/snip/ Since 2001, Mr. Rabin has been the head of the Rutgers tomato project, responsible for identifying tomatoes that farmers can grow successfully and consistently. It is an awesome charge in a state where “Jersey tomato†is as prideful a phrase as “Jersey girl.†It is even more so this year, as Mr. Rabin helps to bring back to market a lost variety that was once virtually the definition of the Jersey tomato.
But what’s so special about the Jersey tomato?
“It can’t be the soil, because we’ve got sandy soil in the south of the state, and more clay and loam in the north,†said Pete Nitzsche, a Rutgers agent in Morris County. “What we’ve got here is a memory of how tomatoes used to taste.†/snip/
It is totally amazing that our plant geneticists have worked for years breeding plants that are disease and insect pest resistant only to find they bred the flavor right out of the fruit. Now they are trying to bred plants that produce fruits that do have flavor, apparently forgetting there are plants like that readily available and most of the are really old varieties that our grandparents grew. Some people, apparently, need that newer, better, tasteless "stuff" but I will stick with the old tried and true heirlooms.
The sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, it is brown knees.
Posts: 2123 | Location: Central Michigan along the Lakeshore | Registered: August 28, 2004
