I found organic tomatoes!
The last few days I’ve been feeling sick on and off. It may be a stomach flu. As such I have had little energy (or time, even, due to other circumstances) for writing here, but after a talk with a friend and a stop at the local market, I’m feeling rather energized.
It was quiet by the time I got to the market around 6:30 (and even quieter when I left!). It was just getting dark and they had the lights on outside. It was my first time being there or even seeing the place at night. It felt good, it smelled good, and the air was crisp and cool.
I was disappointed that the main item I was there for wasn’t there; organic golden nugget potatoes that smelled like dirt and made incredible mashed potatoes. I regret not buying more at the time. I got local grown yukon gold, though, so even while they didn’t smell like anything at all, I knew I was supporting a good venture. I did manage to get organic buttercup squash (to add to my organic kuri), and… ORGANIC TOMATOES!!! And they’re only 70c more than the ones we usually buy, but the difference is striking. We usually get a pint of “cocktail” tomatoes (one out of over 6,000 varieties of tomatoes that exist). They tend to be better than the larger ones, but don’t always taste great. Those are $2.29. Seems like a rip-off right? They last a long time, and are great for just throwing into your lunch box, so whatever. These organic ones are $2.99 (I didn’t notice the price at the time), and I got one that weighed more. I was eager to have one when I got it home. Here’s how it went.
“Gee, they sure look different from the regular ones.” They have more of an orange tint to them and they all look different. Some of them are split, but that’s ok, I’ll just eat those first. I smelled the one I picked up… ohhh yeah. Smells like a tomato alright. There is truly nothing like the smell of the stem or stalk of a tomato/tomato plant. It gets on your fingers, and when you’re handling them a lot it stains your fingers yellow. The tomato smelled divine. Seeing as I’ve already used devine, I’m going to have to pull out the thesaurus to find a descriptor for how it tasted… HEAVENLY.
Fairly akin to the “YEAH!!!” that my boyfriend just shouted upon the Canucks’ goal against Nashville. Anyway.
OH MY GOSH. I could not BELIEVE how good it tasted! I’ve had plenty of home-grown tomatoes before, but my god, it was delicious. I could just eat them all right now!
My next step is to test them on boyfriend and to test them against the regular “matoes.” And photograph them.
I’m still thrilled about finding them and don’t feel too bad about paying $3 when the usual ones are hardly less. Someone else picked up bigger tomatoes that were pale and didn’t look very good, and who knows how they taste… it seems tomatoes bred for the mass market can either be bright red or pale red or orange-red, but are all tasteless.
I’ve also managed to finally get a hold of Thomas Pawlick’s The End of Food. I’ve read the first 12 pages and wish I could just share the whole thing with you right here, but I can’t, so I’ll just say that if you can find a copy, get it! It will truly open your eyes to what’s happening to mass-produced food, and to how good REAL food tastes. It’s written in a very personal fashion, and the best part, I think, is that Pawlick doesn’t just talk about the problems… he talks about solutions.
Today’s shopping list:
– green peppers (grown without sprays in BC) – $0.69/lb
– red peppers – weekend sale at a stunning $0.59/lb
– nantes carrots – $0.49/lb (they had their own local ones but I didn’t want 2 lbs!)
– yellow peppers – $0.99/lb (usually $1.29)
– yukon gold potatoes, local grown – $0.49/lb (haha, I got almost 2lbs of potatoes for less than $1!)
– organic, local buttercup squash, $0.59/lb
– organic, local cherry tomatoes, $2.99/pint (not sure of the weight, sorry)
– 2x Ragu original pasta sauce, $3.98
Chances are the tomatoes in the sauce are from California.
Check this out:
Per 1/2 cup (125mL):
Sodium: 720mg – 30% of the daily value!
Carbohydrate: 11g
Protein: 1g
Fat: 0.5g
Vitamin A – a mere 8% of the DV!
Vitamin C – even worse, only 4%
Calcium – 2%
Iron – 6%
V8 juice is much the same.
Any why are vitamins and minerals so low in something that logically should contain tons of it? Because corporate breeders don’t consider nutrition, or even flavour, priorities when choosing and growing tomatoes. It’s not even on their list.