Heirloom Vegetables

When I was last in Arizona to visit my mom and Gordon, she pulled out a delicious salad recipe that called for Heirloom tomatoes. I had rarely, if ever, cooked with Heirloom tomatoes (or any other Heirloom vegetable for that matter), so wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but in my love for all things vegetable, I was ready to find out.

I think Barbara Kingsolver states it best when she says, "Just the sound of 'heirloom' brings on a warm, snugly, bespectacled grandmother knitting socks and baking pies kind of feeling."

And that's sort of how you find them in the grocery store- The heirloom tomatoes we found were very few in number, delicately placed in a wicker basket, and placed off to the side of the standard red tomatoes that typically catch my attention.

These tomatoes were quite large, almost ridiculous looking in shape, and weren't red at all- one tomato held about 5 different colors to it- purple, green, yellow, black and orange. And they were expensive! Shockingly so! Both my mom and I gasped when we saw the price of just one tomato- $6?! How could one tomato cost $6? We debated for a moment, and then went for it. We needed to figure out what the hype was all about.

When we got home without hesitation, we cut into the purple tomato, assembled the salad, reduced the balsamic vinaigrette into a dressing and dug in. I can say, without doubt, that that heirloom tomato was one of the sweetest vegetables I've ever tasted.

Which leads to me to this post- What is the deal with heirloom vegetables? Why are they so delicious? Ridiculous in size and shape? And so costly?

Today, most of our grocery store produce comes from large-scale agricultural plots that are scattered around the globe (literally from Iowa to Mexico to India). Our beloved fruits and vegetables are grown monocular plots, meaning they are grown from one standard seed, aimed to create a plot of produce that looks the same, tastes the same, packs the same and ships the same. Our standard produce has been bred to have this uniform appearance that we have all be trained to know, love and look for in the grocery store.

Have you ever noticed that almost all of the tomatoes in the grocery store look exactly the same? Or that all of the Fuji apples are the same size and shape? And that you can still by pineapples in January? Most of the produce you see in your grocery store today was bred specifically to work in conjunction with a mechanical harvest, to be packed conveniently and a have tolerance for a lot of travel.

And what is lost along the way? Real taste, nutrients, vitamins and variety.

However, there still exist this very special type of produce known as Heirloom. They date back to some of the very first produce grown in human history. Because they require open pollination to bloom and rebloom each year, they continue to offer a wide variety of tastes, colors, shapes and sizes. The seeds of an Heirloom vegetable remain untainted. They have not been chemically altered to travel long distances or look and smell a certain way.

Kingsolver states, "Heirloom vegetables are irresistible, not just for the poetry in their names but because these titles stand for real stories. Vegetables acquire histories when they are saved as seeds for many generations, carefully maintained and passes by hand from one gardener to another."

As a result of the abundance of monocultural plots and that in today's society, even the seeds of produce can and are copy righted, it is incredibly difficult for farmers to grow any type of vegetable variety off the grid, or for us as consumers to buy produce that has been grown off the grid. And that's what make Hierloom's so special (and expensive). They remain untouched by the industry. They are pure and there are currently not enough of them.

Currently, Heirloom vegetables are gaining popularity among consumers and their demand is growing- so we, as vegetable lovers and conscious consumers, should seek them out in the grocery store or your local farmer's markets- smell them, gaze upon them, and when your budget allows, cook and feast upon them!



Actually, great fact: Forbidden rice is a type of hierloom rice! How great is that?!







I'll post our yummy Heirloom salad recipe to hopefully inspire you all of try (if you haven't already) some of these delicious, historic works of art!

Ingredients:

• 3 heirloom tomatoes, as many colors as possible
  
• 2 oranges
  
• Roasted red peppers slices
  
• 1 can of hearts of Palm (or cooked)
  
• 1 head of Romain lettuce
  
• 1 package of Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
  
• 1/4 cup of orange juice
• 1 tbs. canola oil
  

Preparation:

Get one large platter to use as base for the salad
Separate the Romain lettuce leaves and place individually along platter
Place 4-5 slices of hearts of Palm in the rib of the Romain lettuce
Place 3 slices of thinly sliced orange on top of of the hearts of palm in the lettuce
Carefully lay the strips of roasted red peppers across the tops of the lettuce leaves
Thinly slice the heirloom tomatoes and use them decorate the plate
Follow the directions on the Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix Package, but substitute the water for orange juice. Shake well and add to the tops of the salad.