"UglyRipe" news and stories

Heirloom tomatoes are all the rage these days. And why not? They are beautiful in their imperfections and their taste is almost always out-of-this-world good. So much better than those mealy grocery store tomatoes we've been mindlessly eating all these years. Two different little items came my way yesterday having to do with these darlings of the tomato world, and the synchronicity was just too much to bear. A post was in order.

First, via Yumsugar, I discovered that Santa Sweets, the company behind the Uglyripe, runs an "Ugly Tomato" contest. This year they received so many submissions that they were forced to pick ten winners. Each one of the winners was a doozy, most with many lobes, cracks and crannies. They aren't particularly lovely to look at, but I'm sure they tasted amazing.

Just a few hours later, Matt Billings sent us a link to the set of photos he took (the pic up top is his) of the heirlooms he bought at Eastern Market this last weekend. His pictures have the power to make tomato lovers weak in the knees and offer an interesting contrast to the "ugly" pictures from the Santa Sweet's page.

There you go. Tomato food porn at its best and worse. Now if you'll excuse me, I do believe there's a tomato in my kitchen calling my name.

They may look ugly, like many heirloom and heirloom tomato crosses, but taste sun ripe like they grew in your backyard. As of January 18, 2007 the Ugly Ripe tomato from Florida will be allowed to be shipped out of state to markets across the country. You can now go to your market and get tasty tomatoes during the winter months until late spring.

There have been legal battles for several years about this relatively new breed of tomato. It was introduced to the public in 1999 and for a few years prior to 2003 the tomatoes were test sold to see the public reaction, which was positive. Then, since 2003 the Florida Tomato Committee, which controls a majority of the $500 million dollar industry, has prevented the farm that grows them from shipping the fruit out of state. The supposed reason is that the Ugly Ripe breed of tomatoes are not uniform in shape and color, even if they taste great, and if they allow these tomatoes to be shipped then others may try to ship non-uniform specimens of regular, tasteless commercial tomatoes.

Personally I think that the pretty but flavorless tomatoes should be composted, and I'm all for ugly but tasty. So look for Ugly Ripe tomatoes, sold under the brand name Santa Sweets, at your local market. Since they are picked and shipped ripe they will be packed in white netting to protect them from bruising and will be easily identified. There is already a great demand for them, so they may not be available in large amounts for a few weeks. Hopefully the price will be as good as the taste.