- Growing up, I had
so many nicknames. There's Box Car
Willie, Mr. Stripey. I remember Brandywine,
Early Girl, Speckled Roman. Oh wait, that's tomatoes. (whimsical music) The tomato originated
in South America, likely in Peru and Ecuador, and was domesticated over
2,500 years ago in what is now Southern Mexico. Tomatoes are part of
the nightshade family which includes eggplant,
potatoes, peppers, and Atropa belladonna
AKA deadly nightshade. This poisonous
cousin is what once gave tomatoes a seriously
bad rap in Northern Europe where they were
avoided for many years. Today over 7,500
varieties are grown for consumption worldwide. Here are just a very
few different types. We've got our lovely heirlooms, which come in an array
of shapes and colors, vine ripened specimens in
a couple different sizes. Kumatoes, grapes, cherries, and of course,
trusty plum tomatoes. There's a tomato for every
person and every meal, and this time of year
when they are peak season, I try to eat them all. The tomatoes, not the people. Botanically tomatoes are
classified as a fruit, which is a fact that one
guy at every dinner party has to mention. Someone will be like, "Hey Jenn, this spread of
grilled vegetables is gorgeous." And then Todd will be like, "Actually, it's grilled
vegetables and fruit. Tomato is a fruit, after all." And everyone was like, "Yeah Todd, we all know that. We all went to
middle school too." Now look, botany is wonderful, but in most kitchens
around the world, the tomato is treated
as a vegetable. And in my book,
that's more important. Tomatoes are climacteric fruits. Okay, you got me, Todd. That means that they continue
to ripen off the vine. Ethylene gas released by the
tomato causes their colors to deepen and lose
any bits of green. It causes acids to decrease, sugars to increase, and the formation of loads
more flavor compounds. It's a beautiful thing. Big tomato producers
use this characteristic to their advantage, picking tomatoes when
they are green and firm, which is better for shipping, and then blasting
them with ethylene gas to quickly turn them red. Gosh, speaking of ethylene, remember from the
banana episode? Man, that was a fun one. But there's a hitch. Real on the vine
ripening is slow. It takes time for all those
wonderful changes to take place. Flipping the switch to red with ethylene does not
make a tasty tomato, which honestly I kinda love. In 2022, you can get anything, anytime, often at the
touch of a button. But you just can't get a
perfect tomato out of season. Tomato flavor comes from
400 aroma compounds. These compounds are produced
either during ripening or during cutting, slicing,
chopping, and chewing. Damaging cell walls
releases enzymes that rapidly catalyze
the formation of volatile aroma compounds. Other important compounds formed during ripening are amino acids and our very good
friend, glutamic acid. Tomatoes naturally contain
high levels of glutamic acid, making them particularly
savory and mouth filling. Many tomato based ingredients boost the glutamic acid
content significantly by removing water
and concentrating it. Here we're talking
about tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato
powder, and ketchup. Fun ketchup sidebar. Heinz Tomato Ketchup has
such a massive stranglehold on the ketchup market that it is essentially
what ketchup tastes like for a massive part
of the population. Years ago my good
friend Molly Birnbaum, who is now editor in
chief of "ATK Kids," and I did a tour
called the Burger Tour. It was a 90-minute stage
show dedicated to the burger. Yeah, it was good. We did a live demo on stage where we picked six random
people from the audience and had them taste
samples of ketchup blind. Molly was convinced that six out of six would be able
to pick out the Heinz. I was pretty skeptical
and boy, was I wrong in city after city, six
out of six easily got it. Hey, that's a little fun
game for your next party. Actually, let's keep
the games going. Where in the tomato do you
find the highest concentration of glutamic acid? Is it A, the stem. B, the seeds. C, the jelly. D, the flesh. Or E, the leaves. If you said C, the jelly,
you are today's winner. You and a friend are going on
an all expense paid getaway to beautiful Staten Island. Live the island lifestyle
with fresh fruits, tropical drinks,
and sunny beaches. Staten Island, where the
beach is just the beginning. All right, maybe we should
just go to the kitchen. At "Cook's Illustrated," we have so many great
recipes using tomatoes because the tomato,
it's just the best. When tomato season hits, I have to make a batch of Senior Editor Steve
Dunn's fresh tomato sauce. It uses lots of tomatoes
and a bushel of science to make a truly
fresh tasting sauce. We start by halving the tomatoes through their equator to
expose pockets of jelly. The pockets run pole to pole, so slicing this way
