The last day of the Farmers Market I fell in love with a heirloom tomato. I didn’t even know her name and I took her home with me. She was heart shaped and slightly split in the middle. I think it might actually have been a twin tomato. And somehow she was in the 75 cent basket. Love, ok really it was lust, for 75 cents. I also found some tasty little Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes at the same great farm stand from Iowa. I hope these growers come back next year but I have a backup plan. My father who was of course jealous of my bargain gems had the brilliant idea to save the seeds. One of the many perks of buying heirloom tomatoes is being able to save the seeds. I did a little research and found this method of preservation and found this method that wards off some of the tomato diseases. So next summer I hope to enjoy relatives of these beauties. Here is an excerpt from the article by Trudi Davidoff
"Select to save seeds from a tomato that has a flavor that you love....if you're a home gardener and saving seeds from tomatoes that are growing in your garden choose tomatoes from the very healthiest looking plants. Take your chosen tomato and slice it in half across the middle (it's "equator"). With a spoon or your well-washed fingers scoop out the seeds and their gelatinous "goo" into a clean cup or container. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the seeds. Cover the container with a piece of plastic-wrap and then poke the plastic-wrap with a paring knife or pen point to put a small hole in it...this is to allow for air-transpiration. (A little fresh air needs to get in and out of the cup to help foster fermentation.) Place the container of seeds in a warm location; a sunny windowsill or the top of the refrigerator are both excellent sites to place the container of seeds. Now Mother Nature will take over and begin to ferment the seed and water mixture. This takes about two or three days. Each night remove the plastic-wrap, stir the seed and water mixture, and then replace the plastic-wrap, if you use a new sheet of plastic-wrap then don't forget to put a small hole in it for air-transpiration. The top of the liquid will look "scummy" when the fermentation process has separated the "goo" from the seeds. It also helps destroy many of the possible tomato diseases that can be harbored by seeds. Take the container of fermented seeds to the sink and with a spoon carefully remove the scummy surface. Then pour the container's contents into a fine kitchen sieve and rinse the seeds with water several times...stir them while they're in the sieve to assure that all surfaces are thoroughly rinsed. Give a few sharp taps to the sieve to help remove as much loose water as possible from the seeds. Line an open plate with a piece of waxed paper or a large automatic-drip coffee filter. Place the rinsed seeds onto the wax paper or coffee filter and spread them about so they are in a single layer. Place the plate in a safe location where the seeds can dry for a few days. Stir the seeds a few times during the drying process to assure that all their surfaces are evenly dry. Spread them out again into a single layer after each time you've stirred them. Tomato seeds are thick and can take up to a week to dry thoroughly. If you're having a rainy week that drying time may lengthen buy a few days."
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