Terrific Tomatoes // Farmers’ Market Panzanella

Tomatoes are ripe and ready to harvest! Tomatoes are a really fun vegetable. They can be enjoyed in so many ways – fresh, cooked, or blended into sauces!

One fun way to eat tomatoes is in Panzanella. Panzanella is like a crouton salad! Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Check out our Panzanella recipe in this year’s Farmers’ Market Cookbook from Create Better Health!

We typically think of tomatoes as being red, but did you know there are lots of different colored tomatoes out there? White, pink, purple, black, and orange are just a handful of other colors you’ll see when looking at all the tomato varieties.

Here are a few more fun facts about tomatoes:

1. The largest tomato plant is bigger than an Olympic-sized swimming pool and lives at Disney World in Orlando, Florida!
2. Many say tomatoes originally come from Peru.
3. Tomatoes are a great source of vitamins A, C, E, and K.a
4. Every year, Spain celebrates the tomato with a festival called La Tomatina where people throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other!
5. The largest tomato on record was picked in Oklahoma, USA in 1986. It weighed more than a newborn baby.
6. Tomatoes are full of lycopene, a nutrient that helps reduce a person’s risk of cancer. Ketchup, pizza sauce, and tomato juice are the best ways to load up on lycopene.
7. Tomato seedlings have been grown in space before!

Thanks for joining us today! We hope you’ve learned something new and enjoy eating your fresh September tomatoes!

References

1. 10 Top Tomato Facts – National Geographic Kids
2. Create Better Health Farmers’ Market Cookbook