Our annual Tomato Tasting will be held at Seed Savers Exchange Saturday, August 3rd from 1-4 pm.

“The right tomato can move you to tears,” stated author and tomato enthusiast Craig LeHoullier at our 2015 Conference & Campout. The North Carolina man, who has tested thousands of tomatoes in his driveway over his 30 years of seed saving, spoke about his passion for heirloom tomatoes describing them as “the gateway drug to the gardening world”.

Come and see what Craig is talking about. Attend the Tomato Tasting held at Seed Savers Exchange on Saturday, September 3 and get ready for a truly unique experience. Join us to learn or taste something new!

Event Details:

This is a free event, just come!

Location: Seed Savers Exchange, 3074 North Winn Road, Decorah, IA 52101

1 - 4 pm Tomato Tasting: Taste test bite-sized pieces of tomatoes grown fresh at Seed Savers Exchange.

1 - 4 pm Salsa Contest Tasting: The annual Salsa Contest is hosted by the Oneota Food Co-op, taste and vote for your favorite!

1:30 pm Workshop, Preserving Heirloom Tomatoes: The Driftless Folk School will demonstrate how to preserve your tomato harvest by dehydrating tomatoes, reducing tomatoes down to a paste and canning, and making slow roasted tomatoes. Samples of all types of tomato preservation provided.

2:30 pm Workshop, Tomato Collection Overview: Our Collection Curator, Tor Janson, will present an overview of our collection of more than 6,000 tomato varieties that we care for at Seed Savers Exchange including portraits of tomatoes grown at Heritage Farm in recent years.

3:30 pm Workshop, Tomato Seed Saving: Learn how to save your own tomato seeds to grow again next year or share with a friend.

Dozens of heirloom and open-pollinated tomatoes will be on display for sampling including favorites and rare varieties from our seed bank (last year visitors sampled over 60!).

While you are visiting be sure to take advantage of other informative workshops and learn how to process tomatoes for storage, learn about the seeds in our collection at Seed Savers Exchange, and learn how to save your own tomato seeds to share or plant again next year.

This Tomato Tasting event truly has something for everyone, gardeners and foodies alike. Join us!

Brush Up On Your Tomato Knowledge: Classifying Tomatoes

This red tomato has yellow skin over red flesh.

Pink tomatoes have clear skin and pink or red flesh.

Did you know that skin color is one way to categorize tomatoes? While both pink and red tomatoes can have red flesh, pink tomatoes have clear skin while red tomatoes have yellow skin. It is simply the difference in skin color stretched over the red flesh that makes the tomato red or pink.

Did you know another way to classify tomatoes is by their shape? Currant, grape, cherry, plum, pear, pepper, globe, beefsteak, oxheart, stuffing, or ribbed, as illustrated in the photos are all present in our tomato collection at Seed Savers Exchange.