21 Summertime Heirloom Tomato Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the tastiest heirloom tomato? ›

The most well-known of the pink heirloom tomatoes is the Brandywine, which competes with the lesser-known Caspian Pink as “best tasting”. The Brandywine has become the standard-bearer for the pinks, as it is a good size for slicing and typically has that blast of sweetness many people want in a tomato.

Cut tomatoes into ½-inch thick slices, lightly brush with olive oil and grill for a couple minutes or until charred and heated through. Serve in a salad or atop a burger. Also try cutting tomatoes in half and grilling, then sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs for a quick and easy side dish.

Heirloom tomatoes, on the other hand, are open-pollinated, which means that these plants are pollinated naturally—no genetic modification here. Standard hybrid tomatoes often have a thicker skin than heirloom tomatoes, which are known for their thin, tender skin and juicy flesh.

The heirloom season generally runs from late summer into the fall, with local heirlooms first appearing around late July or early August. Below are just a few of the many interesting cultivars you'll find at Union Market, along with tasting notes and serving suggestions.

The "tastiest" tomato is subjective and can vary depending on individual preferences and culinary uses. Some popular tomato varieties known for their flavor include the Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, San Marzano, and Sun Gold. Each tomato variety has its unique taste profile, sweetness, acidity, and texture.

'Golden Sweet': Touted as the sweetest and best-tasting yellow grape tomato, the indeterminate vines produce lots of glossy gold fruits that are crack-resistant, firm and meaty. 2. 'Isis Candy': This is a very pretty cherry tomato with golden fruits streaked with red.

If the tomatoes are not yet ripe, they are best stored on the counter for a few days until they ripen. (You'll know they're ripe when they're fragrant and give a little bit to the touch.) Once they're ripe, either consume them or go ahead and put them in the refrigerator to preserve their freshness.

Ways to Use Heirloom Tomatoes

Try them in salads like this Heirloom Tomato Salad with Rosemary or this Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mozzarella and Basil. Or use them in place of regular tomatoes in tomato pie or burrata salad. They shine in a BLT, or can be enjoyed simply sliced with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Avoid storing them in the refrigerator: Heirloom tomatoes should not be stored in the refrigerator, as the cold temperature can cause them to lose flavor and become mealy. If you need to store heirloom tomatoes for an extended period of time, it is best to freeze them.

A beefsteak tomato is a variety of tomato that produces large, fleshy tomato. Heirloom tomatoes are tomatoes that have never been hybrid, they are naturally (open) pollinated and supposedly closer to their original origins. Beefsteaks can be in either category, depending on how they are pollinated.

How much should I sell my heirloom tomatoes for? ›

Around our metropolitan area, we sold heirloom tomatoes for $4 to $5 lb, depending on many factors (time of season, type of farmers market etc). And I get $5 or better a pound at the beginning of the season. That's for the open-pollinated varieties.

Poor disease resistance: Heirloom tomatoes may be more susceptible to diseases and pests compared to hybrid tomatoes, which can be bred for improved disease resistance. Variability: Heirloom tomatoes can be more variable in terms of fruit size, shape, and flavor compared to hybrid tomatoes, which can be more uniform.

Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up and from the inside out, so to tell when the fruit is going from a mature green stage to ripe, give a slight press to the bottom of the fruit. If the bottom is still hard, let it alone. If it's starting to soften, you're at the beginning of your picking time frame.

So, why are heirloom tomatoes more expensive? There aren't as many of them, they need quite a bit of care and time to ripen, and they're hard to ship. Every one of these factors contributes to a higher cost per tomato.

We love heirloom tomatoes for their idiosyncratic qualities. They often have have colors, textures, sizes, and flavors that vary from species to species, in the same way that apple varieties do. A Black Krim will look and taste different from an Azoychka. And that makes tomato salads all the more interesting.

Purple Heirloom Tomatoes

Purple, or oftentimes called black or “chocolate” tomatoes have a rich, savory, smoky flavor. They skip the pucker-factor of some of the more typically 'tart' colors. Purple tomatoes (and also all purple vegetables and fruit) are arguably the 'healthiest' tomato.

I've had green striped ones, and they were a lot like a really good red tomato but less acidic. Yellow tomatoes, both full-size and cherry, are sweeter than a typical tomato. Purple/brown ones grow sweeter as they get darker.

The palette of colors and tastes are undoubtedly greater with the many heirloom cultivars. However, many of the hybrid plants also produce great tasting tomatoes, and I would be surprised if much detectable difference can be found between most heirlooms and hybrids through blind taste tests.