Cherokee Purple. Brandywine. Goose Creek. Even their names sound exotic. Imagine how they taste. We’re

talking of course about the latest trend in health foods sweeping the country, the buying, selling and eating of

“heirloom tomatoes.”

But according to heirloom tomato expert

Laurel Garza, this food isn’t really a fad,

heirloom tomatoes come from stock that

goes way back before the United States

was even a country.

“Usually, heirloom tomatoes come from

seeds that have been passed down from

generation to generation,” she said.

“Some stocks go way back, sometimes all

the way back to 1600s.”

Why are they so popular? According to

Garza, they make the regular grocery store

tomato seem as bland as a piece of white

bread.

“Their taste is very elaborate,” she said.

“They aren’t a one note tomato.” Some

of them have a sweet, smoky rich flavor,

some of them have a tangy nuance,

tasting them is much like having a glass of

fine wine.”

Seeds for heirlooms are as close as your

latest Web site, but the real fun is looking

around your local area. Good places to

try are your local fruit stand or farmer’s

market. The tastiest tomato you ever had

may be as close as your neighbor or your

relative. You will notice while cruising the

Internet that many stocks and varieties

come from individual growers who never

varied their stock for many years, some

even for hundreds.

Garza as a little girl remembered her

first taste of an heirloom came from her

mother’s mother. It was an Ann Russian,

and I remember cutting it open and first

smelling the fragrance. I nearly swooned,”

she said. “And the taste was this nice,

creamy wheat flavor.”

She kept that experience with her through

the years, and one day started www.heirloo

mtomatoplants.com, where customers can

get any type of tomato plant they want.

She says a lot of her customers wonder

why they can’t get them in the grocery

store. The reasons are many, but it all

comes down to one thing, profit, she said.

“The tomatoes you see in the store are

bred to be round, red and thick skinned

so most that are picked and shipped off to

the local grocery store will survive the trip

and when they get there, be appealing to

the customer,” she said.

Not only the color and shape must look

“normal,” but they must taste the way

people are used to tomatoes taste.

But that’s not what you’ll get with a

heirloom. Springing from seeds that have

been passed down from family to family

for generations, customers are likely to

encounter tomatoes with thinner skins,

shaped square like bell peppers or oblong

shaped. They definitely will also have different

tastes and colors than what they’re

used to from the store bought variety, but

they are just as good if not better.

Once you have a heirloom tomato, you will never eat a hybrid

tomato again,” she said.

How much will it cost? Single packets of seeds usually run

between $2 and $5 for a wide range of varieties. Because of the

reasons listed above, it’s rare to find websites that actually ship

heirlooms, so if you want to become a connoisseur, you should

learn to grow your own. Heirloomtomatoplants.com and others

will show you how to do that, as well as how get the most out of

your purchase through taste descriptions and recipes.

Garza said half the fun is looking around your own neighborhood,

so get to know your neighbors too!