Now showing in our Center Ring: Heirlooms!
by duluth, July 29, 2009 | Permalink
I love it when we get a big, colorful shipment of heirloom tomatoes in our Produce department. I watch customers walk by the display, stop, backtrack, pick up a loopy luscious orb and eye it like they would the bearded lady at a circus sideshow. “What,” their faces say, “in the world is THIS?”
Every carnival has them; the attractions that stop everyone in their tracks and makes them scratch their heads. In the glorious Produce extravaganza that is at Whole Foods Market Johns Creek, we’ve just received a shipment of big, multi-hued heirlooms. Their taste is similar to that of their uniformly shaped cousins but is exotic enough to add the “wow” factor to even the simplest meal. For me, those loopy, luscious orbs bursting with flavor are one of the definitive flavors of summer.
Heirlooms are cultivars that have been nurtured and handed down through generations of growers. These exotically named—and shaped—beauties all have a unique taste that lends itself to any recipe, but they’re robust enough to stand on their own. The dusky-dark hues such as the Cherokee purples are soft and bold, the pink-toned fruits such as the Mortgage-Lifter are big but mild, and the Emerald Evergreens are sweet and crispy.
So I really like to swoop in when I see a customer confronted with one of our tomato “bearded ladies” and suggest uses for them. Actually our display makes it convenient for you to get everything you need for a couple of recipes. The classic treatment is a Caprese salad; simply cut the tomatoes in big, thick horizontal slices, slice a creamy mozzarella cheese in the same shape (we’ve got mozzarella iced down next to the tomatoes–convenient, huh?), and intersperse that stack with fresh basil leaves from local Sweetwater growers (also stored next to the heirlooms.) Then pick up a bottle of fabulous Sweetwater oils and a bottle of our 365 Everyday Value™ Balsamic Vinegar, mix it up and drizzle it over the stacks of tomatoes, cheese and basil arranged artfully on a plate. Looks fabulous, tastes even better and you walked maybe two steps to get everything you needed for a dazzling salad.
The same efficiency can be applied to an heirloom tomato bruschetta. We’ve got bags of our bakery’s crostini right next to the heirlooms. All you have to do for that is chop the heirlooms, then mix them with the oil and balsamic. Slice the mozzarella, lay it on top of the crostini and then top the cheese with the tomato mix. Pop that in the broiler and when the cheese is melted remove it and top with some finely chopped basil. Delicious, and you didn’t have to jump through hoops or swallow fire to make it.
So when you swing through the Produce department, don’t forget to stop and give our heirlooms a look. They may be the funkiest headliners in our three-ring circus but they’re a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for your dinnertime gigs. Truly, how could you resist name-dropping a tomato called the Mortgage-Lifter?
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3 Responses to “Now showing in our Center Ring: Heirlooms!”
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July 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
loopy, luscious orbs… I love it!
July 30th, 2009 at 5:42 am
don’t forget to come see the ringmaster with any questions; i will be the one “smiling” sans top hat… fabulous work as always Nan!
August 8th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Great description of the beautiful display!