Sun Gold cherry tomatoes promote world peace

Bright orange with a tiny radiating green tinge at the stem, tasting of summer memories while running a length of wet, slippery plastic on crabgrass, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are the closest taste to a real tomato I have had the pleasure of savoring in recent years. Hands down first choice in the ground in spring and always the first variety to pop up volunteer style in my garden. Initial little yellow babies harvested never make it past the outside branches of the plant. Savored in the garden, hot, with long, guttural sighs, they will not make it into the house for a couple of weeks.

Once inside they grace everything we eat for as long as they produce well into fall. Lucky recipients of my food always wonder at the origin of the luscious little yellow tomato. Uninitiated ignorantly wonder at the ripeness or readiness of the yellow tomato. I laugh in private. Not to be confused with the yellow pear tomato, oh no. Sorry for you if you make that mistake at the nursery. It is like having your baby switched. Pears are mealy and watery, resembling a store bought Mexican tomato in winter no matter how ripe they get on the vine. I also planted a green grape cherry tomato along with a host of others this year. Green Grape runs a close second to the Sun Gold. Visions of big, fat heirloom tomatoes come to mind while devouring the succulent cherry Green Grape.

After you have had enough little cherry tomatoes sucked directly off the vine, it is time to tote in having some fun in the kitchen toying with your tasty little muse. Halve tomatoes and toss with cilantro, chopped jalapeño, tiny bit of garlic, some finely chopped red onion and lube up with some really good olive oil and rice vinegar, crack the salt and use this for grilled fish or chicken or silky marinated grilled tofu.

Tossed with some nice sheep’s milk feta, chiffonade basil, and a very good olive oil with a few cracks of sea salt, this base can used to flavor hot or cold pasta or quinoa, spread on croutons or lusty hunks of great bread or just spread on your body to be licked off by a willing partner. Add Greek olives, lettuce, pita chips and cucumbers tossing with mint, cilantro, lemon, cumin and olive oil for an astounding salad. Awesome by itself or with a sizzling spiced chicken breast, pulled off the grill with all the juices soaking into your salad creating this hot/cold yin/yang breathtaking, demanding a moment of silence, physically stimulating entrée. Be sure to share with a very close friend as the sun sinks and the crickets commence with the concert.

Just my thoughts on the dazzling little Sun Gold cherry type tomato.