Acid Tummy

Oy.

And I'm not even Jewish. But Oy Vey! Went to a tomato tasting at Seed Savers Exchange today. They had forty, FORTY, different kinds of tomatoes out for tasting!

Two gianormous long tables (white, of course... we'll get to that) with tomato after tomato after tomato. All different colors, shapes and sizes. Red, yellow, orange, purple, black(ish), green, striped, lobed, variegated fun!

It was awesome! The only problem I had come later. Having gone through the line once at the beginning of the event, and again after the line died down considerably, I have collected a good chunk of acid from the tomatoes that is tickling it's way back up my esophagus.

So worth it though.

We met the folks there and I think a good time was had by all. We were a little distracted the first time through, as some guy standing in between the tables was taking picture after picture of The Boyo. Boyo was tasting particular varieties and telling Grammy and anyone else who would listen his opinion on the tomatoes. He loves tomatoes... and a ton of other garden produce. Anyway, by the time we reached the end of the line, we were approached by some people from a magazine who wanted to use those photos in their story about the event. After some talking about it with The Wife, and getting them to agree to not use the pictures online, we decided that it would be OK. National coverage for Boyo! He, naturally, was entirely non-plussed by the whole thing, and promptly went off to play with the other kids on the playset, introducing himself and asking if they wanted to be friends and play.

Dad and I listened to a class on seed saving while Mom and The Wife sat over near the playset with Sweet Pea and watched the Boyo play. Then The Wife and I had a chance to go back through the line of tomatoes and take a little more time tasting.

Before we left for this event, I Googled "tomato tasting palate cleansing" because I wanted to know what best to use between bites so I could experience the flavor of each tomato variety to the fullest. (water, go figure) and read an article saying there is a rise of 'Tomaliers' (pronounced 'toe-mahl-Yeahrs'. It's a spin off of the word Sommeliers, which are wine gurus who taste it and know all the fancy terms for how to describe the taste. It also stated a less pretentious name could be 'Tomato Hero'. I like that one better, as I look down my nose at pretension.

Anyway, there are no schools for such a job, except for tastings and such. And I don't think I have the palate for being a true Tomato Hero. But I'll settle for a good knowledge of them and some of their characteristics.

Here's to the TOMATO. The myriad of varieties to choose from, and the endless number of uses for them! And here's to chewable antacids, allowing people like me to enjoy the tomatoes. Good job God.

Oh, and the white table significance? Apparently the first step in tasting the tomato is looking at the fruit against a white background to get a sense of it's brilliance. I skipped that part and went right to the smelling and eating!

More Later