Thu, July 16, 2015
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Ridgewood Library, 125N Maple ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Public Library hosts the, “Jersey Tomato” . The Jersey Tomato, Thursday, July 16, 6:30pm. How did the tomato become New Jersey’s iconic crop? Learn about all types of tomatoes. Speaker: Judith Krall-Russo, food historian. In partnership with the NJ Council for the Humanities.
Few foods muster as much discrimination in the American palate as the tomato. Bland tasting tomatoes have become such a mainstream commodity that they are universally referred to as “cardboard” or “plastic” tomatoes. On the other end of that spectrum, the one held in highest regard for its epic taste, has been theJersey Tomato.
And while New Jersey farm markets continue to provide consumers with beautiful vine-ripened Jersey Tomatoes, an undercurrent of dialogue is taking place across the State: “The Jersey Tomatoes don’t taste like they used to” or “What happened to that old-fashioned tangy flavor?”.
Well, the researchers at Rutgers NJAES have heard the rumblings and have decided to do something about it. What happened to that old time flavor and what can we do to get it back? Find out here what our Jersey Tomato working group is doing to bring back that old time Jersey Tomato flavor – from field and taste testing the old tomato varieties, bringing back a favorite – the Rutgers-developed Ramapo Tomato, to soil fertility research and breeding of new open-pollinated varieties.
https://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/jerseytomato.html
Too bad I will be unable to attend as I have a conflict that evening. Hurrah for Rugers and the breeding work they are doing on tomatoes. Plant breeders are the unsung heroes of agribusiness. Working hard to come up with varieties that yield more, are more disease resistant and taste better.