Welcome to another Seasonal Recipe Round-Up! This time we’re featuring tomatoes (and next time is squash — see schedule below). I’m sharing my tips about tomatoes and you can participate by sharing your own tips and/or recipes in the linky or in the comments.
What are Tomatoes?
Rich in lycopene (an antioxidant) and Vitamin C, tomatoes are in the nightshade family of plants (which also includes potatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, paprika, and cayenne). According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, tomatoes are not native Italian (surprising, isn’t it?):
Although tomatoes are often closely associated with Italian cuisine, they are actually originally native to the western side of South America, in the region occupied by Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the western half of Bolivia. The Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador are also believed to be part of tomatoes’ native area. The first type of tomato grown is thought to have more resembled the smaller-sized cherry tomato than the larger varieties. –Tomatoes: World’s Healthiest Foods
The world enjoys hundreds of varieties of tomatoes — not all red. You’ll find reds, yes, but also yellows, oranges, purples, greens, striped and speckled. Heirloom tomatoes are gorgeous — and gloriously shaped, too!
Photo by See-ming Lee on Flickr
How to Choose and Use Tomatoes
Deep colors are the name of the game. Firm, not mushy. Juicy — though paste tomatoes are more “meaty” and less juice and that makes them excellent for preserving.
When tomatoes are in season, eat fresh! Salads, sliced and salted and peppered with cottage cheese… Nothing better. Come on tomatoes! (Ours are still little and green.)
One thing I learned when I put in my first garden was that tomatoes are best kept at room temperature for fresh eating. Storing them in the refrigerator causes you to lose tons of flavor!
Add to soups, or make fragrant, fresh tomato sauce: saute onions and garlic, add chopped tomatoes and chopped fresh herbs, simmer, then season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
Tomatoes are a big canning food — here’s how I’ve done it. Warning you, though, that’s a very old post wayyyy back when I didn’t know much about blogging. 
In more recent times, I choose to dehydrate excess tomatoes. Simply slice 1/4″ and dry under 115 degrees Fahrenheit until dry. Then vac seal and/or store in cool and dry location. They can be soaked in water and blended to make sauce or paste (depending on how much water you use). Or, you can powder them when dry to store in even smaller spaces.
My Tomato Recipes
Here are some of the tomato recipes I’ve shared on this blog.
Mediterranean Cucumber-Tomato-Mint Salad. I make this a lot during the summer when tomatoes and cucumbers are in season.
Cucumber-Tomato Salad with Kefir (or Yogurt). Same idea as above, but toss the salad in yogurt or kefir instead of olive oil and lemon juice. Season with dill or basil, sea salt and pepper.
Tomato Sandwiches! My sourdough pocket bread comes from the Sourdough eCourse or Sourdough A to Z eBook. Load the halves up with hummus or kefir/yogurt cheese and cucumbers and tomatoes. Or what about my mom’s award-winning falafel, tahini sauce, tomatoes, and cucumbers? Any way you fill them, they’re delicious!
Quinoa Garden Salad. Using the dump method (dump all ingredients in bowl and toss), this salad lets you use everything your garden (or market) produces!
Arabic Meatloaf. This meatloaf, kiftet batatta (meatloaf with potatoes), is topped with potatoes and tomato sauce for an easy main dish and features spring parsley.
Lacto-Fermented Ketchup (uses tomato paste). Also featured in my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods and in my online class in Lacto-Fermentation.
Nikki’s Lacto-Fermented Roma Fresca. Use Roma Fresca on top of steaks, fish, or chicken for a mouth watering combination. Or, with chips as a mild salsa. You’ll find more fermented salsa recipes in my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods and in my online class in Lacto-Fermentation.
Erin’s Sprouted Lentil Slaw. Delicious! A highly popular recipe here. 
Smoked Salmon and Rice Salad. Another winner from Erin. Her recipes are lovely, aren’t they?
Canning Tomatoes. This is that very old post I mentioned above. Consider yourself warned — I was a newbie blogger.
Now it is your turn!
How to Participate in the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up
Bloggers, post a recipe or tip on your own blog, then come back here to add your post to the linky box below. If you don’t have a picture, feel free to download the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up banner (at top of post) and upload it using the script’s prompts (it is easy).
Non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with your favorite recipes or posts.
These are three simple guidelines for participation:
1. Use real, whole ingredients in recipes, and preferably traditional methods of preparation. Whole ingredients means whole grains, vegetables, legumes, meats, and unrefined sweeteners. In order to keep the integrity of “nourishing” food, I will delete any recipes that use processed, boxed foods. Where possible, incorporate traditional methods of preparation, like soaking, sprouting and fermenting. The idea here is that your recipes and tips should help our readers find traditional methods for preparing seasonal vegetables.
2. Link your post(s) back to this post. This is a common linking courtesy and will help build the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up community. We will all end up sharing and learning from each other. You may link up old or new posts and as many as you’d like.
3. No giveaway or otherwise primarily advertising oriented posts. To be clear, your posts should have valuable content. If you also mention or link to a book or some other resource, that is fine. Just be sure to keep the overall balance tipped toward sharing good, no-charge stuff and you’ll be fine. It is hard to do this with a giveaway post, so understand that usually those will be deleted right off the bat.
If, when browsing, you see a post that does not fit the above three guidelines, feel free to contact me to let me know (and thank you!).
Share Your Tomato Recipes and Tips!
Use the linky box below (or post in the comments) to share your recipes and tips. Use old or new posts and as many as you’d like. The linky will not close, so you can come back later with your recipes if our featured ingredient is not in season for you yet. I look forward to seeing what you’ll add!
Seasonal Recipe Round-Up Schedule: July through August
Remember, the round-ups don’t close — you can add your recipes at any time. And I hope you will!
- Friday, July 6, 2012 — Snap Peas
- Friday, July 20, 2012 — Cucumbers
- Friday, August 3, 2012 — Berries
- Friday, August 17, 2012 — Tomatoes
- Friday, August 31, 2012 — Squash
All seasonal recipe round-ups are (and will be) listed on the Recipes page.
Come back on Friday, August 31 for our squash (including zucchini) link-up in the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up.
About Wardee Harmon
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We’ve had them for a month!
Mmm so good. But the family of deer plaguing our garden agree so we don’t get many tomatoes.
I’ve been making tomato basil soup, marinara and bolognese sauce almost non stop for the past 6 weeks… With many more weeks to come, so thanks for the suggestions!
We’re done.
I have a few things I can share though. I’ll come over and link up…
We’re done.
I have a few things I can share though. I’ll come over and link up…
Made the Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Mint salad. It was wonderful. I often make greek salad just never thought of using mint. Thank you.
Hi! I posted my GAPS pizza. a yummy way to add homemade tomato sauce to!
http://www.mygutsy.com/2012/06/27/gaps-pizza/
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