Whichever way you choose to classify them (vegetable, fruit, berry, or otherwise), tomatoes occupy a hefty space on the plates of almost all the world’s cuisines. For those far too well-acquainted with the drearily clinical six-pack of insipid, watery ‘salad tomatoes’, we hope this article encourages you to delve further into this mealtime staple, and in doing so, refuse to settle for less.
To caveat: this is a who’s who, but it cannot be a whole family affair. There are thousands of known varieties of tomato and an exhaustive introduction to each one would be, well, exhausting. Consider this a sightseeing tour of a few of the big hitters that are relatively easy to come by, though you might not know all of them.
Certain types are better raw, some come into their own when slow-roasted, others are the smart choice when buying tinned. Should you use the same variety for bruschetta, gazpacho, and a rich-as-blood red ragú? There is no right answer - you should allow inspiration and experimentation to lead you to whichever lofty height your palate fancies. But, read on for a spot of guidance when confronted by a laden farmers’ market vegetable stall, swelling with produce.
Cherry
First things first: on the vine or off the vine, does it matter? In a word, no. When a tomato is about to ripen and enters its ‘breaker stage’, it forms a layer of cells across its stem which seals it off from the vine. At the breaker stage, tomatoes ripen from the inside out using ethylene gas, not from the nutrients provided by the wider plant – especially not when the vine it has grown from is no longer even attached to said plant.
Cherry tomatoes are sweet and occasionally sharp, with a fresher taste than most other tomato varieties. They tend have a thin skin and a high juice content, making them prone to popping when bitten into – a wonderful phenomenon to consider when planning the texture of your dish.
Their delicate outer layer melts quickly in heat, imparting a bright vibrancy into long-laboured ragus. They’re also delightful in raw sauces like a sauce vierge or a salsa. As a tip, take a bain-marie to your sauce vierge to gently encourage the infusion, rechristening it a ‘presque-vierge’ instead.
Plum
With a richer flavour than most varieties and a slightly thicker skin, plum tomatoes perform fabulously in the heat and are a key player in low-and-slow cooking. There are numerous popular cultivars of plum, but we’re focussing on two that are so delicious they deserve their own respective sections: the Datterini and the San Marzano.
Plum: Datterini
Small in stature (their name translates to 'little dates' in Italian), but still plummy in shape, Datterinis are exceptionally sweet, with a deep and intense flavour. A robust, taut skin protects the flesh and juices from roasting, caramelising them within. Drop them on top of a pizza or scatter them across a focaccia before baking for a sharp, sugary kick.
Plum: San Marzano
Originating from the loamy farmlands and volcanic landscapes of Campania, San Marzanos are widely revered as the gold standard for passata, marinara, and any other Italian red sauces. In the UK, they’re more often found tinned than fresh.
A San Marzano has a vividly red, oblong body that gathers at its base in a soft point. Underneath its skin hides a rich sweetness, mild acidity and a bold, full-bodied taste. If you’re sourcing ingredients for a from-scratch pomarola and have a few extra coins to spend on a tin, give it a go. You won’t regret it. If you’ve found them fresh, blanch to remove their skins for a velvety-smooth sauce or go skin-on for added texture.
Winter tomatoes
Winter tomatoes offer us a way of staying seasonal while gracing us with our favourite crop far further into the year. They’re a hardier variety with a sturdy skin and are used to competing fiercely for nutrients while developing slowly in the cold earth. Their arduous struggle is rewarded with a firm, umami-infused flesh, lower juice levels, and a balance of sweetness and acidity.
The winter tomato’s crisp texture and bold flavour profile pairs beautifully with soft cheeses, cutting cleanly through a buttery Crottin de Chavignol, for example, while offering up some bite. For a subtle texture, leave them in salt to draw out their moisture and break down their flesh. Particular varieties to look out for are the Black Iberiko or Marinda.
Heirloom
An heirloom isn’t a specific variety or cultivar of tomato. Instead, it is a categorisation of seeds passed down from harvest to harvest. To qualify as an heirloom, the crop must be openly pollinated by natural means such as insects, wind, birds, hands, or water.
At the end of the season, the farmer takes seeds from the plants that produced the best fruit to save them for the next crop. Heirloom seeds are not genetically modified, instead farmers select certain desirable traits like juiciness, size, shape, and colour. It’s this prioritisation of quality over all else that means the varieties chosen will often have fewer seeds and mouth-watering flavour.
When thinking about purchasing, pick them up, notice the firmness of the flesh, the thickness of the skin, their size and colour. Greens tend to have a brighter acidity, yellows and oranges are often sweet and fruity, purple and blacks will usually be earthier and more saline, and reds generally have a balanced acid and sweetness.
Common varieties you’ll find in the heirloom section will be the beefsteak, ox hearts, and black cherry. Their lack of seeds often makes the larger, fleshier varieties perfect for dishes like a pan con tomate or caprese salad, where you want the tomato to be the star of the show.
To conclude
A truly amazing plate of food is the result of the deft execution of numerous incremental steps. When specificity is employed at all stages, from the procuring of the ingredients, to the plating up, and everything in between, your dish will sing. Understanding the reason for every single cooking decision – why you’re julienning instead of brunoising; why you’ve removed the germ from your garlic; why you’ve chosen Datterinis over San Marzanos – will elevate a dish from good to outstanding. Happy cooking.