De Colgar

A traditional variety from Spain, these are lovely orange tomatoes blushed with pink. In past times they were grown for winter storage, but we find they also make excellent thick tomato sauces and soups.

For storage, they were traditionally picked at the end of the summer and put carefully aside in a cool larder (much as you would store apples); they can keep until January! We have tried this several times and it really does work. (Just as with apples, you need a slightly humid but well-ventilated store, with a steady temperature ideally about 8-10 C. But if you don’t get it quite right they still store better than other tomatoes.)

They are similar to the old french variety ‘Jaune de Flamee’; once there were versions of this in every country , allowing storage for winter. But with the advent first of bottling, then freezing, and now supermarket-shipped tomatoes from all over the world, the old way of doing it seems to have died out.

Less juicy than normal tomatoes, which is why they keep well. So not for salad use, but excellent to make a really hearty tomato sauce or soup, and heavy-cropping.