Grandpa Henry

                Last year at the Downtown Westminster Farmer’s Market, Henry of Not From China Gourds, a fellow vendor, gave me a gift tomato that is a long time family heirloom. I was not expecting this gift and I asked him about the tomato. It looked like a very large paste-type tomato. It was much larger than any paste-type tomato than I had ever seen. “Save the seeds,” he said, in his normal mellow manner…

                Up until that gift, I had long sworn by what I have called, along with many others, THE BEST paste tomato in existence, the San Marzano tomato. Here is a picture of a quart of San Marzano tomatoes.

                Paste tomatoes are called “paste” tomatoes because there are very few seeds and the walls of the tomatoes are very “fleshy”. This means that when they are cooked down into a sauce they are much less juicy than what are called “slicing” tomatoes. Now, I will admit that “slicing” heirlooms explode with flavor and are often MUCH more appealing to the palate than paste tomatoes when eaten straight from the vine. However, when making a “sauce” with pasta, paste tomatoes are definitely the tomato.

                There is a bit of history to explain here in order to relay this story about Grandpa Henry tomatoes. To begin, personally, I was unaware of all that was involved in “paste” tomato production until many years of experience and investigation were earned. And the learning curve, well, it was not much of a curve…

                When I first entered into the farming scene, I grew Roma tomatoes. That style of tomato was what I was used to when it came to “paste” tomatoes. From the beginning of my own experience, I realized the different types of tomatoes, and I always intended to grow “paste” tomatoes that are perfect for tomato sauce. For a few years, I grew the Roma type, until I learned about San Marzano tomatoes. Roma tomatoes were developed more for production than flavor, and a side by side tasting will leave no doubt that San Marzano tomatoes are far superior.

                In the interest of brevity, I will attempt to speed ahead here, because this entire situation is much more complicated than it probably appears. The first and MOST important trait for a tomato is FLAVOR. The reason San Marzano tomatoes are considered to be the BEST “paste” tomatoes by a LOT of “experts” is because of the flavor. When a sauce, or even a salsa, is made with San Marzano tomatoes instead of the Roma style, the flavor is undeniable…

                Okay, here is the first part of historical detail… But wait! Let me convolute this a little… San Marzano tomatoes are considered “heirloom” tomatoes, which means that the seeds can be tracked back over 75 years. This trait relays that “flavor” had been the important aspect of the tomato, but…

                Allow me to sort this out… with the history of “paste” tomatoes. (I do hope this does not get too long winded!)

                Tomatoes, as far as historical research has revealed, originated in Mexico. It was not until the European conquistadors brought tomatoes to Europe that that delectable crop became a staple in the cuisine of… Western Europeans. (Okay, I will pause again, for this entry has a decidedly “European” slant when it comes to history. The worst part of this disparaging tale is that I cannot even imagine where and when my northern heritage, in what would eventually be called Germany, met with tomatoes… I have digressed, yet again…) Nonetheless, tomatoes met the plates of Europeans sometime in the 15^th century.

                Now the means of keeping a tomato crop continuing throughout the years/centuries is to save the seeds from the previous year’s crop. There is a LOT involved with this, but, as usual, I will get back to that…

                So, tomatoes were introduced into Europe in the 15^th century, and the plant was adored, in particular, in Italy. It is quite common knowledge that pasta and tomatoes are an Italian creation, however, the history of “paste” tomatoes still lurks on the horizon…

                During the reign of Napoleon, a reward was to be given to a person who could come up with a way to preserve food that would last, well, long enough for Napoleon’s army to reach Russia for example. Nicolas Appert won the reward, and he is the founder of the “canning” process. This part of history is mentioned, because ALL of food production changes at that particular point in history. Of course, our focus is “paste” tomatoes. Instead of food production being focused on an immediate meal, for example, it had then become focused on how to produce as much as possible all at once.

                After a little research, I discovered that the “San Marzano” strain of tomato originated in 1926, although legend has it going back a couple more hundreds of years. I will not dawdle here. AND my nearly decade long assurance that San Marzano tomatoes are the BEST paste tomatoes ever… may very well be in error…

                Here is a picture of San Marzano tomatoes growing on the vine…

Much like Roma tomatoes, they produce a lot of clusters of tomatoes that ripen about the same time.

                Most “heirloom” tomatoes produce clusters at various times so the harvest is spread out over a much longer period. After realizing the date of 1926 as the origination of San Marzano tomatoes, AND after watching Henry’s heirloom paste tomato grow, I began to realize that San Marzano tomatoes are the BEST paste tomato… FOR CANNING!

                When I first asked questions about Henry’s heirloom tomato, I asked him what the name was. He said, “Call it Grandpa Henry after my father.” From here on this wonderful tomato will be referred to as “Grandpa Henry”. 

                So, I took the gift tomato back to the farm, to the back porch when I ferment my own tomato seed stock to save for the following year. I cut open the Grandpa Henry and, indeed, there were very few tomato seeds. In all honesty, I was not really expecting much from the flavor, but I took a bite of the remaining tomato flesh… AND WAS AMAZED! That paste tomato was incredible!

                This year, I was able to take some pictures of how the Grandpa Henry plant grows. The first thing of difference that struck me was that the tops of the plants seemed to droop. Henry calls this a tropical look, and I agree.

As the plant grew, cluster after cluster of tomatoes developed.

The thing that really struck me here was that with heirloom tomatoes, some of the later flowers will abort as the energy of the plant goes into the tomatoes already developing on the vine. This was not the case for the Grandpa Henry tomatoes. Almost all of the flowers developed into a tomato.

These tomatoes were grown in Greenhouse 2. Any tomatoes that I have grown in the greenhouse have been rather ruthlessly attacked by tomato hornworms. Their damage looks like this…

Only once thus far this year has a hornworm been found on a Grandpa Henry, and that pest originated on a neighboring plant whose vine fell into the Grandpa Henry row. (I am absolutely stunned by that, and perhaps that is just a fluke. I will keep close tabs on that.)

And then…

…Grandpa Henry tomatoes! Not only is the flavor much superior to the previous BEST paste tomato ever… the San Marzano tomato, but it is also MUCH larger.

The Grandpa Henry is on the left.

Henry told me that an OLD Italian lady from the town in which he grew up gave his father the seeds to what is now called “Grandpa Henry” tomatoes. She was the “straight off the boat” type of Italian woman. While Henry’s father never grew the tomatoes, Henry did… and has saved the seed now for some 35 years or so.

What I began to realize was that this heirloom most likely predates the “canning” process. This paste tomato was the kind grown for a meal and who knows how long that strain has been kept alive! This is an absolutely amazing tomato that I will continue to grow for as long as I can. Tomorrow, I plan to make my first salsa with it. I can’t wait!

Thank you, Henry, for the BEST paste tomato ever… the Grandpa Henry tomato!!!