You say tomato. I say, you can't fool me.
If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
And that's the case with the tomatoes on sale at my farmer's market in Annapolis.
They are nothing but hot-house (hoop-house?) tomatoes, and they taste almost worse than the ones on sale at the supermarket.
They are red. They are ripe. But they are here too early. That was the first clue. And we are all so eager for our summer tomatoes, that we bought them.
If I don't have any ripe tomatoes, why do I think my farmer friends would? Because they are farmers and I'm not?
was willing to wait to buy the real thing. Now I can't be sure the tomatoes being offered for sale at the farmer's market are, or when they will be, the real thing.
This is a case of rushing a product to market, and I am afraid the result is going to be suspicious consumers, like me, who feel manipulated by farmers we believed we were right to support.
Comments
In the past two weeks, I have been to both the Waverly and Sunday Morning Downtown Farmers' Markets. At both, I asked the provenance of the tomatos and was told "Eastern Shore" with, sometimes, a "they're several weeks ahead of us!" It felt as though I was being lied to, and we were laughing that "Eastern Shore!" was the answer to everything!
Actually, I bought the tomatoes where I did on Sunday because the vendor said they were "high hoop grown" (Maybe not the word high, but something indicating tall!) I kind of had this picture of bridge-sized archway....
That's funny! Eastern Shore ... as if it was another planet. -- Susan
Posted by: Eve | July 13, 2010 11:11 AM
Funny, I was just explaining this to a friend here. They often ship the produce in from other states, and other pick it early and bring it to the market. In our heat, not such a good idea. We need an indoor market where the produce can be kept cool.
We also have the hot house tomatoes very early too. Was lovely to meet you in Buffalo. These blogger meetups are a great thing.~~Dee
I have wondered about shipped-in produce, too. But the farmers are supposed to swear all their stuff is "local." -- Susan
Posted by: Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings | July 13, 2010 3:17 PM
They might actually be local after all. I took a chance this spring and planted my tomatoes in April ( I live in Annapolis), rather than waiting for the last chance for frost. I decided we were getting an early spring, and it paid off. I have had so many ripe ones in the past 3 weeks that I have been able to make sauce already. Go figure!
Oh man! You are such a lucky gardener. I swear I am always on the wrong side of these garden bets! --Susan
Posted by: Heidi | July 13, 2010 10:05 PM
i've had ripened tomatoes on my plants since july 4th in baltimore
You are toooo lucky!!! -- Susan
Posted by: unbelievaboh | July 14, 2010 7:21 AM
I live in Baltimore and have had ripe Early Girl tomatoes for over a week now and various cherry tomatoes (Sweet Million, Yellow Pear, Sungold) for several weeks.
Posted by: bonnie | July 14, 2010 9:37 AM
I've been picking tomatoesfrom my garden for about two weeks, but have had a huge rush of them since Sunday. Nothing hothouse about them -- all ripe, all juicy,all Maryland. Grab the crackers, hon.
Oh man! Do you do home delivery? -- Susan
Posted by: Robert Hiles | July 14, 2010 10:06 AM
I too have been picking ripe tomatoes since July 4th. Actually I think we picked the first one on July 2nd! Definitely had an abundance in the last week, to the point of actually handing them out to (lucky) friends!
mmmm..... tomatoes with every meal!
Posted by: Summer | July 16, 2010 9:29 AM
I've had ripe mortgage lifter and roma tomatoes from my garden for almost the past two weeks. The romas aren't the most flavorful yet, but the mortgage lifters are amazing.
Posted by: homegrownhay | July 16, 2010 11:05 AM