Seed preservationist loves tomatoes

I have to admire a woman who has a love affair with tomatoes — and squash and melons for that matter.
Amy Goldman is a gardening goddess, a champion of preserving heirloom seeds for future generations (that's her pictured to the right in the tomato patch with some of her glorious specimens/Sandy Fellman photo).

I recently spent some time with Amy in her Rhinebeck gardens for the centerpiece on today's Life page in the Poughkeepsie Journal and the feature on tomatoes on the Busy Cook page.

I love visiting other people's gardens, and Amy's was something to behold. She has a 1-acre plot just for the tomato plants, which number 1,000 — two each of 500 different varieties! That's a lot of tomatoes. Walking through that patch was like stepping on a crunchy cushioned carpet of golden straw, with lush, robust plants keeping guard like sentries in their assigned rows. She uses a woven ground cloth to keep weeds at bay and to prevent splash-back on the plants when watering them. The cloth is then covered with straw.

My eyes wandered toward the back of the patch and a large trellis covered with vines. On closer inspection, I noticed it was filled with hanging bottleneck gourds, the dappled sunlight trickling through to create a cozy sanctuary from the blazing heat of the day.

All around were squash and melons sending out their runners and the largest asparagus patch I have ever seen. I could have spent a lot more time there taking it all in.

(Heirloom Grape tomatoes, grown by Amy Goldman, 2005/Karl Rabe photo)

If you're like me, and just love to stroll through gardens, Amy graciously opens her garden to the public as part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days program.
A visit to her gardens is set for Aug. 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check the Web site for details.

(Constoluto Genovese, grown by Amy Goldman, 2005/Karl Rabe photo)

I was really looking forward to chatting with Amy about her latest book, "The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit" (Bloomsbury, August 2008, $45), which took five years in the making. She's also the author of "Melons for the Passionate Grower" (Artisan, May 2002, $25) and "The Compleat Squash" (Workman Publishing Company Inc., October 2004, $40), both of which are stunning tomes.

Amy is great about sharing her expertise on the topic of heirlooms and preserving seed. She serves on the board of the Seed Savers Exchange, whose mission is to preserve heirloom seeds and plants.


Back in 2005 I edited a special tomato package for the Journal and talked to Amy, who hinted her next book would be on tomatoes (the photos by Karl reflect some of the varieties she was testing back then). I could not wait for this one, being the tomato-lover I am. I highly recommend this book for the avid gardener and those who have a modest interest in growing vegetables. It is a must for the tomato-phile in your life. I already know I will be buying a few extra copies to stash away for Christmas presents this year for some of my mad gardening friends.

(Pineapple tomato, grown by Amy Goldman, 2005/Karl Rabe photo)

The book will hit the shelves Aug. 12, and Amy will be hosting a book signing and talk on heirloom tomatoes at Oblong Rhinebeck Oct. 16 at 6 p.m.

I got an advance copy of the book and spent a lot of time perusing the pages. The photographs, by Victor Schrager, are amazing (he did the photographs in the other two books as well). The tomato portraits are reminiscent of old Dutch botanical paintings with a touch of whimsy in their compositions. That alone makes the book perfect coffee-table material, even if you don't like tomatoes.

The book is not only a guide to planting tomatoes and saving seeds, but it is rife with history and anecdotes.

Amy shares many stories about her travels to find seeds and the history associated with them that make for a fascinating read.

She told me about Sudduth's Brandywine, a family heirloom handed down from mother to daughter. Dorris Sudduth Hill had given the seeds to Ben Quisenberry, who introduced the Big Ben variety in 1979. Dorris somehow never got the spotlight for her seed-saving efforts, until Amy did a little digging. Turns out, with the help of an expert on genealogy, Amy found Dorris was still alive, although in poor health. Dorris' son, James, shared his family's tomato lore with Amy. His grandmother had a special dish for tomatoes that was shaped liked a saucer to allow the seeds to pass through for saving.

It is stories like this that make the book so interesting. There are many more, but you should get your own copy and dig into some fascinating tales.

(Tigerella, grown by Amy Goldman, 2005/Karl Rabe photo)

Amy's mission is admirable: keeping seeds in the hands of the gardeners for generations to come. Heirloom tomatoes are not your supermarket hybrids that are picked green and trucked in from across the country and gassed along the way to "ripen" before they hit the supermarket shelves. In this day and age of salmonella scares and increased fuel prices, it makes sense, and is certainly better for your health and wallet, to eat foods that are grown locally.

The locavore idea is a good one: know where your food is coming from. Even if you don't have room for a garden, shop the local farmers markets whenever possible. Talk to the growers, get involved with the community and take responsibility for your health every way you can.

I just picked my first two ripe plum tomatoes, so I don't have bragging rights to any early claims. But I have been satisfying my tomato craving by shopping the farmers market in Poughkeepsie on Fridays. The Poughkeepsie Farm Project had beautiful heirloom tomatoes last week: black plums, Brandywines, yellow and red tomatoes. The Three Sisters Farm stand had pints of Sun Golds. Get out there and indulge yourself in the bounty of the valley.

On top of all the folklore and facts in "The Heirloom Tomato," there are recipes — really good ones, using tomatoes.
Amy enlisted the help of Eve Felder, associate dean for culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, for the recipes. Busy Cook features Cherry Tomato Focaccia, which I can't wait to make, and Spicy Tomato Salsa that makes use of beautiful yellow tomatoes.

Here's one more from the book, which has about 50 fabulous recipes.

(Indian Tomato Salsa with pappadams makes a great appetizer/Victor Schrager photo)

Indian Tomato Salsa

Yield: 1 quart

"This salsa is so captivating that you need not worry about throwing the flavor away when you peel, cut, seed and furiously rough-chop the plum tomatoes. Serve with pappadams, thin flatbreads from India made with lentil flour that bubble when heated."

1. 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2. 2 tablespoons minced garlic
3. 2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
4. 2 pounds plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
5. 2 teaspoons salt
6. 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
7. 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
8. 2 teaspoons black onion seeds
9. 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
10. 40 mini pappadams

• Heat the 1/4 cup of oil in a sauce pot over moderate heat. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook until the mixture thickens, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a saute pan. Add the mustard seeds, black onion seeds and cumin seeds. Cook until they begin to pop. Add to the tomato mixture.
• To heat the pappadams: Place on a hot griddle or cast-iron skillet. Cook until blistered. If microwaving, brush pappadams lightly with oil, place on paper towels and zap one at a time on high for 40 to 60 seconds.
• Serve the salsa as a dip and the pappadams as the chips.

Recipe courtesy of "The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit"