Tomato Moth, Tomato recipes and other thoughts

Tomato Moth, tomato Recipes and other thoughts

My tomatoes are just beginning to get into their stride now. I haven’t yet started to freeze them but, I am in the process of making a large pan of tomato and pepper chutney – see later. And yes, yes! I know I have written about tomatoes in several Blogs lately but, it is very topical right now.

I was talking to my plot neighbour this morning while I was tending to my tomatoes and I offered him some of mine, as I had noticed he wasn’t growing any, he declined. This wonderful gentleman has been growing on his allotment for many, many years and he harked back, sadly, to the days when tomatoes had some intense flavour. He said he had stopped growing them as they no longer seemed to have flavour but did have very thick skins. I am inclined to agree with him. This year, I am growing five different varieties – two of these which are large meaty toms and are good for cooking and freezing – Fantasio F1 and Alicante. They are both reliable and although they don’t have an outstanding flavour, I will forgive them.

The other three I grew as I was hoping to find flavour – Orange Banana (a largish, orange, oval tomato with a curl in its tail). It looks pretty especially sliced with red tomatoes and a sprinkle of chopped basil as a tomato salad. But, not a particularly impressive flavour; Yellow Centiflor – its trusses produce loads of small yellow tomatoes suitable for salads. I’m finding them a little troublesome as the plants are not particularly vigorous and the tomatoes trail on the ground making it difficult to keep them clean. Perhaps they would have been better in hanging baskets. I might have felt tempted to try this next year but, although they are pretty in a salad, they have little flavour.

I’m leaving the best until last – Sultana – a small, red, oval, salad tomato. I have quite enjoyed them and they really do look nice, whole, in a mixed salad.

Interestingly, my neighbour was also talking about how expensive it has become to work an allotment to keep it productive. The numbers of diseases and pests – I’ll include birds in this – has meant that we must spend more time and come up with more sophisticated methods of keeping the pests out – especially if we want to be organic. We have many more birds around, especially those fat, greedy pigeons. We seem to have viruses on plants that have not been seen before and we certainly have insect pests which are relatively new to us. My tomatoes are being eaten by caterpillars – some green and some pale brown. I saw these for the first time last year, an experience shared by another neighbour. While I don’t yet know how large they can grow, so far, I am picking up 3 – 4 cm long specimens.

My research came up three options

1.      Tomato Hornworms – caterpillars of the hawkmoth or hummingbird moth. That was really quite exciting. I would have allowed them to munch on my tomatoes just to see the adults – but no! They don’t have a horn and I just don’t see them growing to 4inches long – 10cms.

2.      Tomato Moth – Laconobia oleracea (which will also attack peppers and chrysanthemums apparently.

3.      Tuta Absoluta – South American Tomato Moth – neither the pictures of the moth nor the larvae nor the damage was similar to that I have found on my tomatoes – so!

While I might be wrong I am guessing it is the common or garden (no pun intended!) Tomato Moth. That said, I am finding both green and pale brown caterpillars so, there could be more than one guilty party here.

They are champions at hiding and are easiest found by the greenish lumps of poo you can find on the plant leaves. They will eat the leaves and the green or red tomatoes. I wouldn’t mind if they all ate one tomato, we could share, but no! They would rather eat chunks out of lots of tomatoes. They are not around in huge numbers and if you just check for them, pick them off and squash them every couple of days, you can prevent any serious damage. However, ignore them for a week or more and your crop will be devastated.

Please do get back to me if you have better or more information which I could share.

Using the harvest

I have noticed that my preserving pan, now many years old and well used is starting to stick – although is Teflon coated. The usual method for ‘seasoning’ pans (effectively making them non-stick) is to put some oil onto the pan and burn it on. This method has several dis-advantages, not least the smell and its tendency to set off all the smoke alarms in your house.

Try this method instead: Make sure the pan is well cleaned (if there are small pieces of burnt on food, remove them – if necessary by scraping or with sanding paper. Cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of salt. Place the pan over a hot flame and burn in the salt for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove the salt and wipe the inside of the pan. This should last for quite a while. The salt will not burn, will not smoke, no fumes! And, it works

Of all the chutneys I made last year, this was everyone’s favourite and disappeared very quickly. While I should have enough tomatoes to make a few more batches, I might just have to buy some peppers – how sad is that!

