The joy of tomatoes...

It’s been a very colourful and very tasty month for us here at Veg Men HQ. All because of our favourite fruit: tomatoes...  we’ve had red ones, yellow ones, black ones, white ones, green stripped ones and gold ones.  Whatever the colour, whatever the size, whatever the shape, we absolutely love them. Of all the things we grow these delicious delights bring untold levels of joy.

This year we've grown fourteen varieties across more than four hundred plants, normally we wouldn't grow quite so many but there has been a lot of trials going on as part of Veg Men R&D and there have been some interesting results.  We've found some definite keepers that will be part of our planting plans for years to come and also some that definitely won’t.  Part of the joy that comes from growing is that even those that didn’t make the cut have been beautiful and tasty additions to this years crop.  Next year we'll have a core of around seven varieties alongside a couple more trials, as we constantly refine the selection we offer and quest for the tastiest we can find. The thought that each year our tomatoes will get better and better makes me very excited. 

For us, tomatoes are a prime example of what is going wrong with the food industry today. Tomatoes have unbelievable taste, they are things of great beauty that come in all shapes and sizes. There are varieties that work well for sauces and others that are better for salads. There are some that have citrus flavours and some that are super sweet. However, in supermarkets the everyday tomato is frequently a bland watery ball of nothing, it is the kind of food that saps inspiration and turns people off them altogether.  Very often, the longer people are exposed to a product that is developed for appearance, with flavour being a secondary consideration will inevitably utter the words 'I don't like tomatoes'.

We see tomatoes as a beacon of hope that very clearly demonstrates the difference between what is happening to the food being presented by industry Goliath's and what proper fruit and veg should taste like.