exposes each of them so it's easy to squeeze it out. Because this stuff is packed
with the glutamic acid, we are definitely
not gonna compost it. Whenever you're making
a dish where the texture of the seeds embedded in the
jelly would be a problem, you can strain the gel
through a fine mesh strainer and capture it below,
just like this. Oh, and a quick little
bit of myth busting. We aren't ditching the seeds
because they're bitter, which they aren't. If you don't believe me,
try them for yourself. We just don't want their
texture in the final sauce. We'll save a cup of this
deliciousness for later. Then we process the
tomatoes until smooth and add the puree to
a pot with garlic, pepper flakes, and oregano. About 45 minutes over the heat and we have four
cups of lovely sauce. Now at this point, your kitchen will
smell incredible, which is pretty cool. That is also a problem. Stick with me here. When you cook anything and it makes your
whole house smell good, it means that aromatic
compounds in your food are no longer in your food. They have volatilized
into the air. One way to recapture
the freshness of fresh tomatoes and bring
back lost aroma compounds is to stir in our beautiful reserved tomato
gel liquid stuff. With this sauce, we get
the best of both worlds. Rich flavor because we
removed lots of water and concentrated the
stable aroma compounds that stay in the sauce, plus a big hit of
fresh tomato aroma as we add back
the volatile ones. There's another
way to recover some of those aroma compounds
using tomato leaves. If you have access to them, toss a handful of leaves into
your sauce and steep them for 10 minutes before
removing and discarding. The primary compounds
responsible for the aroma of fresh tomato leaves
are (Z)-3-hexenol and 2-isobutylthiazole. Both are also found
in fresh tomatoes. 2-isobutylthiazole
is often isolated and added to a range
of tomato products such as ketchup to
bump up that freshness. So you know it's good stuff. Next up, tomato water. Now, if you've dined
in nice restaurants in the early 2000s, you've probably had your
fair share of tomato water. It was kind of a thing on
a lot of higher end menus. It may have gotten
a little played out, but I still love it. An innocuous looking clear
liquid with a yellow tint, tomato water absolutely pops
with fresh tomato flavor and loads of umami. And it's simple to make. Just process tomatoes
with a little salt, tie the mixture
up in cheesecloth, and let it hang in
the fridge overnight. What seeps through the
cloth is super savory. Sweet, acidic tomato juice
without any of the pulp. It's a great way to use up
a glut of in-season tomatoes and you can use the
pulp in tomato sauce. Tomato water makes an incredible
and striking Bloody Mary, a great sauce for crudo, and a fabulous drink
all on its own. Beyond sauce and water, I make a lot of tomato
sandwiches during tomato season. I like them simple. So that means tomato, griddled
white bread, and mayonnaise. "Cook's Illustrated"
senior editor Lan Lam uses some slick
science for her recipe. She makes an all-purpose
tomato seasoning with 3/4 of a teaspoon
cream of tartar, 3/4 of teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon
of black pepper. Cream of tartar on a tomato? I'll explain. Tomatoes taste their best
when they strike a balance between sweetness and acidity. Cream of tarter adds
a boost of acidity without any additional liquid
or distinct flavor the way that vinegar or
lemon juice would. Sugar helps with sweetness, salt helps you taste it all, and pepper adds a
touch of warmth. Then we just griddle our
slices of bread on one side for a little bit of texture, smear on the mayo,
and add our tomato. You gotta have a
nice, thick slice. That is so good. This is obviously best
with a perfect tomato but Lan's seasoning mix can elevate even less than
perfect specimens. Finally, I gotta mention Lan's
recipe for roasted tomatoes. It's another great way to
preserve the season's bounty. Sliced, drizzled
with oil and garlic, and roasted until concentrated
and nearly falling apart. They are incredible. Store them in their tomato-y
oil and use them on pasta, pizzas, and sandwiches,
frittatas, salads, and the list goes on and on. I have made myself
so hungry today. So it's time to
cook some spaghetti, toss it with our
fresh tomato sauce, and add a little bit
of Pecorino Romano. I think I'll serve this up with a nice glass
of tomato water. Whether you're popping
cherry tomatoes in your mouth in the garden, roasting slices until tender, grilling up a sandwich, or dining in style like I am, this is definitely
how to eat tomatoes. Thank you all so
much for watching. It is prime tomato season so I don't wanna
keep you any longer. You should get out there, buy your tomatoes,
and start cooking. But I really do want
to know one thing, and that is what's your
heirloom tomato name? I'm Mr. Stripey and
I'll see you next time.
