How to pick a good tomato

How to pick a good tomato:

The Basics First of all, what time of year is it? If it isn't July, August, or September, your tomato might be alright but it's not going to be incredible. Smell the tomato. Does it smell like a tomato? That's good. Look at the stem end -- it shouldn't be green or hard up there, and the body should should give to the slightest pressure from your fingers or thumb. It should be heavy with juice. It should be room temperature because tomatoes go mushy if kept in the cooler. When you get it home, leave it in a nice friendly bowl on the counter, or in one of those hanging baskets, out of the plastic bag. Only refrigerate once you cut it open.

Varieties When you see those "vine-ripened" tomatoes from Holland, still attached to their pretty green vine, keep on walking and do not make eye contact. The fact that they are still on the vine almost always means they were not ripened on the living vine. Those deceptively red tomatoes are always tasteless and mushy. What good does the vine do after they've cut it off the plant? It's dead, people, and it's not helping those poor tomatoes anymore.

Hothouse tomatoes are passable these days; I like the brand Eli's and Ali's (I think that's what it's called) from Vermont. When you buy tomatoes, or any produce from the supermarket for that matter -- the brand can tell you a lot. Like what part of the world it's coming from, what farming methods they use (organic vs. conventional) and what variety of tomato they grow. You don't necessarily have to know the difference between your beefsteak and your big girl, but if a certain brand makes a tomato that you enjoy, take note -- chances are they'll be growing that tomato every year.

But for really good tomato flavor and smooth satiny flesh, stop hankering for tomatoes in January. Even the California growns are ugly cousins to the warmer weather tomatoes. Think of all the traveling those tomatoes had to do, packed into crates and shipped in a refrigerated truck for days from West Coast Warehouse to East Coast Warehouse. That is a tough and weary tomato. In fact, think about where your tomato has traveled from. If it is from Israel or Holland, it has traveled a long, long way to get to your table. Which probably means they were picked green and gassed with ethylene for color. And those are not qualities we appreciate in a tomato. Good tomatoes are tender, sensitive things; they are high maintenance and full of sunshine. So in the winter, eat canned San Marzanos in your soups and sauces, and add apples and pears to your salads for succulence. Then, when July rolls around, hit the farmer's market for field grown tomatoes that are truly vine ripened and fragrant.

Even better, try one of the dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes available now. There's green zebra, brandywine, black prince, and tons of other varieties whose names I don't know. They're all old school varieties that were imperfect in appearance but tender and flavorful. Sycamore Farms at the Greenmarket has some really beautiful ones that smell and taste like tomato truth.

And don't be afraid of the little guys. Del Cabo Organic Tomatoes, widely available at places like Whole Foods and Gourmet Garage etc., come in the little clear plastic clamshell and are quite flavorful and nice. They have a huge variety -- from sweet 100s to yellow pears to sungolds to the sensual black plum tomato. Lady Moon Farms also grows sweet grape tomatoes. And they don't quite have that tough, impenetrable skin that other grape tomatoes have.

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I always loved that scene in A Wrinkle in Time where the girl sneaks down to the kitchen, makes herself a tomato sandwich, and reluctantly makes one for the old lady. It was just so exotic -- a tomato sandwich! You could never do that with those ashen winter lumps from the supermarket.