Tomato Monster's Kitchen, Gym and More: TOMATOES

I was pretty much raised on tomatoes.

I put tomatos on everything (except desserts, for obvious reasons). When forced on occassion to eat strangers' cooking, tomatoes made even the blandest food tolerable.

Ever since I can remember, my grandparents have had this garden where the tastiest tomatos grow every summer. And every summer they prepare lots of a kind of Bulgarian tomato sauce, plus chopped and canned tomatoes, ready for cooking, which we eat throughout the fall and winter.

Nowadays, their garden is smaller, I no longer spend all summer there anyway, and tomato supplies are scarce. We still have the canned tomatoes and sauce in the winter which is my saving grace because one can rarely find good tomato whatever anywhere.

And I really need tomatoes, man. Some people say salt is the flavor of life, there was even a fable on that, but I say it's tomatoes. They go on beans, lentils, cabbage, bread, rice, salads, cheese, pizza, pasta and everything else which is not dessert. By the end of winter I'm already half-depressed that I hadn't had a fresh tomato in months.

Unfortunately, I live in an appartment and can't really grow crops there amd since I don't exactly have a green thumb, I tested my pot plant growing skills with some herbs and chilli peppers in the summer. They survived pretty well on the balcony,except a couple of peppermint plants who died in battle with some bugs despite my efforts to save them, until winter came and I had to take the plants inside where they withered and died.

Having in mind this trial worked so well, I have decided to grow cherry tomatoes and maybe normal tomatoes in buckets. I hope my dad won't mind me taking over the balcony once more.

I'll post what happens with these, but until then, here, have these nutritional facts about tomatoes (from Wikipedia):

Nutrition

Tomatoes are now eaten freely throughout the world. They contain the carotene lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants. In some studies, lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer,[46] but other research contradicts this claim.[47] Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays.[48] A study done by researchers at Manchester and Newcastle universities revealed that tomato can protect against sunburn and help keeping the skin looking youthful.[49] Natural genetic variation in tomatoes and their wild relatives has given a genetic plethora of genes that produce lycopene, carotene, anthocyanin, and other antioxidants. Tomato varieties are available with double the normal vitamin C (Doublerich), 40 times normal vitamin A (97L97), high levels of anthocyanin (resulting in blue tomatoes), and two to four times the normal amount of lycopene (numerous available cultivars with the high crimson gene).

Potential health effects

See also: Tomato products and human health

Some studies have indicated that the lycopene in tomatoes may help prevent cancer, but taken overall the research into this subject is inconclusive.[50] There has been some research interest in whether the lycopene in tomatoes might help in managing human neurodegenerative diseases.[51] The lycopene from tomatoes has no effect on the risk of developing diabetes, but may help relieve the oxidative stress of people who already have diabetes.[52]

Storage

Tomatoes keep best unwashed at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. It is not recommended to refrigerate as this can harm the flavor.[53] Tomatoes that are not yet ripe can be kept in a paper bag till ripening.[54] Storing stem down can prolong shelf life.[55]