Vintage varieties:From Mexican midgets to watime italians and peacevine cherries, heirloom tomatoes are as flavoursome as they're fascinating.

摘要

Frank and Joy Bristol used to grow boring commercial tomatoes. You know the sort: those big, red, greenhouse varieties sold in supermarkets. But now the Wanganui growers raise heritage varieties - close to 170 in all - in a multitude of sizes, shapesand colours. They have names like 'Mr Stripey', 'Purple Passion', 'Stump of the World', 'Tommy Toe', 'Lemon Drops', 'White Cherry' and 'Missouri Love Apple'. Some they've only read about, so it's a thrill to watch them develop. Frank and Joy grow heirloom tomatoes for seed. Their friend Mark Christensen (our 2007 Wanganui Gardener of the Peacevine Cherry', 'Mart's Wild Cherry' and 'Black Cherry' ranked at the top for lycopene, a range of carotenoids and for polyphenolics.