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By Ramona Frances

Michele Lasgoity of Chateau Lasgoity samples a variety of organic tomatoes at the Lone Willow Ranch and Slow Food Madera 6th Annual Tomato's Big Night Out event Saturday at Lone Willow Ranch. Over 100 varieties of organic tomatoes were on display for taste testing and maps to tour the tomato vineyard were provided. Chateau Lasgoity wines were served during the course of the event.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

Willie Madaus tastes a tomato sample fresh off the vine while Ryan Madaus, center, and Jacque Dyer wait to tour the rest of the tomato vineyards at the 6th annual Tomato's Big Night Out event held at Lone Willow Ranch.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

Consumers who believe a good tomato comes in one color could be in for a big surprise.

Exotic heirloom tomatoes maturing into colors of mahogany, bronze purple, apricot blends, rose hued, dark and pastel lemon, variegated red with stripes of gold, gold with stripes of bronze or mature green, tie-dyed or random patterned fruit might blowout any previous idea of what a tomato is suppose to look like.

"Biting into one of my tomatoes is an explosion of taste and texture," said grower John Teixeira. "When you fill out a card to rate the tomatoes at a tomato tasting event, we ask people what comes to mind when they rate a tomato number 1."

Teixeira, who farms near the San Joaquin River in west Madera County, is one of a minority of growers who fill a special niche in the fresh organic tomato market. Farmer John, as he calls himself, believes tomatoes are sexy; they inspire excitement. "And it's different in more ways than just appearance and taste," he said.

Untouched by plant breeders, heirlooms do not conform to commercial standards; they are not disease resistance, and they cannot be harvested all at once like commercial varieties. In addition, the thin skin makes them a poor choice for shipping.

Heirloom seed has been saved by families and companies such as Seed Savors either because the seed comes from varieties with special attributes, like an extra large size, or it has unusual coloring or markings, or because it has connoisseur qualities such as a tomato with a lemon scent. They may also appreciate the seed's weather tolerance or they may just have some sentimental reason for saving it.

The 50 plus varieties Teixeira is growing have been culled down from the 300 or so varieties he grew previously.

"These are the ones I feel have a certain personality, special qualities, and my favorites," he said.

Teixeira sells and delivers his tomatoes, which have not yet reached full production this year, to Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos.

Slow Food of Madera will be sponsoring "Tomato's Big Night Out," a tomato tasting food event, in collaboration with Teixeira on Sept. 29.

Ramona Frances Ramona Frances is a staff columnist, writer and photographer for the Madera Tribune. You may contact Ramona at 674.8134 ext. 222 or by e-mail ramona (at) maderatribune.net The Madera Tribune online subscription To subscribe or log on, CLICK HERE. For more information first, CLICK HERE.