The Pork of the Fruit World

So we thought we'd take a moment and share a book on a food topic and showcase some related dishes.

Drew recently finished reading Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit , which hit the Top 100 Kindle book list on Amazon.

Per Amazon :  Supermarket produce sections bulging with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes have become all but a national birthright. But in Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award-winning article, The Price of Tomatoes, investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry.


The book proved to be an interesting expose into why tomatoes from the grocery store have no taste, can survive a fall from the tomato stand unbruised, and what drives the variation in price.  If you're stomach  is weak, this book is not for you.  Estabrook dives into the deadly chemicals used to treat tomato plants, their affects on pregnant field workers, and the real slavery that exists in the Southern tomato economy.

 Sounds pretty nasty, and a recent trip to any grocery store will confirm my point.  But I'll tell ya what's really good....

These Babies!

These puppies are from the garden of Ron & Mary Starwalt, Elizabeth's uncle & aunt.  Full of oxygen and flavor, the tomatoes' smell and taste were the epitome of what a tomato should be.  So how to pay does one pay tribute to such a quality product?  

Rule #1: You let it shine as the star of the dish, letting it's true flavors shine.

Rule #1 in Action:  Tomato Caprese Salad

We started our dish with Liz slicing tomatoes and Drew slicing balls of fresh mozzarella.  

After our chopping was complete, we arranged the tomatoes on a plate, interspersing them with a piece of cheese.  The slices got a dusting of cracked pepper and a topping of torn basil leaves, fresh from the Fraker garden.  

We finished the dish with a drizzle of olive oil and some fig balsamic vinegar from Old Town Oil in Chicago.  The end result was a refreshing and tasty summer appetizer.

Rule #2:  Only combine with ingredients of the same high quality.

Rule #2 in Action:  Homemade Garden Salsa

So while I slept in Saturday morning, Liz, French, & Judith were hard at work in kitchen making salsa.  A Midwest touch is very much alive in this salsa in that there is no fiery heat nor artificial preservatives, just flavors of vegetables fresh picked from the garden stewing in extra virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar.

The salsa recipe is from a book entitled Too Many Tomatoes, copy right 1976.  Take a close look at the picture below-notice any additions/subtractions to the recipe?  This is the Midwest cook in action!

Nix the Heat; Add in Freshness!

French kicked things off by using a tomato peeler to remove the skins of 4 medium tomatoes before they got a quick dice.

While French was dicing tomatoes, Liz diced a 1/2 an onion & a whole green pepper straight from the garden and Judith minced 1/2 cup of Schnuck's finest celery. 

In a large mixing bowl, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar were combined before the diced vegetables were added to the mix along with 8 leaves of chopped basil.  

All the ingredients were then stirred well, covered, and put in the refrigerator to chill out.  The end product was a nice meld of flavors from the acid of the tomato and the red wine vinegar & bite from the onion and green pepper.

Rule #3: Bacon makes anything and everything taste better.

So again, like the cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather's, I don't have a picture of the tasty, tasty BLTs we had for lunch today, but talk about the portrait of a local lunch-fresh bread from Mirabelle's bakery in Urbana, tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, and bacon from the University of Illinois Meat Sales Room.  Life doesn't get any better than that!

De-Constructed Local BLT-Minus the Bacon

Word to the uninitiated, you haven't lived until you've consumed a fresh, garden tomato at the peak of the season!  Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

P.S.-The Pork of the Fruit World?  Really Drew?  Translation:  Pork is the supreme meat; tomato is the supreme fruit (or vegetable, depending on which side of the argument you fall).