Every July, I start looking forward to getting my hands on some Jersey tomatoes. New Jersey is the Garden State, which most people don’t think of when they think of New Jersey. Most people have seen congested industrial areas that are not only ugly but very crowded. Many people go through the industrial areas when they take Route 95 or the New Jersey Turnpike while heading down to Florida or fly into Newark airport…they see the gray, smoky, dirty Jersey. Not the beautiful parts.
New Jersey has so many gorgeous beaches down the shore that are clean, wide, with lots of soft sand. Compared to New England, the water is warm and not ice cold. New Jersey also has abundant farmland, beautiful parks, and lots of history. It’s actually the soil and the climate is that make Jersey tomatoes so special. In 1968 Rutgers University introduced a special tomato variety called Ramapo or aka the Rutgers tomato. The classic Jersey tomato is sweet and tangy with big tomato flavor. Jersey tomatoes are not known for being beautiful tomatoes; most are perfectly imperfect.
Imagine this: picking a vine-ripened tomato from the vine and making a Jersey tomato sandwich with a still-warm tomato from the sun. Jersey tomatoes don’t last when they are ripe; you have a small window of eating them before they go bad. Jersey tomatoes also don’t ship well since they have a short life span from vine to customer. This means you get Jersey tomatoes in New Jersey mid to late July; when they are gone, it’s over for another summer. This is what makes them so special. Truly a seasonal delicacy.
A Jersey tomato sandwich is two slices of bread or toast with mayo slathered on both slices. You add thick tomato slices and generously season them with kosher salt and pepper. You can also make a kick-ass BLT with Jersey tomatoes.
A friend from my hometown in NJ brings me Jersey tomatoes every summer when she comes to Vermont to camp just 1/2 mile from our home here in Arlington. Ann always comes through for me. She lives down the Jersey shore, and the tomatoes are readily available until they are gone in just a few short weeks.
One of my favorite ways to eat a Jersey tomato sandwich is on toast smeared with bacon fat that I keep in my refrigerator spread on both slices of toast, no mayo, just a little kosher salt and pepper on the tomato slices, and voila! A delicious sandwich! It’s a genius way of adding bacon flavor without having the ass-ache of cooking bacon.
To me, when I think about summertime Jersey tomatoes immediately pop into my head, either in sandwich form or used in a beautiful Caprese salad. Last night at the Arlington Farmers Market, we picked up some fresh mozzarella cheese from Norm at Maplebrook Farm to go with the tomatoes Ann brought us. I picked some basil leaves from my back deck. I added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. The purest, simple, delicious dish using just a few in-season ingredients.
If you have ever had a Jersey tomato, I know you are nodding while reading this; if you haven’t, it’s something that you have to try at least once; they really are special and world-famous. I did find “Jersey field grown” tomatoes right at a produce stand in Bennington, VT, a couple of years ago. I was skeptical, but one bite, and I knew they weren’t bullshitting around. Jersey tomatoes in Vermont! Who knew!
We had a Caprese salad for dinner tonight, and I am making BLT sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. We have about two more days to eat the ones Ann brought up yesterday, then that’s it…for another year.
You nailed it with your description of Jersey tomatoes. They are the BEST says this transplanted Florida girl.
I loved growing them in our small garden in Edison NJ.