Discover the Tomato Rainbow and the World Tomato Society
Picture yourself at the headquarters of the World Tomato Society—where what some call the world’s most popular fruit is celebrated and tomato know-how is shared each day. Where in the world are you? Perhaps you are in Italy, the land of fabled red sauces and legends of the aphrodisiac properties of the “love apple.” Or maybe you are in Spain, home to the famous La Tomatina food fight and earliest Old World foothold of the tomato after Spanish explorers brought back its exotic seeds from Central and South America. Or maybe you are gathering in California’s Central Valley, the ag epicenter of the country’s largest tomato-growing state.
In fact, the answer is a lot closer to home. The World Tomato Society was founded and is headquartered right here in the SF Bay Area in Los Gatos.
In 2015, Cynthia Sandberg of Love Apple Farms, together with some like-minded tomato aficionados, formed the World Tomato Society as an international community to celebrate tomatoes and promote their growth and diversity through education and food advocacy.
“I’ve always been passionate about tomatoes—growing them, tasting them, cooking with them and educating people about them,” Cynthia says. But when she set out to find a club or online community to join, she was shocked to find that none existed anywhere in the world.
Enter the World Tomato Society, with a web community where tomato lovers can search an online catalog and database of over 5,000 varieties searchable by ZIP Code, climate and type. If your answer can’t found in this online “tomatopedia,” you are free ask the experts or read from posts on seasonal topics including tips on growing and selecting tomatoes.
We had two questions: Does tomato color predict taste? And do vine-ripened tomatoes taste different in the fall? Both were answered by our tomato guide Cynthia and the experts posting on the World Tomato Society website.
One benefit of growing your own tomatoes or picking them up from a local farmer is that a perfectly ripe tomato will have the most flavor and sweetness. Tomatoes don’t increase their sugar content, or brix value, except on the vine.
All tomatoes have the same level of acidity; where they vary is in their sugar content and flavor, giving tomatoes different taste profiles. And the color of tomatoes can, in fact, indicate their flavor, and their sweetness.
• Pink, orange and bicolor tomatoes are often the sweetest. Cynthia recommends the colorful large Hawaiian Pineapple heirloom variety and the Sungold or Bicolor cherry tomato for a delightful sweet bite off the vine.
• Black or purple tomatoes can have a barbecue or smoky taste, and many possess the rare and flavorful umami taste element.
• Red tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes and typically contain a higher acid-to-sugar ratio, giving them their classic taste with the ability to “bite you back when you bite it.”
• Yellow tomatoes hold a little acid but are markedly sweeter and can still maintain a nice complex taste with hints of guava, honey or melon.
Flavors do change as the season progresses from early summer to fall, with most varieties becoming a bit more acid as the season progresses, likely driven by shorter days and cooler nights. In the Bay Area, it’s good to know that a colorful tomato season extends into the fall, and is ripe for the picking. Sweet!
