OFF THE SHELF
Heirloom tomatoes cost more but deliver superb flavor

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Heirloom tomatoes come in a variety of colors from black to purple or pink.

So-called heirloom tomatoes, grown both here and on the Mainland, are making their way from farmers' markets and specialty foods stores into mainstream grocery stores. The supermarket prices are enough to give most of us pause at this point (they tend to be cheaper at farmers' markets). And the appearance of these lumpy, lopsided, oddly colored tomatoes is strange to the eyes of shoppers who've seen nothing but perfect scarlet globes for years. But the taste is another matter.

These are tomatoes worthy of being made into a sandwich, able to hold their own on a slab of bread with a smear of mayonnaise and just a crank or two of fresh-ground pepper. These are tomatoes that can be the whole of a salad, with a drizzle of olive oil. They're sweet enough to eat like an apple and as juicy as a mango.

The term "heirloom" refers to the fact that these fruit are grown from seed varieties that date back to a time when produce wasn't expected to travel far or maintain a movie-star appearance.

In her "The New Food Lover's Companion," Sharon Tyler Herbst notes that beets, carrots, corn, beans, lettuce and potatoes also are being grown from open-pollinated (without human intervention) seeds.

There are more than 30 flavor components present in properly vine-ripened tomatoes (as opposed to green tomatoes gassed so they turn ripe, the supermarket standard). Tomatoes contain a differing balance of acid to sugar with reds higher in acid and yellows higher in sugar. Heirloom tomatoes come in colors that range from black to purple to pink and even brown, not to mention striped varieties. They also offer a wider range of textures and shapes.