Tried green tomatoes?

Harvest green tomatoes and store them indoors. Photo: Rachael Comer.
Harvest green tomatoes and store them indoors. Photo: Rachael Comer.
Green toms are among the sweetest, richest, most aromatic around, writes James Wong. They are great to look at and easy to grow, too.

Thank goodness it’s almost spring. It is the time of year I particularly look forward to, as it is finally time to start my favourite of all gardening jobs, sowing tomato seeds. But rather than just sticking to familiar red varieties, this year I implore you to try something that most people seem instinctively to avoid without ever giving them a go, delicious green tomatoes.

This group of tomatoes retains an emerald hue even when fully ripe, but contrary to what you might assume, they are also some of the sweetest, richest and most aromatic types around. Keeping hold of their green chlorophyll means these fruit are still photosynthesising, churning out sugar (from which other flavour compounds are also derived) even once the fruit has been picked. They also happen to be rich in tomatidine, a compound that some emerging studies suggest may have intriguing health benefits. Research at the University of Iowa, for example, found that in mice tomatidine was capable of not only reducing muscle wasting, but even reversing it. The animals given tomatidine actually saw an increase in muscle mass, strength and exercise capacity. Similar results were also observed in human muscle cells cultivated in test tubes.

OK, it’s still early days with the science, but I can’t wait to see what future research may uncover. If you want to give green tomatoes a go this summer, here are  a couple of my favourite ones (I have tested dozens) to get you started.

Green Zebra

Often described as a "heirloom" or "heritage" variety due to its fantastic flavour and quirky looks, this fella was really only introduced in the 1980s, which gives it all the vigour of more modern types. Beneath forest green striped fruit lies bright, tangy, almost citrus flesh with a good old wallop of umami.

Green Grape

I’d grow this one for looks alone, with beautiful, translucent, grape-sized fruit that look like they have been carved from jade. A nice early-ripener with an exceptional tropical fruit-like flavour and very intense sweetness. Think "classic tomato" with hints of lychee and (surprise, surprise) green muscat grape.

—  Guardian News and Media

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