oh, the controversy

To-may-to vs. to-mah-to, fruit vs. vegetable.

What drama surrounding such unassuming, delightful little comestibles!



No matter how you say the name (personally, I'm partial to the term 'maters) or what type of food they are (a berry, for the record), I love 'em.

I love 'em in salad, as salsa or pasta sauce, on a sandwich--I'll take them however I can get them.



I used to think that my favorite type of tomato was sun-dried. That lurvely sweet and tart punch really does it for me. However, there seems to be some stiff competition emerging in the form of oven-dried 'maters.

Grape tomatoes were on sale at the grocery store, so I got a couple pints. I sliced them in half, liberally added salt and pepper (freshly-ground, of course), and popped them in the oven for an hour at 225 degrees F. Then I turned the heat off and let them dry up overnight.


Yes, the concentrated flavor is fabulous. Sweet + tart + salty + spicy = incredible. But what makes these little morsels so delectable and irresistible is the burst of juice that you get when you chomp down on one...if you don't dry them to oblivion. I'm not kidding when I say that I eat them like candy.

They're a primo snack, and I'm sure they'd be great with pasta or in a salad or whatever else strikes your fancy. Tommy-toes can do no wrong!


"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."