Capturing the Taste of a Memory - Jersey Tomatoes
Each summer of our lives imparts its own flavors especially as it recedes into memory. Nothing captures the flavor that lives-on like the flavors of August. At Versailles Farms we use best growing practices to deliver the legendary Ramapo tomato.
What’s all this fuss about the Ramapo Tomato?
The 'Rutgers' Tomato was introduced in 1934 as a flavor ideal for Campbell's Soup Company. Over time growers switched to firmer commercial varieties that handle well during shipping- qualities more desired by supermarkets. The Ramapo tomato was developed at Rutgers in 1968 to capture the wonderful flavor of the 'Rutgers' but it disappeared from seed catalogues who were favoring varieties that produced higher yields for commercial growers. In 2008 this tasty tomato was reintroduced to capture the flavor grown by Jersey tomato farmers in days gone by.
In Greenwich's backcountry we're feeding our tomatoes twice a day with a special fertilizer blend flowing through our drip irrigation system. Our plants are field-grown, open-air pollinated and we pair them with calendula as a natural fungicide.
These locally grown tomatoes are delicate. They won’t last for weeks after purchase. They are best eaten fresh – within days of purchase.
A true Jersey tomato has that delicious balance of acid/sweet taste that the flavor of summer is remembered for. That old time flavor has high acids, not just high sugars. The Ramapo has the ideal sweet-tart combination. Some tomato lovers look for heirloom tomato varieties in hope of recapturing the sweet-tart juiciness they remember. But heirlooms vary widely and are difficult to deliver the ideal sweet-tart profile.
The Ramapo is a hybrid, technically not an heirloom, with that sweet-tart high sugar and high acid juicy tomato profile. This famous trait of the original Rutgers Tomato in the 1930s makes the Ramapo a true Jersey tomato.