I ate raw tomatoes for two weeks on a French exchange, not because I didn't know how to turn them down but because they'd have been reduced to feeding me chips and, you know, there's a national reputation to undo. Never again.
Thing about tomatoes, is they have a nasty bit. If they're well prepared though, that nasty bit isn't present and the entire tomato experience can be one of delight.
If you're going to do a tomato salad, then blanching the tomatoes and removing the skins first is definitely the way to go. It's what my mum taught me, so cannot wrong.
Grilled, fresh tomatoes are best with a fry up.
Oh, the other secret to good tomato enjoyment is white pepper. Oh yes.
Most definitely. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, and normally I'm a staunch freshly ground black man, but on any raw tomato product, white pepper is yer fella.
Try a slice of white toast, thinly spread with butter while still hot, layered with thinly sliced tomato (blanched, skinned and with the nasty bit removed, of course), then sprinkled generously with white pepper. What a lovely snack!
The Right answer to the first question is option four - raw tomatoes are lovely and I don't understand how so many people can despise them.
I'm rather less militant about the answer to the second question - I'm broadly pro-cooked tomatoes in things, but have to concede that I'm not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes by themselves. Largely because I'm always thinking they'd have been nicer raw. Anyone who refuses to eat cooked tomatoes in any form is clearly being Awkward, but actually pretty much any answer other than "they're vile in all forms" is acceptable to the second question.
I didn't vote in question two, because my answer isn't quite any of them. I'm not wildly keen on tomato sauces, although things like spag bol are lovely. Tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast are wonderful.
And: spag bol, yes, that's why I like it. I don't like cooked tomatoes to be the main point of things, unless they're tinned tomatoes on toast. Oh! Now I want tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast and I don't have any :-(
Home grown and still warm from the greenhouse. Excuse me while I take a moment... The powdery orange things badged as tomatos in supermarkets and used in general catering are as close to the real thing thing as instant "coffee" is to coffee.
Indeed. All the time I was growing up my next-door neighbour grew tomatoes in his greenhouse. Quite possibly still does, except I've inconsiderately moved myself to the other end of the country.
A greenhouse full of tomato plants has a very distinctive smell, and tomatoes picked fresh carry some of it with them. The other day I bought some of Tesco's finest "ripened on the vine" tomatoes, and on opening the packet there was just a very faint whiff of that proper tomato smell.
Of course Tesco, the silly buggers, had been keeping the tomatoes in the fridge and thus ruined it by making them cold. But it was still as close as I've come to proper tomatoes in years.
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I don't eat them...
... they don't leap out of my stomach, through my throat, into the toilet (or other available receptacle) at a high rate of speed.
Gotta Run! Hurricane Charley is cometh!
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Strawberries: they're like tomoatoes that have gone through some kind of dimensional inverter, and now carry their guts on the outside.
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If you're going to do a tomato salad, then blanching the tomatoes and removing the skins first is definitely the way to go. It's what my mum taught me, so cannot wrong.
Grilled, fresh tomatoes are best with a fry up.
Oh, the other secret to good tomato enjoyment is white pepper. Oh yes.
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White pepper ?
Are you sure, man ?
In my experience, white pepper is universally nasty. Admittedly, I've never tried putting on a tomato.
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Pepper.
Most definitely. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, and normally I'm a staunch freshly ground black man, but on any raw tomato product, white pepper is yer fella.
Try a slice of white toast, thinly spread with butter while still hot, layered with thinly sliced tomato (blanched, skinned and with the nasty bit removed, of course), then sprinkled generously with white pepper. What a lovely snack!
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Doesn't that hurt?
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I can't possibly declare it yet, for fear of biasing the Survey.
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Option 3 and Option 3.
That's a personal preference, but something tells me it's what the lady is looking for....
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The Right answer to the first question is option four - raw tomatoes are lovely and I don't understand how so many people can despise them.
I'm rather less militant about the answer to the second question - I'm broadly pro-cooked tomatoes in things, but have to concede that I'm not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes by themselves. Largely because I'm always thinking they'd have been nicer raw. Anyone who refuses to eat cooked tomatoes in any form is clearly being Awkward, but actually pretty much any answer other than "they're vile in all forms" is acceptable to the second question.
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And: spag bol, yes, that's why I like it. I don't like cooked tomatoes to be the main point of things, unless they're tinned tomatoes on toast. Oh! Now I want tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast and I don't have any :-(
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Incidently, green tomato chutney is a winner on bacon sandwiches, anything else is lies!
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A greenhouse full of tomato plants has a very distinctive smell, and tomatoes picked fresh carry some of it with them. The other day I bought some of Tesco's finest "ripened on the vine" tomatoes, and on opening the packet there was just a very faint whiff of that proper tomato smell.
Of course Tesco, the silly buggers, had been keeping the tomatoes in the fridge and thus ruined it by making them cold. But it was still as close as I've come to proper tomatoes in years.