If you’re not really into cooking you’ve probably never paid much attention to tomatos. Just pick one up at the store that’s not too mushy and use it. What else is there to know?

Surprisingly there is quite a bit to choosing good tomatos for cooking. Most tomatos at the supermarket were picked before they ripened and allowed to ripen on the way to the store. The problem with this is that the tomato loses a lot of the flavor when it ripens apart from a living vine. (there’s a sermon there somewhere :-) ) You may have tried out some of those tomatoes at the store that advertise as being vine ripened. (You know the ones. they come in that mesh bag still on the vine.) That’s somwhat false advertising because the vine is dead so you don’t get any advantage from ripening on it. There’s not much difference between that and the regular tomato. Another variety you’ve probably seen is the hydroponic tomato. The idea here is that the tomato is grown closer to the store’s location and thus can ripen on the vine. It’s not quite as good as it sounds though. Hydroponic tomatoes don’t get quite the same amount of flavor because they aren’t grown in a natural environment. It turns out that the soil has a great deal to do with the flavor of the tomatoe as it ripens. (there’s that sermon again)

So what is your best choice? I have three choices I prefer when choosing tomatos. First is the fresh farmers market variety. Those things are the top of the tomatoe food chain. Whenever possible I choose farmers market tomatos. Second choice is the roma tomato. For some reason roma tomatoes in the store tend to be much more flavorful than any other variety. Last choice is really only for salads and such. The cherry tomato is really flavorful. It doesn’t perform so well in salsa’s or on top of burgers, however, because of the size. For most people I’d recommend the roma tomato for general cooking.