Tomatoes

Technically a fruit, practically a vegetable, and arguably the most important ingredient in modern Western cooking. Tomatoes bring acidity, sweetness, and umami to everything from pasta sauces to curries.

Buying and selecting

Choose tomatoes that feel heavy for their size and yield slightly to gentle pressure. Vine-ripened tomatoes have the best flavour. For cooking, canned San Marzano tomatoes (DOP-certified) are often superior to fresh, out-of-season tomatoes.

Common varieties

• Roma (plum) — meaty, few seeds, ideal for sauces
• Cherry/grape — sweet, great for roasting or salads
• Beefsteak — large, juicy, good for slicing
• Heirloom — varied colours and shapes, complex flavour, best eaten raw
• Tinned (canned) — picked and processed at peak ripeness; the workhorse of most kitchens

Cooking tips

• Salt early — salt draws out moisture and concentrates flavour
• Deglaze with them — crushed tinned tomatoes make an excellent deglazing liquid
• Reduce for depth — a long, slow simmer drives off water and deepens umami
• Add a pinch of sugar if the sauce tastes too acidic — or a splash of butter to round it out