Happy days! It’s ‘mater season — get ‘em while it’s hot! Nothing like sitting on the back porch enjoying the first BLT of the season made with locally grown tomatoes and bacon. Local lettuce is great, but it can be difficult to find given our local summer heat. Honestly, I skip the lettuce and go straight with some thick sliced Split Acre Farm tomatoes, crispy Parker Farm Bacon, and a healthy shmear of homemade whole egg mayo (recipe using Queen B Eggs is from egg week) on toasted rye bread from Annelore’s German Bakery. There is nothing like raising the still warm sandwich to my lips, juice from the tomatoes dripping down my arms to my elbow, and digging in with gusto — simple fare at its freshest and finest.

I fully understand the BTM (bacon, tomato, mayo) and sometimes L is not the only thing you can do with tomatoes but it seems to be my annual ritual ushering in the start of tomato season. Hey, you say. What’s so important about tomato season anyway?  Heck, we can buy tomatoes 24/7/365, right?  

My question is, “Can you really?” Can you really call those things you buy in January at the supermarket tomatoes? Sure, they are round, sort of red, and look like they may have been picked off a stem, but that is where the resemblance ends. Flavor is what counts in my book for the real identity of a tomato. Moreover, I suspect given the flavor of supermarket tomatoes, they are closer to Styrofoam than food.

On Saturday, to exemplify this point we will make the same pico de gallo recipe twice. Once with local Cary Downtown Farmers’ Market produce and once with super market produce. With this side-by-side taste test, let us see who is super after all.

In addition to the taste test, we will be showing off some other ways of using tomatoes and talking about how to store and preserve them for the fall and winter. Stop by the table to taste the following recipes and more.

Nekesa’s Garden Fresh Pico de Gallo
1 lb. local tomatoes, heirloom preferred
1 medium cucumber
½ of a green pepper
1/8 of a red onion or 2 scallions
¼ cup of cilantro
1 Tbl lime juice
Kosher salt to taste
Jalapeno to taste if you wish

Peel and seed the cucumber
Split and seed the pepper
Dice all ingredients and mix together
Season to taste with salt and jalapeno
Serve with chips or as a topping for tacos

Tomato basil bruschetta

Tomato Basil Bruschetta
8 oz local tomatoes, diced
2 oz fresh basil chiffonade
1 tsp dry basil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
French bread Crostinis

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix together well. Allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, overnight is best. For the crostinis, slice the French bread into ¼ to half inch rounds, brush with olive oil and toast in oven or broiler. Serve the tomato mixture on top of the crostinis and garnish with a little extra fresh basil.