An Heirloom Feast

I have just finished the tastiest breakfast I've eaten in many a day. The ingredients were simple enough, the last of our 'Noire de Crimée' tomatoes gently fried in good oil, some fresh thyme, salt and pepper and just a little sugar. 

The finished ingredients scraped on top of good toasted bread, spread with good salted butter. Simple food eaten with relish.

In the years since we have been growing our own food our cooking methods have seemed to have grown simpler. Why mess about with the best ingredients, masking their flavours?

It has not been a vintage tomato harvest this year. The required long hot summer simply didn't happen. Tomatoes in this country have always been a hit and miss crop but one worth taking. Supermarket tomotoes are a poor imitation of the real thing.

"Noire de Crimée' is a heirloom variety of tomato. They usually have a shorter shelf life and can be less disease resistant than modern hybrids. Some varieties of vegetables would be extinct were it not for gardeners saving seed from year to year. 

Originating in the Crimea, 'Noire de Crimée' produce large, irregular shaped fruits. Dark crimson in colour, with a hint of smoky flavour, making them perfect for salads, sandwiches and pasta. 

We grow other varieties of tomatoes every year, some heirloom, some reliable

varieties such as 'Gardeners Delight' and 'Moneymaker'. 

Now as Autumn envelopes the garden is a good time to sit and start making choices of what varieties of vegetables to grow next year. Seed catalogues are a good way of whisking away a wet and miserable afternoon as anything.

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