MAINE’S 4TH ANNUAL TOMATO TASTING WEEK CELBRATES THE POPULAR FRUIT & INCREASES AWARENESS AROUND BUYING LOCAL PRODUCE

Augusta, ME – More than 50 farmers and bakers will be sampling fresh luscious locally grown tomatoes at over 30 farmers’ markets and stands around the state during the 4th Annual Maine Tomato Tasting Week, which runs from August 28th through September 3rd. A complete listing of participating sites, sorted by county and town, is available online at www.GetRealMaine.com.

Locally grown tomatoes are one of those icons of summer that everyone anticipates for weeks to come, but it’s always a guess as to just when the delectable fruit (yes, tomatoes are technically a fruit!) will be ready for picking. According to Deanne Herman, Marketing Manager at the Maine Department of Agriculture, “This year’s wet spring, super hot spells and other erratic summer weather (including hail) have put a dent into some farmer’s tomato harvest, while others are experiencing bumper crops.” Herman adds, “At this time of year though, which is the peak of the growing season, a visit to any farmers’ market or farm stand will provide an abundance of all kinds of seasonal fruits and vegetables and other locally produced foods.”

Tomato Tasting Week was an inspiration of tomato grower Lisa Turner from Freeport who wanted to give people the opportunity to sample the great and varied tastes of different locally grown tomatoes, grown specifically for their eating qualities: flavor and texture. It is also an opportunity to remind and inspire people to get out to their local farms and farmers’ markets when the offerings are most bountiful.

Tomatoes, like apples, come in many flavors, shapes and sizes, and tomato lovers all have their own favorites. In addition to the classic "beefsteak" types, many growers that grow for a local market are increasingly cultivating old (heirloom) varieties such as Brandywine, or growing new and unusual varieties like the Green Zebra (developed in 1985). Many of the tomatoes most highly prized by connoisseurs may not have a standard shape, or look very pretty, but they excel in their flavor and texture - they are rarely found in supermarkets.

According to Laughlin Titus, agronomist and President of the Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association, “Tomatoes are one of the many casualties of the “long-distance” food distribution system which often sacrifices flavor for other product qualities, such as shipability and long storage life. Locally grown tomatoes that ripen on the vine allow for the maximum production of sugars and the sweet and complex flavors we expect from a good tomato. Imported tomatoes are usually picked while green and never reach their full flavor potential.”

Locally grown tomatoes can be found at hundreds of farm stands, at 62 farmers' markets and at many retail locations that sell locally grown produce. Local tomatoes should be available until at least the end of September and some farmers will have them into October. To find participating “Tomato Tasting Week” sites as well as farm stands and farmers' markets that sell tomatoes throughout the season, visit www.getrealmaine.com.

Tomato Tasting Week is coordinated by the Maine Department of Agriculture with support from Maine’s Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association, The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Functional Foods, which will soon be producing thousands of pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes every week from their new greenhouses in Madison.

Fun Facts About Tomatoes

•The Joy of Cooking lists 64 tomato recipes.

•After the potato, tomatoes are America's most important commercial vegetable, both in yearly weight consumed and annual yield.

•The largest tomato on record is a 7-pound monster grown in Oklahoma.

•In 1893, the Supreme Court ruled that the tomato must be considered a vegetable, even though, botanically, it is a fruit. Because vegetables and fruits were subject to different import duties, it was necessary to define the tomato as one or the other. So, tomatoes were declared to be a vegetable given that they were commonly eaten as one.

•Tomatoes are very high Vitamins A and C and in the carotenoid Lycopene; eating foods with carotenoids can lower your risk of cancer.

•Like bananas, tomatoes should never be refrigerated-not until they are dead ripe anyway. They should be kept in temperatures below 55 degrees Fahrenheit or they will not finish ripening and will be tasteless. Tomatoes should also be stored with the stem side up, and never in the sun.

•Today the tomato is generally considered to be the favorite vegetable of the American public. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that the average American eats over 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of tomatoes each year, mostly in the form of ketchup and tomato sauce.

•Tomatoes first grew as wild, cherry-size berries in the South American Andes, but the fruit, as we know it today, was developed in Mexico where it was known as tomatil and traveled to Europe by boat with the returning conquistadors. Upon arrival in Italy, the heart-shaped tomato was considered an aphrodisiac, thus tomato in Italian, poma amoris, means "love apple."


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