Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTL Sweet on tomatoes Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, August 8, 2007 " Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert! " That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it. We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices. You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant " eeewwwwwww. " Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course. Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes. But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can. " Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts, " Canales says. " Otherwise you're just playing with food. " There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a " savory " or " meaty " flavor. Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness. The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others. " Tomatoes really transform when they cook, " Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked. Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape. " The Juliet's not so good for just eating, " says Raven. " It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt. " The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms. " We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste, " he says. " Everything is inspired by the tomato. " Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen. Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same. Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets. Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine. " When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible, " she says. " Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome. " Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild. Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes. One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it. With tomato puree in the batter, he says, " The chocolate was more chocolate-y. " The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results. Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them. " There's always one crackpot idea, " Raven says. " But sometimes they end up being really good. " Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup. " We always have to question ourselves, " Canales says. " Is this just cool, or does it taste good? " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 If I was across the pond I would help you out with your tomatoes lol. try some eggplant parm; stew some, then freeze them, etc. Enjoy!! Never heard of a chocolate/tomato dish but anything is possible I suppose!!! yarrow Wed, 22 Aug 2007 1:20 am tomato desserts The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTL Sweet on tomatoes Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, August 8, 2007 "Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert!" That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it. We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices. You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant "eeewwwwwww." Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course. Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes. But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can. "Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts," Canales says. "Otherwise you're just playing with food." There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a "savory" or "meaty" flavor. Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness. The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others. "Tomatoes really transform when they cook," Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked. Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape. "The Juliet's not so good for just eating," says Raven. "It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt." The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms. "We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste," he says. "Everything is inspired by the tomato." Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen. Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same. Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets. Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine. "When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible," she says. "Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome." Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild. Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes. One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it. With tomato puree in the batter, he says, "The chocolate was more chocolate-y." The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results. Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them. "There's always one crackpot idea," Raven says. "But sometimes they end up being really good." Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup. "We always have to question ourselves," Canales says. "Is this just cool, or does it taste good?" Check Out the new free AIM® Mail -- Unlimited storage and industry-leading spam and email virus protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 you could always make sauces and freeze em yarrow Aug 21, 2007 10:20 PM tomato desserts The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTLSweet on tomatoesCarol Ness, Chronicle Staff WriterWednesday, August 8, 2007 "Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert!"That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it.We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices.You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant "eeewwwwwww."Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course.Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes.But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can."Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts," Canales says. "Otherwise you're just playing with food."There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a "savory" or "meaty" flavor.Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness.The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others."Tomatoes really transform when they cook," Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked.Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape."The Juliet's not so good for just eating," says Raven. "It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt."The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms."We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste," he says. "Everything is inspired by the tomato."Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen.Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same.Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets.Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine."When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible," she says. "Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome."Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild.Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes.One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it.With tomato puree in the batter, he says, "The chocolate was more chocolate-y."The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results.Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them."There's always one crackpot idea," Raven says. "But sometimes they end up being really good."Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup."We always have to question ourselves," Canales says. "Is this just cool, or does it taste good?" When I see the price that you pay I don't wanna grow up I don't ever want to be that way I don't wanna grow up Seems that folks turn into things that they never want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 I could, if I had a freezer. What I have is an under-the-counter fridge with an essentially nonfunctional " freezer " compartment whose only function is to ice up so that I have to defrost it every few months. I give away a lot of tomatoes, but having a bounty makes me think of strange things to do with them, such as tomato chocolate desserts... At 8:25 AM -0700 8/22/07, fraggle wrote: you could always make sauces and freeze em yarrow Aug 21, 2007 10:20 PM tomato desserts The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTL Sweet on tomatoes Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, August 8, 2007 " Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert! " That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it. We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices. You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant " eeewwwwwww. " Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course. Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes. But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can. " Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts, " Canales says. " Otherwise you're just playing with food. " There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a " savory " or " meaty " flavor. Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness. The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others. " Tomatoes really transform when they cook, " Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked. Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape. " The Juliet's not so good for just eating, " says Raven. " It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt. " The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms. " We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste, " he says. " Everything is inspired by the tomato. " Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen. Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same. Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets. Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine. " When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible, " she says. " Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome. " Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild. Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes. One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it. With tomato puree in the batter, he says, " The chocolate was more chocolate-y. " The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results. Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them. " There's always one crackpot idea, " Raven says. " But sometimes they end up being really good. " Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup. " We always have to question ourselves, " Canales says. " Is this just cool, or does it taste good? " When I see the price that you pay I don't wanna grow up I don't ever want to be that way I don't wanna grow up Seems that folks turn into things that they never want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Never heard of chocolate cake with tomatoes?................you can always make passata and freeze it? ot a ready tomato sauce with herbs? The valley Vegan...................yarrow wrote: The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTLSweet on tomatoesCarol Ness, Chronicle Staff WriterWednesday, August 8, 2007 "Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert!"That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it.We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices.You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant "eeewwwwwww."Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course.Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes.But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can."Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts," Canales says. "Otherwise you're just playing with food."There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a "savory" or "meaty" flavor.Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness.The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others."Tomatoes really transform when they cook," Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked.Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape."The Juliet's not so good for just eating," says Raven. "It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt."The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms."We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste," he says. "Everything is inspired by the tomato."Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen.Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same.Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets.Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine."When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible," she says. "Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome."Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild.Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes.One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it.With tomato puree in the batter, he says, "The chocolate was more chocolate-y."The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results.Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them."There's always one crackpot idea," Raven says. "But sometimes they end up being really good."Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup."We always have to question ourselves," Canales says. "Is this just cool, or does it taste good?" Peter H For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit For Good this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 our freezer on our regular fridge went kaput last month, so we are in the same boat... the little fridge's freezer works, but, its' like yours, not good fer much except for melting into the bottom of the fridge... yarrow Aug 22, 2007 1:07 PM Re: tomato desserts I could, if I had a freezer. What I have is an under-the-counter fridge with an essentially nonfunctional "freezer" compartment whose only function is to ice up so that I have to defrost it every few months. I give away a lot of tomatoes, but having a bounty makes me think of strange things to do with them, such as tomato chocolate desserts... At 8:25 AM -0700 8/22/07, fraggle wrote: you could always make sauces and freeze em yarrowSent: Aug 21, 2007 10:20 PM Subject: tomato desserts The following article ran in the local paper a couple weeks ago, and ever since I've been thinking about making a vegan chocolate cake with tomatoes. Has anyone ever had chocolate cake made with tomatoes? Anyone have a recipe? Other ideas for dealing with my bountiful crop are welcome. I planted 18 varieties this year -- way too many. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/FDOLR7G0E1.DTLSweet on tomatoesCarol Ness, Chronicle Staff WriterWednesday, August 8, 2007 "Waiter, there's a tomato in my dessert!"That didn't actually happen. But such an objection isn't all that far-fetched, because tomatoes, no matter how summery sweet, always seem destined for savory dishes - salads, sauces, pizzas, you name it.We all have a million ways we like our heirloom Brandywines and juicy Black Princes, especially now, at the height of their season. But aside from the occasional tomato sorbet, I'm betting dessert isn't one of your top choices.You can find tomato dessert recipes online, but just a few. Even here, among the sophisticated and adventuresome palates of The Chronicle Food and Wine sections, my casual mention of a chocolate cake made with tomatoes drew an instant "eeewwwwwww."Well, I'm here to help break down the orthodoxy. Or rather, to let Oliveto chef Paul Canales and pastry chef Jenny Raven, and their recipes (see below), draw you into their appreciation of tomatoes - a fruit, after all - as the star of the sweet course.Oliveto, in Oakland's Rockridge district, has been holding late-summer Tomato Dinners for 15 years, with some 40 items on the menu - all containing tomatoes.But they're not into freak-show cooking, making things with tomatoes just because they can."Jenny and I have an agreement - they have to be really great desserts," Canales says. "Otherwise you're just playing with food."There's really just one reason tomatoes don't end up in cobblers, pies and ice cream toppings: umami. That's the fifth human taste after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and it's often defined as a "savory" or "meaty" flavor.Umami comes from glutamates, and tomatoes are naturally rich in them. They're what give tomatoes their distinctive, funky-savory tomato-ness.The trick to using them in desserts is to cook them - generally with plenty of sugar. Cooking can ruin some tomatoes, but it can bring out the best in others."Tomatoes really transform when they cook," Raven says. It's important to choose the right tomatoes for desserts. Some of your favorite eating tomatoes might just have too much umami for a good dessert. How juicy the tomatoes are, whether they have thick walls or thin ones, and how big or little their seeds are can all be factors in picking tomatoes for dessert uses. A tomato that's too full of water may be bland when cooked.Raven likes the little Juliet tomato for desserts, especially when she wants tomatoes to keep their shape."The Juliet's not so good for just eating," says Raven. "It's dry and fibrous, and when you bite it, there's not much pop or burst of juices. But when you cook it, you start to get flavors of cherry and plum, and the flesh starts to melt."The accompanying recipes are ones Raven has used before, but they may not end up on this year's Tomato Dinner menu. The Oliveto crew won't decide what to make until they taste their way through 40 to 60 varieties of tomatoes from various farms. "We have ideas, but we can't confirm whether they'll work till we taste," he says. "Everything is inspired by the tomato."Flavor, structure and acidity all matter. But so do things like whether the weather has been abnormally hot or cool, how much it has rained and when, and how long the tomatoes have taken to ripen.Terroir - where the tomatoes are grown - matters, too, as with wine grapes, Canales says. Early Girls from Knoll Farm in Brentwood and Dirty Girl farm in Santa Cruz just won't taste the same.Home cooks looking to pick the right tomatoes for desserts should think about which recipe they're making and trust their instincts, the chefs say. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice, Raven says, either the red or Sungold varieties, along with yellow pear or red grape tomatoes and the Juliets.Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Flammes and Black Princes are generally good for desserts, Raven says, but they aren't all good for every recipe. The Black Cherokees, for instance, fall apart if they're candied, but the small dense Juliets and cherry tomatoes hold up fine."When I select tomatoes, I love as much acid as possible," she says. "Then I can add more sugar, and the more sugar the better the outcome."Odoriko hothouse tomatoes are another reliable choice, because they're not too savory. Pineapple tomatoes are good because they're fruity and mild.Because it was too early for Juliets, we tested the recipes with small, fibrous Romanitas, as well as Sungolds and yellow pear tomatoes. They all proved able. Tomato turned out to be a subtle flavor in all the recipes.One of Raven's experiments last year was the chocolate cake that drew skepticism in the Food section (we didn't end up making or tasting it). Canales admits he wasn't a believer either - until he tried it.With tomato puree in the batter, he says, "The chocolate was more chocolate-y."The tomatoes also make the texture moist, and their acidity reacts with baking soda to make the texture light and fluffy. Raven says using lemon and milk, instead of tomatoes, wouldn't have achieved the same results.Raven and Canales have some ideas for this year's desserts - but they wouldn't talk about most of them."There's always one crackpot idea," Raven says. "But sometimes they end up being really good."Her crackpot idea this year: pineapple ice cream with pineapple tomato syrup."We always have to question ourselves," Canales says. "Is this just cool, or does it taste good?" When I see the price that you payI don't wanna grow upI don't ever want to be that wayI don't wanna grow upSeems that folks turn into thingsthat they never want " Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. " - General Herman Goering, President of German Reichstag Nazi Party, Commander of Luftwaffe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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