Heirloom roasted tomato salad

As a freelance content writer it is exciting to work with brands and businesses which follow a similar mindset and understanding towards the planet.

Educating oneself about heirloom seeds and how it benefits not just our health but also that of the environment is a huge eye opener and the more people who share this information, the faster are the chances for the Eco system to begin healing.

Living in Coimbatore, in South India we have our colourful village shandys which used to be the common man’s ‘farmer’s market’ .Sadly urban demands have crept in and these shandies too deal in the same hybrid vegetables.Occasionally we may come across a stall selling forgotten indigenous produce but even that will be fleeting.

Tomatoes are an ingredient from the ‘new world’. But it’s been a part of all our cuisines for centuries that we cannot imagine cooking without it. Heirloom tomatoes can be easily identified by the physical characteristics of the fruit. It is more stout , pulled tight at the top towards the stalk and the cheeks are ridged. They look really pretty and are a joy to photograph. We have always only had the red country variety growing in our farm.

A few days ago I gasped in delight and disbelief when an organic store in my home town posted a picture and mentioned getting a bushel of what they called the “Kasipatana tomatoes”. Depsite getting there early we only managed to get 2 of the green and one of the yellow tomatoes. There was more of the blush pink and bright red. I had to stop just looking at them and will myself to make the salad!

Kasipatanam is a village/ township in the state of Andhra Pradesh and home to this variety. There’s not a lot of information about how it came to grow there. When I mentioned these tomatoes to my helper at home, she was visibly excited and told me how her family  plants these seeds in their village after getting the seeds from the farmers in Kasipatanam. She also went on to tell me how each plant fruits in large clusters, the tomatoes comprising of a rainbow of colours ,firm fleshed and dimple cheeked.

Once the harvest is over these plants have to be replaced. This variety produces a large bounty just once and it is done. This again is how people ate specific foods only when they were available and not all year round. Heirloom seeds are of great value because they have survived over generations of pest attacks, weather patterns and soil changes. The seeds develop a resilience which then adds to the nutrition of the ingredient.

This roasted tomato salad is a FAVOURITE ! When produce is this good, often a simple nudge of flavour components is all it needs to shine. The juices of the tomato with the extra virgin olive oil and just enough seasoning to push the envelope further on the yummy quotient makes this a much looked forward to dish. This is a roasted version of a traditional caprese salad. My basil plant is much happier after the recent rains and has rewarded us with large green leaves as you can see in the picture. We are down to the last few cup fulls of the fabulous Greek olive oil. There was no boncoccini available at our supermarket so the regular mozarella had to do. The tomatoes are both sweet and mildly acidic and so incredibly juicy. Let’s hope we see more of this kind of produce often.

This salad continues to add memories of happy dinners eaten in companionable  silence or loud chatter …either way a whole lot of love.