Saucy

For all of my tears over the endrot on the tomatoes, production this year has been pretty good so far. Many of the damaged fruits were salvageable; we just cut off the ends and used those tomatoes for salsa or sauce. I wish I could post photos of their gorgeousness, but our camera is in the shop. I'd estimate that we've been harvesting about 5 lbs a week for the past two weeks.

Yesterday we had the singular pleasure of serving a deceptively simple insalata caprese at a little family party. Why do we even bother eating tomatoes at any other time of the year?

The Nyagous variety are almost black and terrifically sweet, with probably the best flavor I've ever tasted in a slicing tomato. They don't get huge, but I'll take flavor over size any day. The other winner this year is the Isis Candy cherry tomatoes, which are also incredibly sweet. I like them better than last year's Concords, but Mark thinks they're comparable. Regardless, we're growing both again next year.

In the plum tomato category, the San Marzano are definitely superior to Amish Paste. It seems there's something to the hype after all. We only had a few plants from Catalpa Ridge this year, but there will be more in 2009 for sure.

The Furry Yellow Hogs are just that--well, fuzzy and yellow, anyway. They look like strangely shaped peaches, and taste pretty good, too. Even so, they probably won't make the cut next year when we pare down. Mark only wants to do 16 plants, convinced that they'll produce as much as this year's 36 because they'll produce better when less crowded. I'm skeptical.