Italian Garden Tomato and Cucumber salad [4 ingredients]

There is nothing quite like a garden tomato to complete a summer salad…add a cucumber, Italian seasoned mozzarella balls + fresh basil and you’re set for the season!

I love tomatoes.

Ok, no i love some tomatoes….no no I take it back. I only love garden tomatoes. Yikes, I guess that means I’m a tomato snob. Because realistically I only eat tomatoes during one season and ONE season only. Summer.

Tomatoes from your garden or someone else’s garden [aka a farmer’s market] are really the only way to eat a tomato. And if you have ever had a tomato straight out of the garden then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

My mom has had a great garden ever since I can remember. I remember seeing her grab her wooden clogs and knowing she was going out to tend to her garden. She only used her white garden wooden clogs for gardening and would drop them off at the back door before bringing in her prize from the garden. I would follow her out in the early mornings when she would make sure the water was working okay, and then helping her only to pick the reddest of tomatoes and carefully put them in the basket to bring them in for a snack.

Her garden was never anything extraordinary. It was just consistent, and really hearty. It always produced the necessary items we needed and loved. Herbs and tomatoes…with the occasional cucumber or zucchini or peppers. But ALWAYS tomatoes…both cherry, heirloom and hybrid.

So, tis the season for tomatoes and tis the season for me living at my parents so I can enjoy my mom’s hearty garden!

She let me help her this year. We planted many different kinds of herbs including sage, Rosemary, basil, mint, cilantro and parsley. Also strawberries, peppers, beets [didn’t turn out great this year] cucumbers and of course, the sturdy tomato.

For how delicious and savory they are, tomatoes are pretty resilient and easy to grow and keep alive. One needs a tomato cage and a tomato plant or seeds. That’s it!

This year, we planted HEIRLOOM TOMATOES and HYBRID TOMATOES

HEIRLOOM vs HYBRID [the regular ones]

HEIRLOOM-

• Heirloom tomatoes get their name “old fashioned” name because the seeds are authentic to the heirloom tomato!
  • The idea is, they haven’t been genetically modified and are in their true form. Passed on from farmer to farmer….like something that is heirloom
  • The seeds are what make an heirloom tomato an heirloom tomato. They are passed down from season to season, taken by the farmers from the tomato plants that produced the best fruit and then pollinated naturally, by birds, insects, wind, or human hands. No weird science-y genetic modification.
  • BEWARE: not all Heirloom tomatoes are equal. You still need to get them from a reputable source…like your own garden or a farmer’s market. Some are now, unfortunately, genetically modified and don’t taste as they should. But you can find good ones.

HYBRID

• Hybrid tomatoes are those that have gone through genetic mixing. They are bred for things like resistance to pests and diseases, and firm flesh and thick skin—so they can be harvested by machines and emerge as whole tomatoes, not sauce.

So, there you have a shortened version of the difference between heirloom and the other:) Heirloom are obviously the best. But if you can’t get to an heirloom…at least get some soil and grow your own hybrid! They still taste a world of a difference!

the Italian Garden Tomato + Cucumber Salad recipe

Ingredients

• Heirloom/garden tomato
• Cucumber
• Mozzarella balls [soaked in olive oil and italian seasoning]
• fresh basil

Dice the tomatoes and the cucumbers to your desired size. Toss in a pretty white bowl and garnish with extra basil!

Print