Can you taste a difference in the heirlooms and other fresh off the vine Maryland tomatoes? I can't.

that would explain why Mother's charges an extra $1 for a slice of tomato on their hamburgers!

It's the lack of salmonella...

I got eirlooms for $3 a pint at the JFX market last week. I ope they don't go up as well! If they do, well, I just won't get them and have more money for sausage biscuits and tamales!

I like getting the mixed boxes, and seeing how different they taste. I'd never had heirloom tomatoes before moving here, and I spent last summer gorging on them.

Add some fresh basil, good olive oil and real fresh mozerella (like from Isabella's in Little Italy), and you've got the perfect meal for a hot day.

Folks, Two weekends ago we bought several pounds of heirlooms at JFX market for 4-bucks a pound - they smelled so good. We were thrilled until we got home and tried to slice them. (We were headed for tomato slices with at tad of sea salt.) Not a chance: the cores were green, the outsides couldn't take any more ripening. We ended up with the most expensive salsa on the east coast. I'm thinking this locavore deal is way over rated.

FYI Elizabeth, last week heirloom tomatoes cost $2.99/pound at Weber's Cider Mill Farm and $3.49/pound at Planet Produce in Belvedere Square, so the Farmers Market vendor isn't scalping, just going with the high end of the flow. (The "mortgage lifter" sign is a hoot!) It's a lot to pay for very perishable items, but for me the taste trumps the price. Now that my own tomatoes are coming in, I'll just buy the occasional heirloom to mix in.

Friends: please keep this all in perspective. For the past ten days we've looked for local tomatoes of ANY KIND (sorry ... was that capitalization too random?) in upstate New York and now here in "Our Fair City" to no avail. The weather has been just plain weird around the northeast, and things that start to get close enough to be ripe in the last couple of weeks have been washed out by almost daily thunderstorms.

$4.00/lb.? $6.00/lb? Right now I'd pay the price. This late into August without fresh lycopene is just wrong.

Dottie, isn't "Mortgage Lifter" an actual heirloom name?

Last year at close to the end of August, Petit Louis had a 4-course Prix Fixe dinner featuring local tomatoes. The appetizer was a plate with several slices of different heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil with a bit of salt & pepper. I was really struck by the differences in sweetness and acid and just real tantalizing and delicate tomato flavors. Frankly, I don’t remember the rest of the meal, although I’m sure it was up to the usual Petit Louis standards, but the tomato plate was really memorable.

Rosebud, that tomato plate sounds like essence of summer on a plate. Maybe I'll have to save up so I can go to Petit Louis someday.

Dottie & Dahlink - Here's the story on the Mortgage Lifter.

(I feel so hmpstd at this moment.)

Lissa and Rosebud,
Isn't that plate called a caprese or something? I had one about a month ago at an Italian restaurant down here. Great appetizer and perfect for a summer evening.

Rob in FL, a caprese salad would have tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and good olive oil. At least, that is what Dan at Isabella's told me. He claims that is the only acceptable use of mozzarella besides putting it on pizza.

I will admit, I have snuck some fresh basil on to mine occasionally, but not when anyone except the cats can see.

Rob in PCB FL, I think it's only caprese if it includes cheese with the tomatoes. But I could be wrong, and I'm sure someone will tell me, if so.

Not quite the same, Rob in PCB FL.
The Insalata Caprese also has mozzarella and basil. What we had did not include those. Just pure tomato flavor. Not that I don't also love Insalata Caprese, but these tomatoes stood on their own.

Well, that is what Lissa was posting:

Add some fresh basil, good olive oil and real fresh mozerella (like from Isabella's in Little Italy), and you've got the perfect meal for a hot day.

She was referring to putting all that on some tomato slices, that's why I thought of the insalada caprese.

Love that name, sounds so italiano!

Rosebud,
I just re-read your post. The dish you had wasn't the insalada caprese, but sounded excellent nonetheless.

Oh Dahlink, you're right! Bucky, thanks for the story. And finally, I think caprese salad is sliced tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, sprinkled with basil and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

My favorite way with tomatoes is to slice them fairly thick and arrange on a platter. Sprinkle them with sea salt and fresh pepper, minced Vidalia onion and basil chiffonade. Just before serving, drizzle them with a little good olive oil and maybe a few drops of red wine vinegar. Yummm!

I served our dinner guests last night sliced tomatoes with fresh basil, a sprinkling of kosher salt and a dribble of good balsamic vinegar. Yum. Of course that wasn't all they got!

It may not ave been all they got, but if it had been a typical Baltimore summer day, it would have been all they needed.