The benefits of tomato
Links on this page include advertising.
What tomatoes do
What this vegetable does
Worth reaching for when the heat leaves you thirsty or takes your appetite.
How to eat it
Sliced and eaten as it is with salt and olive oil, tomato gives you a clean, fresh flavour.
A yakuzen note
Tomato is said to cool the body and clear excess heat.
This vegetable, driedDried tomato ->
Tomato is sweet and sour and slightly cold, a summer vegetable held to settle excess heat trapped in the body, moisten a dry throat and help the stomach work. Its fresh acidity and juicy flesh are what it is loved for, and it suits daily care when heat builds up in the body, or when you want something of the summer. From raw salads to chilled soups to stews and sauces, it belongs in Japanese and Western cooking alike, the vegetable that leads on colour.
TOC
When tomatoes are in season, their types, and how to choose them
If you want to enjoy what tomato does, it helps to know its season, its types and how to choose it. It is a nightshade-family vegetable in season in summer, loved for its fresh acidity and juicy flesh.
The field crop in season in summer, and glasshouse tomatoes all year
Tomato belongs to the nightshade family, like aubergine and sweet pepper, and is used in cooking around the world. The season for the field crop is summer, around June to September, and fruit that has had plenty of sun has a good balance of sweetness and acidity and a fuller flavour. Glasshouse tomatoes are sold all year, and the winter-to-spring crop, grown slowly in the cold, is loved for the sweetness it carries. Good raw and clean on the palate, of course, and cooked it gains savour and depth. Raw or cooked, it is a vegetable with a wide range.
Large tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and cooking tomatoes
Tomatoes can be chosen by size and by use.
| kinds | What stands out |
|---|---|
| Large tomatoes | Momotaro and the like. The most common, good raw and in cooking |
| Cherry tomatoes | Small and strongly sweet. For salads and colour in a lunchbox |
| Cooking tomatoes | San Marzano and the like. Savour comes out with heat, for sauces and stews |
For raw use and for salads alike, everyday large tomatoes are handy. For colour in a salad or to eat as they are, strongly sweet cherry tomatoes and fruit tomatoes suit. For sauces and stews, where they will be cooked, cooking tomatoes, with firm flesh and little water, give the best savour. Yellow and orange tomatoes can be used to add colour. Choose by the dish and tomato shows its best.
How to choose them, and how to skin them
When picking out good tomatoes, these are the things to look for.
- An even red all over, firm and glossy
- A real weight in the hand, and well rounded
- Clearly defined radiating lines at the base, the star mark
A tomato still firm and a little green will ripen at room temperature, turning red and gaining sweetness. Once fully ripe, keep it in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. For dishes where the skin bothers you, or where you want a smooth result, skin it: cut a cross opposite the stem end, dip it briefly in boiling water and drop it into cold water, and the skin slips off. The jelly around the seeds carries savour too, so in some dishes leave it in. Cutting with a sharp knife keeps the juice where it belongs and gives a clean cut.
How to eat tomatoes
The fresh acidity and juicy flesh of a tomato carry it from raw salads to cooked dishes. Here are the usual ways.
In salads and chilled soups
Tomato is at its best chilled well and eaten raw. Cut into wedges or rounds with nothing but salt and olive oil, you get its fresh sweet-sour note. Caprese, layered with mozzarella and basil, is a beautiful starter. Gazpacho, a chilled soup of blended tomato with cucumber and bread, eats clean on a hot day. Cherry tomatoes go straight into a salad or a lunchbox, and steeped in sweet vinegar as a marinade they make a colourful dish too. Chilled, they taste fresher still.
In sauces, stews and stir-fries
Cooked, tomato gains a great deal in savour and sweetness. Tomato sauce, simmered down slowly, is the base of pasta, pizza and stews. Minestrone, ratatouille and tomato stews, simmered with meat, beans or vegetables, are deeply flavoured dishes with the savour of the tomato dissolved through them. Tomato stir-fried quickly with egg finishes colourful and goes well with rice. Halved and baked in the oven, the sweetness concentrates and it makes a fine side. For cooking, use low-moisture cooking tomatoes and the savour comes through best.
How to keep tomatoes
Ripen still-firm tomatoes at room temperature, and keep fully ripe ones stem down in a plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. Chilled too long the flavour falls away, so do not refrigerate them for long and eat them soon. Cherry tomatoes keep better if you take off the stems, wash them and dry them well before storing. If you have a lot, freeze them whole or chopped, ready to grate from frozen or to go into a soup or a stew. Frozen whole, the skins slip off when you put them in water. Making them into sauce and freezing that is worth doing too.
Alongside this, it is worth knowing about The benefits of cucumber a gourd-family vegetable likewise held to settle summer heat, and a summer vegetable likewise held to cool excess heat in the body, The benefits of eggplant as a guide when building a summer table.
In season in summer, tomato is a vegetable whose fresh acidity and juicy flesh carry it from salads and chilled soups to sauces, stews and stir-fries. Large and cherry tomatoes for eating raw, cooking tomatoes for the savour heat brings out: use each for the dish and it shows its best. For daily care in the season when heat builds up, bring tomato to the table.
