What’s in Season: Heirloom tomatoes (Part 2)

​Heirloom tomatoes come in more than 600 varietals — so that means you’ve got a lot of options when you’re thinking about what to make for dinner.

“I look at tomatoes like women: You don’t just want the pretty face, you need a little personality,” says farmer Brooke Salvaggio.

Salvaggio notes as a general rule of thumb that the darker the tomato, the fuller the flavor. Yellow tomatoes might offer a nice balance of color to fresh salsa and are likely not very pulpy. Red varietals are your base tomatoes that can be used in sauce.

The darker tomatoes, purple or black varietals, should be enjoyed raw. Here you want to look for Salvaggio’s favorite: the Japanese black trifele. The shape is more like a pear than a tomato and the flesh has a variety of tastes. The base and core have an intense meaty flavor, almost smoky. This is one of the darkest tomatoes available and has a richness you would expect from the color.