If you’re an avid gardener and have been blessed with a bounty of ripe tomatoes, a simple summer salad is a great way to make the most of (and use up) this garden favorite. Salting the tomatoes before mixing them into the salad brings out their juices, which make a base for the dressing. There’s…

Red, ripe homegrown tomatoes just may be the perfect summer food. I eat my fill of raw slices with a sprinkle of cracked pepper, a wedge of fresh mozzarella and a just-picked basil leaf. Pair those summer tomatoes with fruity olive oil and you have a match made in heaven. Roasted together, the tomatoes’ sweet,…

This is just about the easiest tomato sauce you’ll ever make, and when made with ripe summer tomatoes, the flavor is hard to beat. I love using cherry tomatoes because they require no extra chopping, but you can make this sauce with any tomatoes you have on hand; just slice them into bite-size pieces first….

Q: I saw your YouTube short video that gave a couple of tips on buying and planting grafted tomatoes, but I don’t understand why you would graft two tomato plants together. It seems like they would be very expensive, and I don’t see any benefit. A: There are two types of grafted vegetables. First, you…

A new tomato, genetically engineered to produce very high levels of the cancer-fighting antioxidant “anthocyanins”, which as a result have turned the usually red fruit into a deep purple, is set to be released in markets this year. Anthocyanins—also found in berries—are thought to offer protection against cardiovascular disease and age-related degenerative diseases as well….

Big, red, ripe, round, and juicy. That’s the homegrown tomato paradigm, the utopian goal of almost everyone who plants a garden. John Denver popularized this idea with the Guy Clark song “Homegrown Tomatoes”: I forget about all the sweatin’ and diggin’ Every time I go out and pick me a big one … You can…

When you hear “green tomatoes,” does the word “fried” come to mind automatically? Aside from that Southern classic of breaded green tomato slices fried golden, few people have any idea of what else to do with hard, unripe tomatoes. Last week at a blustery farmers market, there were green tomatoes for sale. But nobody—vendors or…

My children have an arrangement with an area farmer. After the weekly farmers market, he supplies them with surplus produce, which they sell at a roadside stand in front of our house. They split the proceeds 50/50, with the farmer getting half, and the boys dividing the other. What’s in it for me, you ask?…

I remember the first time I ever tasted this delectable salty, creamy sauce. It was at a friend’s home, where they served a dish called veal tonnato. Poached veal leg was sliced, chilled and then finished with this unique Northern Italian sauce. I never forgot this classic dish it — was the tuna sauce that…

This time of year, it can be a challenge to name a single item of produce that isn’t ripe. The earth has tilted squarely toward peak veg, the gazpacho days of summer when anyone can be a vegetarian with barely an effort. Even the most dedicated carnivore might find themselves satisfied, at the end of…