You say tomatoes, I say 'love apples'

Tomatoes are an unlikely Valentine's day fruit, but taste the varieties of this succulent fruit, and you'll be smitten, writes FIONNUALA FALLON

‘Apples of Love do growe in Spaine, Italie, and such hot countries, from whence my Selfe have received Seedes for my garden, where they do increase and prosper.’

– Gerard’s Herbal, 1597

IT BEING THAT time of year when even the muckiest and most unromantic of gardeners are expected to dutifully scrape the dirt out from beneath their muddy fingernails, cast off their wellies, and proclaim to their nearest and dearest their undying love, it seems appropriate to devote this week’s column to the love apple – or what’s now known, rather more prosaically, as the humble tomato. Perhaps that’s just as well, for despite its associated reputation as an aphrodisiac, the title “love apple” is in fact the accidental result of a series of casual misunderstandings followed by a simple mistranslation.

The story goes that sometime in the early 16th century, the fruit (for fruit it technically is) was brought to Europe from the New World by Spanish adventurers. But unlike the rounded, scarlet-fleshed tomatoes most gardeners grow today, the very first tomato grown in European soil was rather flattened in shape, distinctly ribbed, and golden-skinned. In Italy, they called it pomi d’oro (hence the modern term pomodoro) while its Latin name was pomum aureum – both terms meaning yellow apple. Somewhere along the way, presumably around the time that the red-skinned varieties first appeared, the name became pomum amoris (or in France, pommes d’amour) meaning “amorous apples” or “apples of love” – and so the confusion began.

But perhaps it’s not such a misnomer after all, given that for most gardeners their very first taste of a home-grown tomato is one that’s so mouth-wateringly, lip-smackingly delicious that it inspires a deep, lifelong devotion. Take the chef Nigel Slater, and his description of Gardener’s Delight, the first tomatoes he ever raised, “balanced precariously on the stone windowsill of my first floor flat . . . They were so refreshing in their sweet sharpness that I picked as I watered. They never made it to the salad bowl.”

These days, Slater’s tastes have stretched to include beefsteak varieties like Marmande (also the favourite of the late, great food writer, Jane Grigson) and Costoluto Fiorentino, as well as Sungold (cherry-type), Orange Santa (cherry plum) and the bi-coloured Green Zebra, which he eats not just raw but also roasted, grilled, baked and pureed. But he still grows the age-old favourite, Gardener’s Delight, which he says “will never let you down”.

As for myself, just like Slater, I’m also a lover of big, fleshy beefsteak tomatoes including Brandywine and Gold Medal, despite the fact that these large-fruited varieties don’t always flourish in the worst of our Irish summers. But I’ll take the risk when the pay-off is to eat them freshly picked from the polytunnel, their juicy flesh thickly sliced and lightly dusted in sea salt. Likewise, the dusky-skinned Black Russian tomato, a medium-sized variety renowned for its complex, sumptuous flavour, is another personal favourite, while the brightly-striped fruits of Tigerella are always a treat.

But having struggled to successfully grow tomatoes last summer (one of the coolest and greyest on record), I’m also very curious to try out some of the grafted tomato varieties produced by Suttons Seeds, and available in BQ from mid-March. These are a combination of two plants grown simultaneously; one a tasty fruiting variety and the other a sturdy, vigorous rootstock, the former being grafted to the latter just above its first true leaf. On a visit to their trial grounds in Devon last summer, I was impressed by how productive these grafted types seemed to be as regards both the earliness and the size of their yield. Curious to see how they might fare when grown under a range of different conditions, I suggested that it might be interesting to carry out a very informal “Irish trial” of them. So with the agreement of Suttons Seeds and as part of a motley and equally curious group of gardeners that includes the Cork allotment holder Peggy Murray and the Meath-based grower Nicky Kyle, as well as professional gardeners Klaus Laitenberger, Dermot Carey and Tanguy de Toulgoet, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing this summer (I’ll let you know how we get on). As I’ll also be growing some from seed in the traditional way, my only problem will be space – the dilemma of all gardeners everywhere.

But big a tomato fan as I am, I don't think that my love of the "love apple" would come anywhere near to trumping that of the cooks of Ballymaloe. According to Head gardener Eileen O'Donovan, at least 20 different varieties of tomato will be grown in Ballymaloe Cookery School's glasshouses this summer. Amongst them are Bocati, Pitenza, Cindel (F1), Sunstream, Claree, Tigerella, Lily of the Valley, White Beauty, Green Zebra, Red Russian, Oxheart, Minibelle, Polen, Yellow Perfection, San Lorenzo, Andine Cornue, Agro and Cherokee Purple, with organic seed coming from Dublin-based suppliers Europrize ( europrize.ie) as well as Brown Envelope Seeds ( brownenvelopeseeds.ie), the Organic Centre ( theorganiccentre.ie) and the Organic Gardening Catalogue ( organiccatalogue.com).

Like myself, the gardeners at Ballymaloe start sowing their tomato seeds in mid-February, under cover and in gentle heat, transplanting them into glasshouses in late April as young plants. All of which puts me in mind of a timely suggestion for a Valentine Day’s present for the gardener in your life. Ditch the roses, which will be dead in a week. Instead, buy the seed of some “love apples” – a gift that’s bound to bear plenty of fruit in the months to come.

Diary date

Sonairte Sustainability and Ecology Centre, Laytown, Co Meath (sonairte.ie) is running a one-day course in winter pruning (both theory and practical), which will be given by the hugely knowledgeable Kevin Dudley next Saturday, February 18th, 10am-4pm. Cost: €60

This week in the garden

Winter-prune apple and pear trees.

Finish planting bare-root shrubs, trees and roses.

Sow seed of tomatoes, peppers and chillies in gentle heat and under cover.

Sow seed of some tender bedding plants (lobelias, bedding geraniums).

Order early varieties of seed potatoes and begin chitting them indoors to encourage a particularly early crop.

Divide large clumps of well-established perennials and cut back the old or diseased foliage of hellebores.