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Tomates de Colgar
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This might seem strange, writing about tomatos on a wine blog, but they are vine tomatos afterall (in more than one sense)…
Traditionally the vineyard workers around Jerez would make a small vegetable patch in the vineyards and grow the types of vegetables which go into gazpacho, salmorejo or ajo like tomato, cucumber and garlic. Often these vegetables would be planted between the grape vines, but usually on the pieces of ground in the low-lying ares of the “pagos”. This sort of ground is generally not the best for producing sherry grapes, it’s not the white “Albariza” but usually the darker, heavier and sandy “Barro” soil so often did not have vines planted on it.
This traditional practice is dying out around here, especially since the number of people working the vineyards is a fraction of what it was in the past (a pretty lonely job these days, except during harvest) and it’s much easier (and cheaper) to simply buy supermarket veg.
One man I met recently still grows vegetables in the traditional way and something interesting he grows is “Tomate de Colgar”. These are tomatos with very thick skins (he keeps back seed every year for the following). Once harvested they are hung up in bunches (vines) outside, usually under the eves of a house or somewhere out of the sun. These pictures were taken in February 2008 and his tomatos had been hanging there since the previous July. He had worked his way through about half of the previous harvest, so was expecting them to last him until the following harvest (July 2008). The tomatos remain “fresh” and perfectly edible for over a year! Very tasty too, I tried some of his tomatos in an “Ajo”. A garlic soup made with garlic, old bread and tomato.Published on 25 April 2008 · Filed under: Uncategorized;
3 Responses to “Tomates de Colgar”
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Natalie MacLean said on 9 Jun 2008 at 00:52
I’d love to hear your suggestions for matching sherry with food for my online matching tool.
Cheers,
NatalieEditor of Nat Decants Free Wine Newsletter
Author of Red, White and Drunk All Over
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Matt (mldearth@mac.com) said on 14 Jul 2008 at 18:51
I’m visiting Jerez (Sancti Petri, actually) next month, and I am very interested in learning more about small, boutique wineries in the area. If you have any suggestions you can share with me, either individual wineries or good wine stores/bars where i can do some good tasting, I would really appreciate it.
Matt
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Pumpkin~Power said on 23 Oct 2008 at 18:23
These tomatoes look amazing. How fantastic to be able to store tomatoes until the next season and still be able to use them. It certainly brings a new meaning to seasonal produce. I am going to have to investigate this variety – Tomate de Colgar – and see if they are available in the UK. You don’t think your friend might like to do a seed swap do you? Thank you for sharing this anyway.
