Tomatoes grown in bags in far off lands have little chance in adding much flavour to your meal. But a little trouble you can result in a tasty and healthy addition to you diet, says Sarah Marriott.
The juice drips down your chin, the flavour explodes in your mouth and you can almost smell the Mediterranean. A tomato eaten fresh from the vine is a distant cousin of the hard, flavourless ping-pong balls available in most supermarkets - and it's much better for you.
In Spain, plants under plastic are fed a constant supply of chemical fertilisers and pesticides while many tomatoes imported from countries with more sophisticated growing techniques have never even seen soil.
It's little wonder most tomatoes have little flavour; and to make transporting and packaging easier, they're picked hard and green.
The health benefits of tomatoes are huge, says Emma Ball, a dietician with the North-West Area Health Service Authority. "Increased consumption of tomato-based products may be cancer protecting. Because tomatoes are high in vitamin C, which acts as an antioxidant, they help to protect the body against cancer and heart disease. Lycopene, the pigment that gives tomatoes its colour, could protect against prostate cancer and the ellagaic acid may also inhibit growth of cancer cells.
"No single fruit or vegetable contains all the nutrients you need to be healthy," says Ball, who is involved in a Community Food Programme to encourage people to grow and cook healthy food in counties Sligo and Leitrim.
"A higher intake of fruit and vegetables can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and may help lower blood pressure."
The Mediterranean vegetables that go into ratatouille, that most summery of dishes, are really good for our health. Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and courgettes are high in fibre, vitamin C, B vitamins and folate (which lowers the risk of heart disease and is important before pregnancy), as well as containing flavonoids and phytochemicals which destroy free radicals in the body and prevent disease.
The good news is that it isn't difficult to grow them at home - as long as we get some sun . . . You don't even need a garden: line your balcony or back-yard with pots and hanging baskets filled with colourful herbs and veg or plant up a window box with lettuce, parsley, tomatoes and chillies.
Although gardeners sowing seed (in February) have a huge variety of tomatoes to choose from, some garden centres offer a wide range of young plants. If you want tomatoes in a hanging basket, go for Tumbler but for tasty cherry tomatoes, look for Gardener's Delight. Choose healthy specimens with green leaves, moist weed-free soil and some flowers.
Tomatoes can grow well outdoors in a sheltered sunny spot, but aubergines and peppers prefer to be undercover. If you don't have a greenhouse, they'll do well in large pots in a sunny porch, conservatory or the "mini-greenhouse" (shelving covered in plastic) available from DIY chains.
Chilli peppers will be happy on a sunny window-sill but courgettes need more space. They grow like weeds indoors or out; a single plant can give one or two vegetables a day all summer long.When you get the plants home, move into a bigger pot and water well.
Tomatoes destined for the ground shouldn't be planted out until you can see the first baby fruits. Feed weekly with an organic tomato feed and make sure they don't dry out.
Another taste of summer is crunchy mangetout eaten straight from the bush. Along with broadbeans and runner beans, mangetout are higher in protein than any other vegetable, and also contain vitamin C, folate, iron and betacarotene. Considering they're so easy to grow here, it's surprising the ones we buy have travelled thousands of miles since they were picked (with the consequent loss in nutrient content).
It's not too late to sow mangetout, runner beans or sugar-snap peas. Simply put one or two seeds 1.5 inches deep into a small pot, water well and place in a sunny spot (away from slugs and mice). Don't let the soil dry out. When the plants are about five inches tall, transplant around a three-foot high fence or bamboo wigwam and water well. To grow on a balcony or patio, sow a circle of seeds directly into a large pot or a grow-bag (about two inches apart) and create a tepee support for them to climb.
For healthy veg, it makes sense to avoid pesticides; spraying "bad" insects also kills the good ones such as ladybirds. An effective chemical-free method of keeping pests away is "companion planting".
Nasturtiums planted with your tomatoes and beans can help to keep aphids and various beetles away, tansy deters ants, alliums (such as garlic and onions) provide protection from mildew and black spot while French marigolds are said to improve the yield of tomato plants and deter many different pests.
For more on growing in raised beds and containers: The EdibleContainer Garden: Fresh Food from Tiny Spaces by Michael Guerra (Gaia Books)