Greenhouse Crops - Beefsteak Tomatoes

Last year I grew Consteluto Fiorentina beefsteak tomatoes and had terrible trouble with them  they became diseased and the fruits didn't grow to the size they should have.  So I switched to Marmande for this year and the difference is amazing.  You don't get so many tomatoes to a truss as with normal tomatoes - but what they lack in quantity - they make up for in size.

I am holding this one in the palm of my hand.

The smaller ones at the bottom of the plant are just starting to ripen the largest will be sometime yet.  The flavour of this wonderful old French heirloom beefsteak variety is so rich, sumptious and utterly tomatoey it sets the standard for all others to match up to.

The massive fist-sized  fruits are heavily ribbed and produce very few seeds - sliced into thick generous juicy wedges layered with mozarella and avocado, drizzled with vinaigrette - they are an unforgettable treat.

You can stuff them


see recipe here


or use them in tomato salad


 or slow roast them for adding to sauces, bottling or freezing


see recipe here

 or if they don't all ripen use them green and cook fried green tomatoes

If enough ripen I intend making Tomato and Chilli Chutney

see here for recipe

or Tomato and Chilli Jam which is a particular favourite of mine


see recipe here

 Of course you can use normal sized tomatoes for all of the above but beefsteak have less seeds and more flesh.  And I couldn't possibly leave out Tomato Soup


see recipe here

Of course the easiest and probably the tastiest way of eating them is warm, straight from the plant or sliced into a sandwich.  Can't wait.

Here is what Nigel Slater has to say about the humble tomato:-
A Tomato For Its Own Sake
You have found your tomato, sweetly ripe yet with a bite to it.  It may still have the green shoulders of youth, or a few yellow freckles near its stalk.  The seeded jelly inside will shine as you slice.  As you have already resisted the temptation to eat it whole, you might like to slice it thinly, but no thinner that two one-pound coins on top of one another.  You lay the slices, overlapping, on a plate and trickle olive oil over them, so that it falls in rivulets over the fruit.  Fruity, peppery, green or grassy, the choice is yours.  A little salt, barely noticeable, but no pepper this time.  Just your tomato, oil and a flick of sea salt.