CONNOISSEUR:If you can't get them from your ancestors, buy some heirloom tomato seeds and get ready to smell and taste the summer
TOMATOES USED to be red. They used to be seasonal too, arriving with a blast of scarlet about now if the summer was anything like the one we have been, er, enjoying. If things were bad, however, my father's best attempts would have glossy bright specimens on the kitchen table around now. These came from an over-sized greenhouse at the bottom of the garden. A few panes missing did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the tomato plants, their distinctive perfume infusing the whole room with a waft of summer.
And what tomatoes. Packed full of flavour, their meaty ripeness was countered by a peppery kick at the end. A bloody Mary you could say. Now tomatoes seem to come all year. Little and large, on the vine and off the vine, round and plum-shaped, red, and let's be honest, far from scarlet in the depths of winter.
But with all the change comes the welcome emergence, or re-emergence of heirloom tomatoes. These have yet to make their way into most supermarkets but can be found at specialist stores and farmers' markets. They come in disguise, for pure red is rarely their chosen cover; black, striped and orange are favoured.
And where your modern tomato comes over all sweet, these specimens are altogether different. More flesh and less pip for a start, thinner skinned and meaty in flavour. Steak comes to mind, but without the attitude because as you bite, everything dissolves into a delicate taste of summer.
Heirlooms are not easy to define. Some think the seeds should be 100 years old, others 50 and still others point to the end of the second World War when the whole business of widespread hybrids and industrial agriculture started to take hold. There is a more romantic definition, and that is cultivars that have literally been handed down from one generation to another.
Whatever about the definition, inherent to the concept of heirlooms lies the whole idea of age, diversity of colour, flavour and texture. What comes with these attributes is a difficulty in growing them, so they tend to be a little more expensive than your average specimen. And undoubtedly they are not quite so robust. Which may at first not seem such a big deal, but given how used we have grown to something firm it can be something of a shock when you pick up an heirloom as they are often soft, almost squidgy.
Yet when you bite into a Big Rainbow, Blaby Special, Black Krim or Brandywine - one of the heirlooms credited with highlighting their rich diversity because of its fantastic flavour - you have a hugely rewarding experience.
This will not be the case, however, if you choose to store your tomatoes in the fridge. Being a tropical plant, they hate the cold. Far better to shop more frequently and leave them at room temperature. They won't keep for long, but why would you want them to? - the season is not that long so there is every reason to indulge.
No longer will you just be eating a tomato; feast instead on a fruit - being a berry it is technically not a vegetable - that is juicy and tender, but with some bite. There should be a balance of sweet and sour and then each variety has a different balance of not just flesh to pip, but also the amount of jellied juice around the pips. Choose small for sweetness, large for beefiness and something in between for the perfect balance.
Except there really never is a perfect balance, which is why heirloom tomato eating is a constant search. Try a salad of a number of different varieties to see what I mean.
Heirloom tomatoes are available from Organic Delights at various farmers' markets. See www.organicdelights.ie for more information.
For those of you lucky enough to have garden space, the following are sources for seeds: www.readytogrow.co.uk; www.chileseeds.co.uk; www.seedfest.co.uk.