A small tomato customer: origin, cultivation & care
Who ? Allergies now excepted? can imagine a life and food without tomatoes? Throughout the year, the most diverse varieties are on the market, are part of essential favorite dishes such as pizza, spice up salads or just come as a solitary summer treat with some salt or grated Parmesan cheese. The tomato. A small tribute.
The golden apple of Christopher Columbus
Who now thinks there were tomatoes, especially in Italy, already? Always ?, he is wrong. Originally the tomato comes from Central and South America and was probably brought by Christopher Columbus? so very early in the 15th century. Only about 50 years later it was first described by an Italian: Petro Andrea Matthioliben called the plant "Golden Apple", in Italian Pomo d? Oro. As always, the people were suspicious and observed the foreign plant for a good while as an ornamental plant. The Italians began to eat the gold apple as early as the eighteenth century; in Germany, the tomato was not considered food until around 1900.
The vegetables that were a berry
Systematically, the tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, belongs to the Solanaceae family and is thus closely related to potato, paprika, aubergine and belladonna. Botanists know that the tomato is not a vegetable but a berry, which is perhaps more comprehensible, if you know that the fruits of wild and primeval tomatoes measured only 1.5 to 2.5 cm. Like all nightshade plants, tomatoes can come up with poisonous alkaloids. Tomatidine is moderately toxic, can cause vomiting, and is found in everything that is green. Exceptions are green-grown tomatoes such as the "Green Zebra".
In contrast, tomatoes have a fairly high proportion of lycopene? This is an antioxidant substance that is supposed to strengthen the immune system and prevent cancer.
The whole world of tomatoes
There are more than 3000 varieties of tomatoes worldwide. There are round, flat, egg-shaped, big, small, tiny, red, yellow, black, green? and more and more different varieties are also offered by us in the trade. For all varieties, one thing is important: Ensure sufficient maturity! Tomatoes ripen, but you can not make up for the lack of sunshine. Then taste is simply missing. So stay away from pale, hard fruits. The most important families at a glance:
- The versatile classic: the vine tomato, Round, red and often sold as a stemmed tomato. Here you have to be careful! If it smells aromatic, then it is usually the stalks that says nothing about the degree of ripeness of the tomatoes. Vine tomatoes are good for everything.
- The Heirloom tomato: It has more pulp and less water. Ideal for sauces! It can take on a somewhat floury consistency, which many in the raw state do not appreciate. Mostly the meat tomato is quite large, so it is ideal for filling.
- A special variety that you should definitely buy when it is offered is the Beefsteak tomato, In France as a coeur de boeuf, in Italy as a cuore di bue on the market, is it incomparably aromatic? although she looks unsightly, wrinkled and sometimes almost spoiled!
- Egg and bottle tomatoes: Why egg tomatoes are so hot is clear: The shape makes? S. Vine tomatoes are usually very aromatic and also have a slightly lower water content than vine tomatoes. They are perfect for sauces, soup and salads.
- cherry tomatoes: Small fruits, lots of flavor and sweetness? the perfect snack. It does not matter if the miniature mats are called Cocktail, Cherry or Date by name. They taste!
Best directly from the shrub!
Sun-ripened tomatoes taste best directly from the garden. Growing tomatoes yourself is not very difficult. However, since tomatoes need a lot of sun and heat, one is well advised to limit oneself to small-fruited varieties. Unless you own a greenhouse or conservatory and can extend the growing season. However, experience shows that our summers are difficult enough for big meat tomatoes.
There are in the trade, at nurseries and hardware stores preferred plants that you can only plant after the magic ice saints (after 15 May) in the field. The bed should be loosened and prepared with mature compost. Tomatoes like a lot of space and warm feet: some horse manure in the planting hole, well covered with earth, gives off a wonderful underfloor heating. Also, tomatoes like to be in the same place every year, but this requires a good fertilization of the soil over the winter!
Even larger cocktail tomato plants are practical in pots, which you can put directly into the nibble on the balcony!
The sowing
If you want to grow special varieties yourself, you should not start sowing too soon. Place the seeds in seed soil or organic substrate for potted herbs, cover with a thin layer of soil and set at room temperature of at least 24 degrees. Keep well moist until germination. Once the cotyledons are visible, the plant needs a lot of light and a maximum of 21 degrees.If it is too warm and light is missing, you get thin, long stems instead of compact, sturdy plants. In order to save on the pikieren, the dealing with the young plantlets, one should plant from the beginning with enough distance. If the second pair of leaves shows up, the water is used more sparingly, just to make the plants grow more compactly. Before you can go outside in May, we recommend that you slowly get used to the cooler temperatures and direct sunlight by putting them into the fresh air a little longer each day.
The casting
Are the tomatoes planted out, do not they want to dry out? however, one should not be too wasteful with the water, so that the plants form enough roots. That contradicts itself? No. You can apply a mulch layer around the tomatoes and pour into a pot sunk into the ground. Then the water comes directly to the roots and the evaporation over the surface is not that big.
The care
In order for the tomato to be able to concentrate fully on the flowering and the formation of as many fruits as possible, one must lead them on the right path. This is called vomiting: in the leaf axils form side shoots, which break out as soon as they are two inches tall.
Tomatoes are prone to brown rot if the leaves do not dry fast enough. First of all, never pour the foliage, secondly, maybe build a roof if it threatens to become a wet summer. At the end of summer, sunshine is often no longer enough to bring all the tomatoes to maturity. Then it can help to remove all foliage. If the tomatoes do not turn red (or yellow or black), they can be picked and left to mature in a dark and dry place, such as an egg carton.
And finally: good appetite
A little tip: Tomatoes have a lot of acid, so they often tolerate a pinch of sugar. Especially in tomato sauces or soups, that must not be missing!
A favorite recipe: tomato provencales. Halve the ripe meat tomatoes diagonally and top with a persilade, a mass of minced garlic, parsley, bread crumbs, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. In the oven around 20? Bake for 30 minutes. It gets even better if you first remove the seeds, fry the tomatoes in a pan on the cut surface and then fill with the Persillade and overbake. A wonderful accompaniment to grilled or fried fish!