This chutney is quite sweet but you can make it spicier or hotter if you wish by the addition of more chillies and more spice.

Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney

2 kg ripe tomatoes - peeled

4 large ripe sweet peppers – any shape will be good but use only red or yellow peppers

3 large onions – peeled and finely chopped

4 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

3-4 hot red peppers (remove the seeds if you don’t want your chutney to be too hot)

1 tsp ground cinnamon,        1 tsp ground cloves,       ½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt                                   700g (1½lb) sugar

850 ml vinegar (1½pt) – white vinegar is best but malt vinegar will also do

Method

·         Skin the tomatoes and chop – (skinning tomatoes can be done in several ways:

* – on a fork over a gas flame – great for a couple of tomatoes!

* - in a bowl with boiling water poured over – great for a handful or so.

* - For a large amount – cut out the core and put in the largest bowl which will fit in the micro wave. Microwave on full for 20 minutes, then, just lift off the skins. Chop roughly.

·         Put the peppers into a roasting tin in a hot oven 200°C or No 6 Gas for 30 mins or so. They should just start to brown or char. Leave them to cool.

·         Remove the skins and the seeds as far as possible then chop roughly.

·         Put the chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, chopped onions, chopped garlic, vinegar and sugar into a preserving pan with the spices and seasonings.

·         Simmer slowly until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit/vegetables have softened.

·         Bring to the boil and cook, stirring frequently to ensure it does not stick and burn until it starts to turn thick.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

Home made Tomato Ketchup

Every time I have made this recipe it has come out slightly differently – all acceptable and some outstanding, do give it a try.

2 kg ripe tomatoes ( 4½ lbs)                            2 – 3 fresh bay leaves – crushed

8ml white vinegar( 1 pt)                                  piece of cinnamon bark

190g white granulated sugar ( 6oz)                2 – 3 cloves garlic - crushed

1 Tblsp. salt                                                     2 – 3 red chillies ( dried or fresh)

¼ - ½ tsp ground allspice                                ¼ - ½ tsp ground cloves

Large pinch coarsely ground black pepper                                        

Method

1.      Wash and roughly cut the tomatoes and put in a preserving pan or large saucepan with the salt, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, crushed garlic cloves and vinegar (be fairly sparing with the salt at this stage – add more in the final stages as necessary).

2.      Add the chopped chillies. Take care with these, especially if the ketchup is for children ( I have used dried  Joe’s Long, grown indoors - which are medium heat)

3.      Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the tomatoes are thoroughly softened.

4.      In the meantime, sterilise the bottles or jars – keep hot in low oven.

5.      Remove the cinnamon bark and bay leaves then, sieve the tomato mixture through a coarse sieve – preferable nylon. Return the juice and pulp to a clean saucepan.

6.      Add sugar then ground allspice, ground cloves and black pepper gradually, tasting frequently to ensure the flavour is not too strong. Remember, when the ketchup is cold, the flavour will be somewhat milder. You may also want to add more salt if needed.

7.      Simmer the mixture until it starts to thicken. Don’t make it too thick at this stage as it thickens as it cools.

8.      Put the heated sterilised bottles/jars on a wooden surface and fill them with the ketchup while it is still very hot. Seal the jars immediately. This ketchup should keep safely for several months.

Freezing Tomatoes

Use normal-sized or large tomatoes.

Wash them and cut out the central cores.

Put them into the largest micro-wave proof bowl you have which will fit into your micro-wave oven.

Microwave on full power for 20 minutes.

Remove, allow to cool slightly and lift off the skins. Pour off the excess juice.

( my friend Philip, who gave me this method does not remove the juice. There is merit to both methods. For his – where the juice is included – the resultant pulp is less strong, is suitable for lots of recipes, including soup.

With my dryer method – it is more concentrated, the flavoursome juice has been lost, it is really too sharp and concentrated for soup but, is excellent for Italian dishes, it takes up less space in the freezer.

Put the skinned tomatoes back into the bowl and microwave on full power for a further 20  minutes.

Allow to cool. Pack into suitable, lidded, freezer containers (leave a space for expansion) and freeze.