Some background: Late August/early September is "tomato time" in the predominantly Italian community where we now live. The supermarkets hereabouts keep up the springtime garden centre structures in their parking lots and, at this time of year, the racks are filled with bushel baskets full of ripe, red Roma tomatos instead of plants and seedlings and bags of mulch. (Also grapes for wine making.)(I keep wanting to get a photo of this someday -- it's quite a sight -- although of course, I'm not at the supermarket much these days...!). Dh noticed a huge increase in the traffic going in & out of the supermarket parking lot the last time he went to get groceries & figures this is why...!
When dh was a kid, the tomatos (softened first by stirring them together in a big tub/vat over heat) were fed through a grinder by hand (with everyone taking a turn at the crank). These days, many families (including BIL & SIL) have motorized machines that separate the seeds & skins from the pulp and juice and spits them out into big tubs. The finished product is poured into clean, sterilized jars (perhaps with a couple of basil leaves for flavouring), sealed and then heated in a vat of boiling water to create a vacuum seal.
"Doing the tomatos" is often a family affair -- grandparents, parents & kids/grandkids and sometimes aunts, uncles & cousins, all pitching in. Drive through any neighbourhood around here on any weekend at this time of year and you'll see them, gathered in the garage amid stacks of bushel baskets, with the machines whirring & the smells of tomato and basil wafting through the air. (It's usually done out in the garage or yard because it can make quite a mess -- bits of tomato were splattered everywhere! BIL used the garden hose to wash down the cement garage floor & driveway once they were finished.) Dh was happy to help with Great-Nephew, of course, but otherwise has no desire to participate -- he says he got enough of it as a kid -- and of course, I'm allergic to tomatos anyway. :p (No wonder I sometimes feel "othered" in this community, right?! -- I'm not a parent, not Italian and I can't even eat tomatos/sauce...!)
Still, it was fun to finally watch how it's done (after 35 years of marriage!) -- and, of course, spend some quality time with the world's cutest little great-nephew. :)
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
I'm so glad you got to spend time with the world's second-cutest little great-nephew! ('Cos my wee guy is awfully cute! lol) And the dog, too, of course!
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling us all about "doing the tomatoes." I never thought of such a thing - we don't have large populations of Italian immigrants/descendants clustered in one area as much - let alone having the detailed machinery. But I guess it was the same as my mother bottling (what North Americans oddly - to me - call "canning") all the stone fruit in January/February. You had me drooling.
Oh, I enjoyed reading about the rituals of tomato time. :) And I'm happy to read you got to spend some quality time with Great-Nephew!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this walk-through of Tomato Time! I think I read about something similar in Tembi Locke's "From Scratch."
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe your GN is almost 10 months old. Wow! Glad you got to spend some time with him.
I love "Tomato Time!" I mean, reading about it, not doing it. I am in awe of people who can and do that as a tradition. When I was in early elementary school my family lived above an Italian family, and this almost made me smell the amazing smells that came from their kitchen. I would love to have smelled that firsthand. And yay for grandnephew time!
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