The Joys of Vegetables Part I - Tomatoes

Tomatoes and tomoato products, such as sauce, paste, puree and juices are rich sources of cancer fighting beta-carotene and immunity-boosting Vitamin C. In addition tomatoes contain lycopene, a carotenoidthat suppresses the damage caused by free radicals in the body and is associated with reduced risks of heart attact and prostate cancer; caffeic and ferulic acids, which enhance th body's product of cancer fighting enzymes and cancer-protective chlorogenic acid.

FRESH IDEAS:

Combine tomato juice with an equal amount of carrot juice and chill. Garnish with chopped fresh tomatoes and a dollop of Bulgarian Yoghurt, serve as a refreshing summer soup.

To give your soup that extra boost replace halt of the water with tomato juice.

To make a quick pasta salad combine tomato puree, tomato juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped fresh basil leaves.

For a quick and easy tomato salsa: mix together 500g chopped tomatoes, 4 spring onions thinly sliced, 125mls of chopped coriander leaves, 2 finely chopped jalpeno chillies (depending on how hot you want it you may choose to remove the seeds.) 30ml red wine vinegar, pinch or two of ground coriander and cumin, season with salt and pepper.

When Shopping for Tomatoes:

Tomatoes are available throughout the year, and many different types the very large Beefsteak to the very tiny cherry tomatoes.  There flavours range from sweet to acid to almost no taste. When purchasing tomatoes always look for firm, ripe and deeply coloured tomatoes with no tears or bruises in the skin. Tomatoes must be purchased at room temperature and not from a refrigerator. The best place to purchase tomatoes is from your local farm stall or vegetable market where they a freshly picked.

Tomatoes in the Kitchen:

When storing tomatoes, always store them at room temperature, as storing tomatoes in the refrigeration destroys the tomatoes taste and texture. If your tomatoes are slightly unripe put them in a brown paper bag. Not only with this ripen the tomatoes but will also imporve their flavour.

When preparing tomotoes for a meal use a sharp, serrated knife to slice tomatoes. To remove the seeds, cut the tomato in half and gently squeeze out the seeds and liquid. If you need to peel a tomato, cut a shallow X in the base of your tomato, then put in boiling water for 1min (the skin will start to shrivel). Remove from the water and peel the skin off.

Tomatoes are used to make sauces, soups, stews, casseroles and sautes, raw/roasted in salads. Cherry and Rosa Tomatoes are good on vegetable appetiser platter and eaten out of hand as snacks.