Tomato junkies, your fix is here.
If you've been jonesing for a fresh, ripe, sweet tomato, one that doesn't look like it was manufactured from melted-down Evian bottles, you are officially in luck. The season's first heirloom tomatoes, grown hydroponically by Farmhouse Tomatoes of Lake Worth and Delray Beach, are now for sale every Saturday at the West Palm Beach and Boca Raton GreenMarkets.
For now, they're mostly
the exotic-looking Cherokee Purples, says Farmhouse Tomato in Chief
Walter Ross. But in the next several weeks, the always-popular
Brandywines and sweet, low-acid Gold Medals will begin to hit the
markets. And by this weekend, they should also be at two of Farmhouse's
biggest commercial clients, Whole Foods and Fresh Market.
Like
most good things in life, Farmhouse heirlooms don't come cheap. They'll
set you back $4 a pound at the GreenMarkets and from $5 to $6 a pound at
yupscale grocers. But, really, if you need a tomato fix, a melted-down
Evian bottle just won't do.