Plant Tomatoes

In an edition of the newspaper A Cidade Ubatuba, I talked about the properties and benefits of tomatoes, their importance in preventing some types of cancer and their great power in being versatile, combines with almost everything! I confess that the sauce is my favorite, it can be stored for a long time only in the refrigerator and used in various recipes.
But today, the goal when talking about tomatoes, is to show how to grow them at home. Yes, like any plant, it requires a little care and attention, but the result is wonderful.
Unlike what many people think, Tomato is not a vegetable. It is actually a fruit generated from the fertilization of the tomato flower (Lycopersicon esculentum). When planting, if you choose to buy the seedlings, make sure that the roots are white, that the plant has no flower and nor more than 10 cm in height. It is also good that it has very green leaves, never yellowish, and looks young and healthy. As there are several species, you can choose the seed, bought in specialized stores. You can plant it directly in the prepared pot, or germinate in Styrofoam trays first, and then replant.
If you have a tomato at home and want to use it to start planting, it also works. Cut the tomato, remove the pulp and place it in a glass jar, add a little water and cover with a small plastic. Leave for 3 days in a warm place to ferment. After that time, place the contents in a sieve, wash well and separate the seeds on a paper towel. Let dry well so as not to create fungi and plant. Like the seeds purchased, it can be planted directly on the ground or in Styrofoam trays to germinate until it is replanted in a permanent pot.
Tomatoes can be planted in the garden or vegetable garden, in deep pits, or even in pots. In the latter case, the pot needs to be large enough to accommodate the tomato roots in a spacious way. Tomatoes generally grow and produce best in high light conditions, with direct sunlight for at least a few hours a day. Irrigate to keep the soil moist, but not soaked.
As its characteristic is to “fall”, because it has a soft stem, you can, from time to time, put sticks to raise and keep it upright or else, place the pot on a shelf and leave the tomato as if it were a vine . The harvest time of tomatoes, varies according to the species and the amount planted, but don’t worry and keep an eye out.
We live in times of maximum reuse and unrestrained use of pesticides, I believe that wasting time looking for the best to put on the table, is a great gain for our health, think about it.
And since we will have tomatoes, how about stuffing them? Today’s recipe is Stuffed and Gratin Tomatoes.

Ingredients:

4 whole tomatoes
1 large onion
250g ground beef
200g of cheese of your choice (I really like fresh mozzarella or canasta cheese)
2 garlic cloves
Salt and olive oil to taste

Preparation mode:

Cut the tomato “cover” (+/- 2mm), remove the tomato pulp so that the tomato is hollow, reserve. Remove the seeds from the pulp and leave the “fleshy” part (Take the time to dry the seeds!) And set aside.
Sauté the meat in olive oil, add the minced garlic and sauté well. Place part of the tomato pulp so that the meat is moist, but not with sauce, season according to your taste. Cut the onions into slices and caramelize in olive oil only.
Take the hollow tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil, put a little caramelized onion on the bottom of each one, on top of ground meat until very close to the edge. Grate the cheese or cut into small pieces, place on the meat and bake for 25 min at 200 ° to soften the tomato and brown the cheese.
Serve while still warm, preferably with a green salad.

Enjoy your food!