Entry # Seventy Nine

Hello to You wherever you are:

The article below is very interesting.

ENTRY # SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR
Eat Smart
From Cooking Light

Tomatoes How to choose, use, and cook with this favorite summer fruit


Tomato Varieties Tomato

Oh how America loves the tomato. The aroma of the vine, sweetness of the flesh, and juicy acidity spur between 25 and 40 million of us to grow tomatoes in gardens, containers, and window boxes each year. There are few greater pleasures than a just-picked ripe, red tomato still warm from the summer sun, or a basket of juicy heirloom tomatoes from your farmers' market.

More than any other fruit or vegetable, the tomato has changed the face of modern cuisine. Whether you toss chopped tomatoes into a beef stew, slide a few slices into a BLT, or layer them with their soul mate, basil, tomatoes have become ubiquitous. But even the reddest, plumpest specimens can disappoint when it comes to flavor and juiciness. Finding the best choice, knowing its flavor secrets, and understanding the best way to preserve that flavor will deepen your enthusiasm for one of summer's great tastes.

How do you pick a good tomato? Not by looks. Some of the best-tasting tomatoes happen to be some of the homeliest. And picture-perfect tomatoes can be flavorless. Picking a good tomato starts at home, or in your neighborhood. Home-grown tomatoes can't be beat. But when you buy tomatoes, smell them -- a good tomato should smell like a tomato, especially at the stem end.

How do you make a lackluster tomato taste better? Even the best tomatoes taste a little better with a sprinkle of salt, which accentuates the balance of sweetness and acidity. If you have a tomato that's flavorless beyond a restorative touch of salt, drizzle a few drops of balsamic vinegar or honey over it to bring out both the sweetness and acidity. Grilling, roasting, and stewing can also give a bland tomato life: When you apply heat, the tomato's moisture evaporates, concentrating its flavor. What makes a tomato mealy?

How can you tell if a tomato is mealy before slicing into it?Tomatoes are greatly affected by temperature, even during the growing process. They originally came from the warm western coast of South America and don't respond well to temperatures below 50 degrees. Cool temperatures can change a tomato's composition, converting its natural sugar to starch and resulting in a tasteless, mealy tomato. For this reason, never refrigerate a tomato. The cold environment causes the water in the tomato to expand, ruining the texture.

If a tomato feels soft, there's a chance it will be mealy, but, unfortunately, it isn't always possible to tell before slicing. What is the best way to ripen and store tomatoes?Place them at room temperature in a single layer, shoulder-side up, and out of direct sunlight. To store ripe tomatoes for any extended period of time, keep them between 55 and 65 degrees.

My grocer sells little net bags of tomatoes still attached to a vine. Are these really worth their high price? Those tomatoes were not necessarily ripe when picked, so they often lack flavor. They're generally not worth the extra expense.

When should you use canned tomatoes? Opt for canned tomatoes when you want them. Otherwise, let the season be your guide and use fresh tomatoes whenever possible.

What are the flavor differences among red, yellow, orange, green, and purple tomatoes? Generally speaking, yellow and orange tomatoes tend to be less acidic than red and are therefore sweeter. These tomatoes have a fruity, almost tropical flavor as a result of their low acidity. Because their sugars aren't fully developed, green tomatoes have a tart, citrusy tang. Purple and blackish varieties have a complex flavor similar to red wine.

In general, when is it necessary to peel tomatoes? Since peeling tomatoes is time-consuming, I avoid the process whenever possible. For most salsas, salads, and sandwiches, or when eating out of hand, the skin holds the tomato together, so peeling is unnecessary. For more delicate soups and sauces, like our Tomato Garlic Soup with Parmesan Croutons, the peel can be a nuisance. To peel, use a small paring knife to score the bottom of each tomato with an "X," cutting just through the skin but not into the flesh. Place the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon; quickly plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Once they've cooled, you can easily peel away the skins from the tomatoes.

What's the best way to slice and seed tomatoes?Anyone who's tried to cut a tomato with a dull knife knows the challenge; the skins are tougher than they look. A sharp serrated knife is the best tool for the job. To seed a tomato, remove the core. Holding the tomato with the core side up, cut the tomato crosswise. Using the tip of a knife, remove and discard the seeds from each tomato half.

Try Cooking Light FREE!

Keep watching I will have a lot to show you later. as we get closer to Tomato season. E-mail me any time you need to. I am never too busy to listen.DAD.
white6416r@aol.com

ENTRY # SEVENTY EIGHT

Mornin' Ray,

We've got no problem with you using the bluebird story with your readers, but I would ask you to use the corrected version below. I had a couple of typos that Bobbie pointed out.

Stay healthy and happy.
....................................
Good to hear back from you Ray--my new Tennessee friend. My message this morning got so far off bluebirds that I forgot all about them until later in the morning. So here's the story of our first bluebird season.

We have been bird feeders for many years. So when we moved 3 miles away, we fretted about the birds we left behind and set out to attract birds to our new home. While driving past one of our new neighbor's house, I saw a bluebird sitting in their driveway. We didn't have bluebirds at our old house, so we got excited about attracting them to our new house.

Bobbie brought home from her high school a bird house built by Habitat for Humanities kids. I looked at this house and something didn't look right. Some of the boards were nailed on backward--like it was built inside out. I guess the kid who nailed it together was thinking about girls like most of us guys at his age.

After rebuilding the house, we put it up and then ran out and bought three fancy houses with copper-clad roofs. But then we found out they need to be about 100 yards apart. We'd need a lot more land to handle 4 bluebird houses, so we converted the new, pretty houses to wren, titmouse, chickadee, etc. houses by putting a 1 ｼ inch restricter plate--a little NASCAR lingo here--over the opening.

We got families of all birds that frequent our feeders. But what really blew us away was the bluebird pair that showed up the day we put up the rickety house. We placed the house just outside our home office windows, and spent numerous hours watching these industrious birds build their nest, feed four hungry babies all day long, and care for them day after day after they took to the air. The male was particularly entertaining. He was determined to keep any other male away from his offspring, including his own reflection in our windows all the way around the house and our neighbors' car mirrors. I put up a perch across our office windows for him to rest on while guarding his territory.

We cleaned out the house after the babies fledged and darned if they didn't start another nest. We learned that bluebirds love mealworms, so we started buying bags of 500 worms that they gobbled up in a couple of days, so we graduated to bags of 5,000 worms which last about a week. We have had four clutches of baby bluebirds. Each batch of babies hangs around to help care for the next. They grab as many worms as they can and zoom back to the house to feed their brothers and sisters. There'll be three or four bluebirds with worms in their mouths hanging on the house waiting for their chance to feed the babies. In the morning, I put out a half cup of worms and stand back. I have counted 16 birds at a time crowding around the two feeders. The evening feeding is also a frenzied affair.

Whenever one or two bluebirds decide to jump into the bird bath, they all join in and thrash around like maniacs. I have to refill the bath after they get through.

Bluebirds are just amazing. They have entertained us and kept our yard free of mosquitoes and darned near every other kind of insect.

It is costing us over $100 a month to feed these hungry little critters, but they have provided us way more enjoyment than a night at the movies.

We are looking forward to your next posting.

Have a great day,

Bobbie and Roger