Dirty Girl's dry farmed Early Girl tamatoes: or why you should shop at the ferry plaza tomorrow, part duh!

Our handsome Joe at Dirty Girl has got some beautiful dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes now. Lots of them. I've been getting them every week, either at the Ferry Plaza market or Santa Cruz market or sometimes borrowing directly from the farm when he's not looking.

Joe's dry-farmed tomato is the size of a plum, and just about the sweetest and yummiest tomatoes you could find, beating your fancy heirloom tomatoes by at least a mile. Not that there's anything wrong with heirlooms, per se, but just because some tomatoes are labeled heirlooms, and cost you five dollars a pound, doesn't mean they are any good to eat.

Seriously, you've never really had great tomatoes until you've had dry farmed tomatoes. They are generally smaller and pack full of concentrated tomato flavors that have not been diluted by too much water while growing. The skin of a dry farmed tomato is a little stronger than that of the regular tomato, which is an added bonus because that means the dry farmed tomatoes don't bruise as easily. Joe's dry farmed tomatoes are seriously good, and good in practically anything. I have been using them almost everyday since the season began, in my stir-fries, pan con tamate, tomato tart, pasta, or just eating outright like a fruit. Because it is, in fact, a fruit.

And the height of the dry farmed tomato season is coming on fast and furious. So much so that Joe asked me to pass along a public service announcement. And by public service announcement I mean advertisement for my friend!

He's got tomatoes, ladies and gentlemen, Joe's got lots of tomatoes. And he wanna sell them. To you. Yes. You. Don't be looking over your shoulder. It's you I'm talking to.

His Dirty Girl's dry farmed tomatoes are $40 for a 20-pound box. That's only $2 a pound, and that's for his fancy, gorgeous grade. He also has another grade, a less pretty -though every bit as delicious- grade he likes to call the Saucier, because they are great for sauces, and go for only $25 for a 20-pound box. The Saucier ones are basically a little blemished, hence not pretty enough to be used in salads and other things that a pretty face is required, like being a Food Network star par example. But even unpretty people, um, tomatoes need love too, you know.

What are you going to do with 20 pounds of tomato you asked? Well I don't know! I'm Thai, not Amish. But Heidi has got some good ideas, always, as does our Clotilde. Heck, even Epicuirous has got some.

So go and buy Joe's tomatoes and put some up for later, so you can continue to eat local, and eat damn well, long after August is over.

Dirty Girl Farm market schedule:
Saturday:
San Francisco Ferry Plaza market, 8am-2pm
Sunday:
Santa Cruz/Live Oak market, 10am-2pm
Tuesday:
Berkley farmers market, 2-7pm
Felton Market, 2.30-6.30pm
Wednesday:
Downtown Santa Cruz, 2.30-6.30pm santacruzfarmersmarket.org

Check out his farm site while you are at it.
And more photos from Dirty Girl farm on my Flickr.

Comments

[Charlotte]

Hmm -- what's it cost to ship 20 pounds of tomatoes to Montana? I've had a whopping total of four tomatoes out of my garden this summer (plus a couple of handfulls of yellow cherries), and even our local Deep Creek Green farm hasn't had much in the way of tomatoes ...

[Barbara]

Dry farming is how I grew the best of my tomatoes ever a few years ago. After we get the backyard terraced (It is a steep hill atm), that is how I will grow tomatoes forever more. The flavor is phenominal.

I learned about it from a friend who is a master gardener in Santa Clara--and she was right. It is the best way to grow 'maters, even if you don't live in water-conservationist northern California.

[NS]

Thanks for the recommendation - I picked up some of these tomatoes, and some of Ella Bella's raspberries, this morning at the Ferry Building. They truly are amazing!

[Brett]

Great post! You are definitely right that Dirty Girl dry-farmed tomatoes blow the heirlooms away in the flavor department. Every day since I got back from Spain, I've been smearing these sweet, juicy tomatoes on toasted bread in the Catalan fashion to make the "pa amb tomaquet" ("pan con tomate" in Spanish) that you mentioned. It tastes even better with a slice of the contraband jamón iberico de bellota that I may (or may not, not saying for sure) have brought back with me.

[Becks & Posh]

I bought half and half 'dirty girls'/'heirloom organics' early girl toms for the slow roasted salad I made for the food bloggers picnic. It was so popular unfortunately it got all gobbled up before you arrived. The 'heirloom organics' toms were just as good as the Dirty Girls, jut in case they ever run out and you need another supplier. 'heirloom' were only selling early girls last time i was there btw, they werent selling heirlooms despite their name.

[Pim]

No no Sam, I wasn't talking about the Heirloom Organics as a brand, but the generic heirloom tomatoes.

Mariquita also has some dry-farmed tomatoes. Though I prefer Joe's tomatoes, I buy plenty of other things from them.

[shuna fish lydon]

I was glad to have this suggestion before driving to Portland. I ate them in my car like sweet treats.

[Fatemeh]

OY, OY, OY... I finally made it to FPFM this weekend (as you well know!) and I picked up a pound of the dry-farmed early girls from Dirty Girl, plus 3 pounds of the "culled" ones -- those are being confited (via David L's method) and then frozen for the winter blahs.

On a whim, I also picked up a few from Ella Bella. Somehow, the ones from DG are simply sweeter, though the Ella Bellas have a slightly thinner skin.

Going to B'ley on the way home tomorrow to get more. Because what I bought is already almost gone.

[panasianbiz]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. Whenever anyone tells me they don't like tomatoes, the first thought I have is "You've never eaten a fresh tomato; that's why."

[idlehouse]

I was doing a google search for a picture of dry farmed early girl tomatoes and got your article (I missed it for some reason even though I'm linked to your site, weird). I too have been buying these dry farmed tomatoes like mad, everytime I went somewhere and saw them, I just "had" to buy a few more. Now there are pounds of them sitting at my house, and I still love them! I used them to make bitter melon salad, their sweetness really give wings to the bitterness of the bittermelon (see my link).