Seasons
Tomatoes in the Last Heat
Late August is the only honest time to eat one. A short defence of waiting.
A tomato in February is a rumour of a tomato. It has the shape and the colour and none of the argument. We have all agreed to pretend otherwise, largely because the alternative is going without for eight months of the year.
The alternative is going without for eight months of the year. It is worth it.
The two-week window
What a tomato needs is heat that has been going on for a long time — not a hot week, but a hot season, the accumulated warmth of a summer that has stopped being novel. That happens in late August almost everywhere in the country, and it lasts about a fortnight.
Eat them with salt, over the sink. Anything more elaborate is an insult to the timing.
