I love when the first crocus and daffodils begin to appear. It means spring is finally on its way.
Even the hens are gearing up. Looks like we'll have plenty of eggs in time for Easter.
But the best arrival of all contained the three packets of Rutgers tomato seeds. Though the seeds are hybrids, they do have an interesting and very short history. For anyone that grew up in New Jersey during the 70s and 80s as we did, they are THE Flavor of Summer.
Both Ramapo and Moreton were developed by the Rutgers Experimental Agricultural Station for the Campbell's Soup Company. They wanted a tender, easy to process tomato packed with flavor. Unfortunately these tomatoes didn't last beyond the arrival of the firm (i.e. cardboard flavored) shipping varieties we see today.
Ramapo was developed by Dr. Bernard Pollack in 1968 and was soon a Jersey gardeners favorite. Ramapo is characterized by its deep red color, classic tomato shape, abundant harvest and of course, that wonderful tangy flavor that makes the mouth water. Ramapo has all the best qualities of the heirlooms (except for open pollination) and the disease resistance and productivity of a hybrid.
Moreton is another Jersey tomato whose heyday was the 60s and 70s. This tomato has a more rounded shape than Ramapo and and orange color. It is an early season tomato bearing tender skinned fruits packed with flavor. As stated on the NJAES tomato project website:
"Tomato growers referred to [Moreton] as “the July 4th tomato”. The Moreton F-1 tomato was Harris Seeds’ first F-1 hybrid release in 1953. “For 6 to 10 years”, says Musumeci “it was Moreton – probably the first hybrid grown on a large scale in New Jersey. Moreton was a soft tomato and was eventually replaced by Red Pack which was later renamed Pik-Red which had less cracking, but didn’t have the flavor of Moreton.”
We are sooooo looking forward to our first harvests of the Jersey Classics. Ah yes, the taste of summer, hot dogs at the Long Branch Pier and Seaside Heights boardwalk vendors, Federicis pizza, Jersey Freeze at Freehold Raceway...and biting into a succulent, tangy tomato fresh off the vine with just a pinch of salt!
