Went to the grocery store tonight; tomatoes for $3.99 a lb?

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

Guess what? Left 'em there.

[Left Is Write]

1. I rarely buy tomatoes in the winter.

I buy them at the vegetable stand in the summer and do without or use canned in the winter.

What I SHOULD do is learn to can my own.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. I'm thinking of buying canned ones. My husband remarked that

the price of tomatoes is about as much as that of a lb. of chicken or beef. I'm sure the gas prices don't help (same w/ everything). Dangit!

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Tomatoes are about the only vegetable that's better in the can

if you can't get them freshly grown locally.

Any other tomatoes have been picked green, flown around, and then allowed to ripen (in a shitty, tasteless way) in storage and transit.

Canned tomatoes are the only canned Western-style veggie that I will buy.

But of course, the best is fresh ones grown local, that were allowed to ripen on the vine.

[jpgray]

5. They actually use a chemical gas to ripen them in transit

They taste -nasty-. Canned are definitely the way to go when fresh are unavailable.

[Redstone]

6. Yup. Only drawback is that canned tomatoes are hard to slice

and put on a sandwich.

But if you're cooking with them, they're the only way to get good ones in the winter.

But hey, that helps us appreciate the real fresh summer 'maters all the more, yes?

We've gotten spoiled, and forgotten how to live and eat seasonally.

Redstone

[Left Is Write]

9. I always look forward to those delicious summer tomatoes...

I like big thick slices on burgers and sandwiches, or drizzled with olive oil and served with really good mozzarella.

[Redstone]

14. And you do, of course, have my tomato sandwich recipe?

Sugar Smack was carrying on about it the other day, and I don't blame her. It's (at least for me) the best way to enjoy summer tomatoes.

Along with Mrs R's tomato-and-cucumber-and-onion salad with balsamic vinegar, of course. We eat that about every dinner during tomato season, and the leftovers are GREAT on a ham sandwich for lunch the next day.

Dang, now I'm hungry!

Redstone

[Left Is Write]

15. I'm hungry now too!

All I had for supper was a bowl of cereal and some sliced apples.

I don't have the tomato sandwich recipe...would you be willing to repost it?

[Redstone]

17. First part:

Now THAT was a good lunch: Crimson tomatoes, walked in from the garden; sliced half an inch thick, still warm from the sun; on Portugese bread (not the sweet kind, the type that's kind of like Italian bread); with homemade pesto mayonnaise and shake or two of Jane's Krazy Salt.

Second part:

That's for the sandwich. for the pesto mayo, there are two ways to go about it:

1) Make some pesto, or buy a jar of some that you know is made well. Mix 1/3 pesto to 2/3 GOOD mayonnaise, like Hellman's. Add a couple of chunks of garlic, chopped, or roasted if you like a milder flavor. Stick it all in a food processor and whirl until smooth (this works better than just stirring it together, though you can do that if pressed for time).

2) From scratch, though I can't give you exact amounts...you'd have to watch and write down how much: Pre-process some fresh basil to a smooth paste. Throw an egg yolk and a bunch of garlic into the food processor, with a touch of salt, a dab of white pepper, and a splash (or less) of vinegar. Crank up the processor, and start adding some damn good olive oil slowly, and I mean a drop at a time at first, then in a fine stream (be patient, now,) until it sets up nice and firm; you're looking for something about twice as thick as mayonnaise...figure about the consistency of good fresh sour cream. Put the basil paste in about 15 seconds before it's done.

Simple, yes? Heaven when spread on a sandwich with tomatoes walked in from the garden.


There you go. Enjoy.

Redstone

[Left Is Write]

18. I am absolutely drooling...

Thanks! I can't wait for tomatoes now.

[Redstone]

19. You're welcome. Print the recipe and staple it to the August page of

your calendar. Really. That will make you remember to use it when the time is right.

Redstone

[SoCalDem]

31. Put that in a Pita..and enjoy

I love "salad" pita sandwiches.. Cucumber,jicama,tomato,red onion. shredded lettuce,a little creamy cucumber dressing..and there ya go!

[liberaltrucker]

10. You're in a great place to get them fresh in a few months

I say go for it. My Mom and Grandmom did so out of necessity.:thumbsup:

[Left Is Write]

11. My gramma canned them too...

and they were always so good.

[liberaltrucker]

13. Do her proud, then.

:toast:

[LaraMN]

29. I miss the farmer's market stand!

:cry:

[TheWebHead]

4. out of season I'd only buy Romas

when they are a buck a pound.

[Dukkha]

7. what am I supposed to do then when * comes to town?

throw potatoes? doesn't really have the same affect

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

8. Good point, Neo.

:)

[Starlight]

12. Rotten potatoes are quite mushy & stinky.

:evilgrin:

[KamaAina]

16. You only really want to throw potatoes at Dan Quayle.

:dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Trust me, they can splatter.

When I was managing at a health food store, I found a bunch of rotting yams that were left out to sale. I picked one up and showed it to the guy that was supposed to be checking the produce and pulling bad stuff before it starts to rot. I'm holding one half of the yam and it was so far gone that it broke in half and splattered while I was talking to him. It was hilarious. He then went around checking everything. He was somebody that very rarely would actually listen to me, unless I was a complete & utter bitch to him (which I HATE HATE doing), but that visual demo of bad produce turned him into a great employee for about three days.

[SoCalDem]

20. And they don't even taste that great anymore..

That's what's sad about being "a certain age"..

I remember:

4 lbs for $1 tomatoes (big ones--juicy and plump)
5 loaves of bread for $1
3 dozen eggs for $1
99 cents for a gallon of whole milk

and so much more...

I am just so glad we are no longer feeding 3 teenaged boys (we're not starving them..they just grew up and moved out ):)

[Initech]

21. Lousiana grows a lot of our country's tomatoes

I remember this because after Katrina, a lot of the restaraunts in California were afraid to serve tomatoes for the longest time.

So probably the price hike is due to Katrina.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

23. I doubt it's due to Katrina.

Produce-wise price hikes are pretty much no longer affected by Katrina. It can vary a lot though for various reasons around the country. I can get a price list at work on Saturday to place my Monday delivery and stuff can be doubled by Tuesday's pricelist for Wednesday. It's weird, but produce is very volatile. Customers can also get very volatile over the whole thing. They understand it far less than the buyer and the buyer tends to take the blame. Really, we have to deal with the distributor's prices and that all depends on weather and crap. It's up to mother nature and nobody else.

[XemaSab]

24. My pastor one day used tomatoes to illustrate some point

I don't remember what, but he talked about tomatoes and what they're supposed to be like and he has a crappy store tomato with him as an example and at the end of the sermon he THREW IT all the way across the church and it didn't break, and he said "you know, I was really worried there. I wasn't worried when I threw it in the first service, I was slightly worried in the second service, but I thought it might actually break in this service."

:scared:

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. LOL!

That would have been something to witness!

[johnnie]

26. A few weeks ago I went to Wendy's to get a burger

They had a sign that stated something like "Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, Tomatoes will be by request only". That was just last month.

[Patsy Stone]

27. I was going to post that.

The tomato crops were hit hard.

[noonwitch]

28. I was going to use them to make tomato sauce, but saw the price

I used the canned kind instead. It was still yummy.

[Midlodemocrat]

30. Holy crap. Which store?

Kroger's has them for $1.19 a pound pretty regularly.

[philosophie_en_rose]

32. Now is a good time to think about planting your own.

I have two sets of seeds started, ready to go into the planters on my deck.