How Do You Pick From All the Available Tomato Varieties?

[JennyC]

OH! I forgot to tell you about pickled okra. Yummy, yummy, yummy. The hot kind is the best. I can't tell you much about recipes; I've always gotten my pickled okra at the store. You need small pods for pickles; pickle them whole. (Okra pickles are not slimy.)

Whenever I'm looking for inspiration, I often turn to the ingredient search at Allrecipes.com. Here's a link to what you get with "okra":

https://allrecipes.com/Search/Ingredients.aspx?WithTerm=&SearchIn=All&Wanted1=okra

I can't vouch for these, as I haven't tried them, but I usually get good results from high-rated recipes. Of course, I don't think I've ever used one "as is" -- I always change recipes, depending on what I have and what I like. I also modify everything to be fat-free or at least extremely low in saturated fat. But this will give you a good idea of the range of ways you can cook okra. I don't know about that okra, chicken and rice casserole, though. Seems to me it would be slimy.

When my mom gets back from vacation, I'll get her recipe for okra and tomatoes. If I made it, I know I'd spice hers up (Mom's a spice wimp), but it's otherwise good. Down here, you can get canned okra and tomatoes at the store.

[MaineDesigner]

The only context in which I really like okra is Indian food. Try goggling under bhindi, bhendi, dharosh, bendakaya, vendakka and vendakai. Most of the Indian languages don't really have a separate sound for "v" and "b" and that coupled with the large number of Indian languages (roughly twenty major ones) and dialects makes for a wide range of phonetic transcriptions.

[MaineDesigner]

To return to the basic question after the okra digression I look at the basic sort of tomato (I.e. slicing, paste, cherry, etc.), the reputation of the tomato (partially word of mouth and partially reading), how early it matures, whether it is indeterminate (vine type) or determinate (bush type) and disease resistance - if any. Since I've generally grown tomatoes in relatively short season climates I usually don't bother with tomatoes that have longer than 80 day maturity. Coastal Maine has the added complication that summers are cool and damp which is not ideal tomato growing climate.

This year I'm growing Stupice, Carmello, Marmande, St. Pierre, Mosvich and Brandywine. Stupice is very early maturing and sets fruit in cool weather. The tomatoes themselves are small (lime sized) with good but not great flavor but they beat every other type I've tried for first mature fruit by 10 days to two weeks which makes Stupice worth it for me. I've also grown Dona, Costoluto Genovese, Black Prince, Juliet, Sun Gold, Camp Joy (by far my favorite cherry or small fruit tomato), Pruden's Purple and a few other lesser tomatoes which have faded from memory. On my "must try" list are Glacier (a possible rival to Stupice), Cosmonaut Volkov and Rose de Berne.

[TheLorax]

Nope. No more recipes till you fry some.

Hey, no fair. I don't even have any tomatoes yet! I'll try fried green tomatoes just as soon as I get some! Promise.

Nope, not too far north to know about gumbo. I've got a good turkey sausage gumbo recipe somewhere.

I've got the fried okra recipe from your site, looks easy enough and you say it eliminates the slime factor which is a plus-

INGREDIENTS

* 10 pods okra, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 cup cornmeal
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, soak okra in egg for 5 to 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge okra in the cornmeal mixture, coating evenly. Carefully place okra in hot oil; stir continuously. Reduce heat to medium when okra first starts to brown, and cook until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Is your mom back from vacation yet? I'll try her okra recipe too. I'm not growing any but I can buy it frozen.

MaineDesigner, I had no idea you were such a tomato aficionado

[JennyC]

Mom's back and I asked her. I'm afraid she cooks like me, though. She said "equal parts okra and tomatoes and add some Greek seasoning."

Which sound wonderful but isn't very specific, I know. The traditional recipe would involve salt and pepper instead of Greek seasoning. You slice the okra for okra and tomatoes and cut the tomatoes into chunks. I don't know how any of this will work with frozen okra, though. I wouldn't recommend trying okra pickles with frozen.

Back on topic? Let's see. I think you could make okra and tomatoes with most varieties, but it would be better (or at least would taste "right" to me) with the higher acid heirlooms. If you get a determinate and manage to time the tomatoes to be ready when the okra is, you can can a big batch and eat well all winter. Or you could freeze the tomatoes until the okra gets ready.

[WinglessAngel]

May I also add to the mix? lol....I absolutely adore fresh sweet tangy and all things tomato! I like to use crusty thick bread slices, a hearty helping of tomato slices, fresh chiffonade basil from my garden, oregano sprinkled on with salt and pepper sprinkled on it as well with a slice of sweet onion and some mayo....makes a great veggetarian sandwich is delicious and very filling, good for you too, as not a lot of mayo is needed, just a dab will do....you want the tomato and basil to shine in this sammie!

[WinglessAngel]

I forgot to add that sourdough is my fav for this type of sammie, but I also make my own bread at home and use that whenever I deem necessary to make it lol but toasted bread is a must with this sammie for sure!!

[Tony02905]

For the most part I like all veggies, so for me, I am up for trying anything in the garden. Last year I developed an addiction to heirloom veggies. I grew about 5 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes, the most memorable were the Violet Jaspers. Yummolicious!!! Also grew heirloom eggplants and cucumbers. There are plenty of webistes like rareseeds.com where you can choose from tons of heirloom varieties.

Just a note on heirloom tomatoes - they tend to be more acidic than hybrids, are not as shelf stable so eat them fairly quickly, but the trade off is some truly unique shapes, colors and higher nutritional content. They tend to have more bold flavors that hybrids as well.

[tedln]

Tony,

Welcome to the forum. I love to get everyones thoughts on growing veggies in the garden. I look forward to your contributions. If you want to discuss the attributes of heirlooms (especially tomatoes), we have a lot of experts on this forum. I'm not one of the experts, but I have learned a lot from them. Pick a variety and ask some questions. I bet someone will be familiar with the variety.

Ted