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Rare & Beautiful: The Spanish Tomato
Traditional varieties of Spanish tomatoes rarely leave the Iberian peninsula. That may change if some marketers have their way.
by Joaquin Gregory
Spain is a major player in the tomato industry in Europe, but beyond the large market in the EU, there lies a little known world of traditional tomato varieties that set them apart from the industrial crop. These are the “anti-industrial” tomato; heritage (or heirloom) varieties that are still grown naturally and only available in season. When the newer, “industrial” disease-resistant and easily transportable varieties came onto the markets in the 70's, it meant the near extinction of some indigenous breeds that were no longer marketable due to their short season, need for great and tender care or lack of shelf life. Still, they are worth knowing about, if only to enhance the traveller’s education of what’s available to eat elsewhere and because these varieties suffer the same threats of extinction as some animals do that are undervalued and abused by modern society.
In Spanish cuisine, tomatoes are usually used fresh and whole. Though some famous dishes like gazpacho and tomato sauces like the traditional sofrito (made of sautéed garlic, onion and tomato sauce) are exceptions, and even ketchup is becoming more popular, it is usual to prepare every kind of meat and fish with the venerable tomato. The Spanish people consume some 37 pounds of tomato per person per year and they have been a big hit ever since Hernan Cortez brought them back from the Americas in 1523. In the succeeding centuries, the Spanish cultivars have morphed into numerous strains and varieties seen nowhere else.
For example, there is the Montseny. This is a very small tomato grown in a few tiny patches near Alicante. The tomato is so naturally sweet that it is sometimes used as a dessert—sautéed with butter, rum, vanilla and mint. Locals in the region are fond of stuffing them with salt fish and basil, drizzling them in olive oil and eating them as a main dish. It is said that the entire yearly crop is grown by one man who lives in the mountains without phones or electricity and that the strain is an invention all his own that has been handed down for generations. Spain is full of such demanding varieties; often tended by elderly people who have the time to tend the vines until their time on earth runs out. It is becoming a matter of greater concern to more Spaniards of who will tend the vines when los viejos—the old ones, die off. Some agents are working hard to save the seeds and find more acrage for new, small scale plantings in the future.
The agricultural cooperative La Verde in the mountains near Cadiz (southern Spain) are the possessors of the greatest private seed bank of tomatoes in Spain. They currently stock about 120 Spanish varieties and are well aware that they do not possess them all. Even though some localized varieties have migrated out of their native districts and have morphed to survive in new conditions, La Verde hopes that the future can be bright for the varieties they’ve husbanded. Many of the varieties take great labor to produce, like the Tomate Rosado de Huesca (Pink Tomato of Huesca) whose plantlets require twice as long to mature as commercial varieties. The pink tomato of Huesca is almost unknown outside its residence of origin; so are others like the Villa del Prado, grown near Madrid or the Label Vasco from the Basque country or the Tomate Tigre from Almeria in the southeast—it's name derives from the green and dark green stripes found along its body. Zafarraya is a variety from Granada in southern Spain and the curiously named Carne de Doncella (Damsel's Flesh) comes from the Andalusian town of Ubeda. Huevo de Toro (Bull’s Testicle) comes from Jaen, also in southern Spain.
There are few protected designations in Spain for tomatoes. The fascist rule of Francisco Franco frowned on giving any foreign body control over Spanish agricultural products and for tomatoes, many of the plots and owners are too small to spend time away from the crop in efforts to interest the EU in protectionism. This laissez-faire attitude has not improved the Spanish agriculture, though the reticence is fading away as a greater sense of at least some market possiblities can be seen for the rare crops.
THE BEST TOMATO IN THE WORLD
An example of what can happen to an unprotected variety is the tale of the Muxtamel. Grown around its namesake village in the coastal region of eastern Spain near Valencia, the Muxtamel has a flattish shape and distinctive deep, vertical furrows with a dark red color. Local restaurants specialized in a simple salad dressed with olive oil and salt with the Muxtamel in season and for many years it was held in high regard. In the early years of the 20th century, it was hailed as the Best Tomato in the World by many noted chefs and gourmands and its future seemed certain even through the terrors of the Franco regime. But after it was stricken with disease in the 70's and put aside for more commercially viable varieties, the Muxtamel was allowed to wither away almost to the point of total extinction. Efforts to breed better resistance to viral disease have been successful, though at the expense of season’s length. The Muxtamel is slowly coming back, though local farmers are still reluctant to grow it since it requires intensive labor that their cash crop tomatoes do not and they can only be picked ripe—they cannot be gassed into ripeness or freshen on their own once off the vine. This limits their commercial appeal and lowers the price in the market. It is fortunate that the Muxtamel was saved at all.
A more dignified fate came for the Tomate Rosado de Aracena. This is a pink tomato native to the Extremadura in the province of Cordoba. The Aracena is the pet child of a project developed by the Slow Food movement (which seeks to counteract the mass production methods that have shaped the food and agriculture industries for a century and the fast paced life effects on eating habits) under the aegis of Pedro A Cantero, professor of food and culture at the Pablo Olavide University in Seville. Cantero started researching the Aracena in the early 90's—at almos the same time as the nadir of the tomato’s fortunes when its cultivation reached almost the zero point of total abandonment. Cantero found some farmers to restore the Aracena in its mountain home at 3000 feet altitude. The Aracena has a very short season beginning in early August and ending in mid September. The tomato can grow up to 24 to 26 ounces but its skin is so delicate that it can’t be placed on the ground without rotting. It has to be carried out on boards, wrapped in paper to market. The taste is worth it according to those who've tried it, especially in its traditional dish known as distraido, which combines bread, extra virgin olive oil, salt, tomato pulp and wafer thin strips of tocino Iberico—Iberico lard; the by-product of the ham industry around nearby Jabugo. The professor’s aim is to make Aracena more widely known and distributed. Aiding this effort is the local government which supports bottling of the Aracena as a kind of tomato jam—said to be superb—to the surrounding region. In coming years, this product will be distributed first to the EU and then the world.
Perhaps Spain’s greatest success story where tomatoes are concerned is that of the Raf. The Raf is an odd tomato; it looks perpetually unripe and costs a lot. Once tasted however, price seems no object. The tomato was developed by French growers who gave it an acronym for a name. Raf stands for “Resistant to Fusarium”—a viral disease. The Raf is grown in slightly saline soil in a dry climate with long periods of sunlight and it finds these optimal conditions in the southeast coast of Spain. Though it produces low yields, it is one of the few real winter tomatoes; its season runs from December to April. Virtually unknown on the world stage until the 1990's, the Raf is now highly fashionable, esteemed in spite of its high price. Locals often enjoy it stuffed with onion, cucumber and raw Motril shrimp.
Finally, there is the Kumato, which is even found in the US in growing numbers. This is the "black" tomato—actually a greenish brown shade developed in recent years by a Spanish grower in Aguilas in the region of Murcia in Southeast Spain. Knows as the Rosso Bruno in the States, the unique selling point of the Kumato is that it is edible whether ripe or not and is unusually tasty, with a sweetness and intensity of flavor not found in your average salad tomato.
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