Goodbye Tomatoes, It Was Great While It Lasted

I picked the last of the tomatoes this week, along with the peppers. One of the tragedies and sorrows of this world is that things come to an end. Tomato plants only go so long. They begin to slow fruit production, they fall prey to disease and eventually just shut down. Sobering thought to ponder: it sounds just like your life and mine. I hope you celebrate every day of your life. As long as my tomatoes bless me with fruit I celebrate them.

I don't use the word celebrate lightly. I fondly recall a meal at Abolonetti on fisherman's wharf in Monterey. It was one of the best meals of my life. I can still taste it. Great meals are like that, aren't they? Time is frozen. Ten years later, my taste buds still react to the memory of that magical meal. One of the high points of lunch was a perfect tomato. Perfection in breeding, size, flavor, and ripeness. One large tomato. Cubed, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, framed with a chiffonade of sweet basil leaves. It was heavenly. I knew something special had happened. Sand-dabs with beurre blanc, very nice rice pilaf, and one, solitary, perfect tomato. In that moment, I knew I had found the culinary "holy grail." A perfect meal. Oh, how rarely that ever happens in a lifetime. According to my wife, everyone around me knew I was in a rapturous state of gastronomic euphoria as well.

The tomatoes this year were worthy of that marvelous ethereal tomato of my past. Black Krim, a Russian heirloom. Deep, dark, chocolaty red. Meaty, almost no seeds. Large, irregularly shaped. You would never buy this tomato if you saw it in a market, not on a bet. But taste it........a little salt, maybe a little balsamic. Let it linger in your mouth. WOW!!! This tomato will make all the sensors and buds in your mouth go "red-phone." Trust me when I say your tongue won't know what hit it. It has suffusions and subtleties of musky delight that make your eyes nearly roll back in your head. Super yields on top of all that. It makes you thank God above and Ronald Reagan that the "cold war" ended. This tomato immigrated to the U.S. after glasnost. It is probably the best tasting tomato I have ever tried.

Pink Caspian. It sounds like a character form a C.S. Lewis novel. Thank the USSR again. What were they doing over there? Breeding tomatoes next to the missile siloes? Huge, a pound or better, meaty, almost seedless fruits. Soft, pinky red. And FLAVOR. Utterly delicious.

Jubilee, a new one to me. The color was sensational. A bright, clear, intense yellow, yellow- orange. Large fruits, again, almost no seeds. Very thin skinned, long-keeping. These were perhaps our favorites this year. Not large amounts of fruit, but oh those that were there. They were so bright they were like sentinels. On a plate they were electric and vibrant. So many evenings those bright yellow lights were the highlight of the evening meal.

Goodbye tomatoes. Till next year..............if God wills.