TOMATOES revisited

We call our crop of heirloom tomatoes ‘delightful freaks’ because they are far from perfect-looking, but they are so incredibly sweet and delicious!

Our tomato plants usually start to blossom late May or early June.

Costas ties the tomato shoots, expanding the frame of canes vertically or horizontally, as the plants grow.

The local so-called ‘Kea or Santorini variety’ of tomatoes are the first to ripen.

Unfortunately they are not the best-tasting, hardly compared to the black, juicy Tula.

As the tomatoes start to turn red, our anticipation grows.

While still green, the large Tula look perfect.

Then, as they turn red and swell, they often crack, and are attacked by the terrible stink bug--Nezara viridula.

Nezara viridula is our tomatoes worst enemy as it propagates fast, and sucks their juicy flesh.

Costas and I debate if we should salvage more tomatoes, cutting them while firm, and half-green, and letting them ripen in the room.

Fortunately the stink bugs hardly touch our delicious black plums.

Our friend David Snyder from Santa Fe sent us the heirloom seeds for those black plums, which are as delicious to eat as they are to look at.

Next year we will certainly plant more, as they seem to thrive in our island garden

We never refrigerate our tomatoes, leaving them in a bowl or basket that brightens our table!

We devour copious amounts of tomatoes every day, simply dressed just with fruity olive oil and a sprinkling of dry oregano; onion rings and home-made capers are some favorite embellishments.

I use over-ripe cherry tomatoes of any shape to make my tomato and purslane relish.

The fresh-tasting tomato and purslane relish is an ideal accompaniment for grilled fish.

All in all, despite the pests, we managed to have a good crop of tomatoes this year. We hope some of the plants will continue to produce well into the fall…