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seeing red…

…and orange…and a little green. Oh! and even some purpley black. I’m talking about tomatoes!

CSA tomatoes waiting for tasting

They’re everywhere right now. The end of our very short growing season is closing in fast. Everything that remotely looks as though it will be etible is being watched and then snatched from the plant at just the right moment.

Our CSA farm — Bluebird Hill Farm in Jefferson, ME — hosted a Tomato Tasting/Garden Tour along with a pot luck supper a few weeks ago. Can you imagine a better evening?! There were almost 30 different varieties of tomatoes to taste. In the end, the most unusual tomato had a licorice aftertaste!

When it comes to tomatoes, what I love most about this time of year is the smell of cooked tomatoes in the morning. I’m a lazy preserver so I let the crock pot do the work. That and the handy machine that separates the skins and seeds from the pulp and juice. It’s so easy…

The most excellent tomato machine at work

 

The tomatoes are roughly cut up and get put through the “Italian tomato machine” (it has a name that even my Italian friend can’t pronounce). They’re cooked overnight in an uncovered crockpot, and in the morning…tomato puree! The smell is amazing!

This year, I processed 40 pounds from our CSA. That should keep us in tomatoes for awhile!

They’ll be a breath of freshness and a reminder of summer in the dark days of winter. Yum!