Tomatoes

What are they? Actually fruits that we eat like vegetables, tomatoes can be as small as cherries or as large as a grapefruit. They are yellow, red, orange, green, brown, purple, blue and multicolored.
What they taste like: Sweet, juicy, tangy. Heirloom varieties are colorful and plentiful. Plum tomatoes, like Roma, are used in tomato paste.
When you can find them: South Florida’s tomato season is in the winter and spring. Everglades tomatoes, tiny and sweet as grapes, grow year-round. Buy seedlings in the fall and with some care, you’ll have your own tomatoes in the spring.
How to use and store: Don’t refrigerate! Cold stops ripening. Make tomato sauce with extras and freeze for future use. cooking tips: Tomatoes are a natural for salads and side dishes, sprinkled lightly with salt and a few drops of olive oil and torn basil leaves. Chop tomatoes and heap on slices of toasted rustic bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil as an appetizer.