Tomato Time!

Tomatoes are ripening all over the place right now—gardens, greenhouses, kitchen counter tops… Tomatoes are such a staple in North America it’s easy to take them for granted a little, and forget how much they offer nutritionally. But they offer a lot, especially for your heart. They’re an excellent source of  vitamins E and C, both of which are essential to basic cardiovascular antioxidant support. Beyond that, tomatoes have a whole array of nutrients that positively regulate fats—and even blood platelets themselves—in the bloodstream. A high concentration of lycopene in tomatoes helps protect healthy fats from oxidative damage as they are being transported through the bloodstream. This, in turn, decreases the risk of inflammation that can block blood vessels. Recently discovered phytonutrients in tomatoes also show promising clinical results in their ability to regulate blood fats. And many of the better-known phytonutrients found in tomatoes have been demonstrated to discourage platelets from clumping. In other words, they discourage the platelets from forming potentially dangerous clots as they circulate through the body.  Tomatoes also offer a healthy dose of potassium and fibre! Over all, they can effectively lower your cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which can have a positive impact on the health of your heart.

One of the most common ways people use tomatoes is adding a few slices to a green salad. This is great and very tasty, but there are lots of ways to work higher doses of tomato into your diet. Tomato sauce is maybe the most obvious and it’s definitely worth the effort of whipping up a large batch from scratch, and portioning it into small freezer portions to have on hand. Or if you prefer making one batch at a time, tomatoes can actually be put directly into the freezer whole, for future sauce making use. Making your own salsa can also be really simple and very rewarding. There are a lot of great recipes out there for stuffed tomatoes with all kinds of yummy fillings, as well as for a whole variety of tomato tarts. And definitely don’t forget the beloved classic, tomato soup. Even if it hasn’t been the warmest summer cold gazpacho made with fresh tomatoes is always delicious and official hot soup weather is coming around the corner so it’s not really too early to start researching some comforting autumn soup recipes for this summer’s tomato bounty.

In general, if you’re looking for great tomato recipes, Mediterranean cookbooks can be a really rich resource. Here’s an online article to get you started!