Tomato Organic Pineapple

The Pineapple Tomato - Heirloom Tomato is a late variety, producing very large fleshy tomatoes (240 to 400 g), with yellow and red skin and flesh. It is an indeterminate variety, with fruits that have few seeds and dense, juicy, and very sweet flesh, ideal for salads. The Tomato is a plant that is grown as an annual, requiring heat and rich soil. The plug plants of the Pineapple Tomato can be planted from April to June, after the last frost, for a harvest from August to October.

The Tomato is native to South America and Central America. Several varieties were already cultivated by the Incas long before the arrival of the Conquistadors. The term "Tomate" comes from the Inca Tomatl and refers to both the plant and the fruit from the plant. It is one of the many foods that came to us from the New World, along with beans, corn, squash, potatoes, and chili peppers. The Tomato took longer to reach our taste buds. For a long time, it was cultivated for its aesthetic and medicinal qualities, but it was considered toxic due to its resemblance to the fruit of the Mandrake, another Solanaceae. It only became a regular on our tables from the beginning of the 20th century.

The Tomato is a herbaceous perennial plant in tropical climates and is grown as an annual in our latitudes. It lignifies over time and produces small, insignificant yellow flowers clustered in cymes that will turn into fruits. The Tomato can be grown in open ground but can also be grown in a container on a balcony, preferably with compact varieties.

It is a fruit vegetable that has many nutritional benefits. Low in calories like most vegetables, rich in water, it contains a very interesting molecule: lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. It is also rich in vitamin C, provitamin A, and trace elements.

In terms of cooking, Tomatoes can be consumed raw or cooked in many ways: in salads or as appetizers, grilled, stuffed, marinated, preserved, in ratatouille, as a sauce... There are tomatoes of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Take advantage of this and grow several varieties in your vegetable garden to vary the pleasures!

Harvest: Harvest periods vary depending on the earliness: early varieties are harvested from 55 to 70 days after planting, mid-season varieties from 70 to 85 days, and late varieties beyond 85 days. The fruits should be picked when they have reached their final color and when their texture, while remaining firm, shows slight softening. For better conservation, make sure to pick the fruit with its peduncle. Be careful, immature fruits, stems, and leaves contain solanine and should not be consumed.

Storage: The optimal storage temperature for tomatoes is between 10 and 15°C (50 and 59°F). Refrigeration is possible but alters the taste qualities of the fruits. For longer storage, tomatoes can be preserved, dried, frozen, canned, or cooked into jam. To preserve them, cut your tomatoes in half and collect the juice. Place your half tomatoes face up on the rack of your oven. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar, then bake at a very low temperature for at least an hour. Remove your tomatoes, store them in a glass jar, and cover with olive oil.

Gardener's tip: To limit watering, we recommend mulching the soil with thin successive layers of grass clippings, if possible mixed with dead leaves. This protection, which keeps the soil moist, also limits weed growth.