Yolo County has long been a tomato mecca growing and processing truckloads into cans and ketchup to supply markets far and wide. In the Capay Valley, a fresh market has grown up over the last couple of decades to feature the beauty, diversity, and amazing flavors of tomatoes, particularly heirloom varieties.

An heirloom tomato is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of its valued characteristics. They are open-pollinated varieties allowing gardeners and growers to select unique characteristics based on color, flavor, texture, and size, making these tomatoes not only delicious but also sentimental.

Many farms in the Valley specialize in growing heirloom tomato varieties. Here are a few of the varieties grown by Blue Heron Farm on 20 acres in Rumsey.

• One of the finest of the black varieties, the Paul Robeson has won a number of tomato tasting contests for its sweet and smokey flavors. Medium sized, smooth-skinned, deep black/red fruits named after a famous 1937 opera singer.
• The Cherokee Purple is a reddish/purple, large-sized tomato. This variety has circulated for at least a century and is said to have been cultivated by the Cherokee Native Americans. Excellent, complex flavor, large fruits can weigh up to 1.5 pounds, great for slicing.
• One of the most beautiful tomatoes, a brilliantly colored pink with golden stripes, Vintage Wine bears smaller fruits with an intense sweetness. Pulp is thick, with an elegant, sweet full tomato flavor.

In the past forty years, we have lost many of our heirloom varieties, along with the many smaller family farms that raised heirloom varieties. The multitude of heirlooms that had adapted to survive well for hundreds of years were lost or replaced by fewer hybrid tomatoes, bred for their commercially attractive characteristics. In the process we have also lost much of the ownership of foods typically grown by family gardeners and small farms, and we are losing the genetic diversity at an accelerating rate.

That is why it is so important to farmers such as John Ceteras of Blue Heron Farm that we continue to raise and enjoy these family jewels. It is up to us as gardeners and responsible stewards of the earth to assure that we sustain the diversity afforded us through heirloom varieties. Capay Valley farms are playing an important role in continuing traditions through growing treasured heirloom varieties.

By Gwen Green

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