s a perfect time to get your tomato on! Try some of these gazpacho recipes and let us know how they turned out! Send us a photo! Or maybe you have a recipe of your own to share!
https://www.foodandwine.com/soup/cold-soup/the-best-gazpacho-recipes
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