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This entry was originally posted on Sustainable Table’s Daily Table blog.

Today’s Tip: Eat Tomatoes

Here in the height of summer, tomatoes are ripe, abundant, tasty and full of nutrients. There are many different versions to choose from, everything from those sweet little cherry tomatoes to the beefy beefsteak varieties. In fact, there are around 7500 varieties in all. A record 7 pound, 12 ounce tomato was grown in Oklahoma in 1986 and hasn’t been topped since (at least I can’t find a bigger one from my internet research so far).

Tomatoes are versatile - sauce, soup, drinks (yummy bloody marys!), salads, and so much more… most people like them in at least one form. I know people who don’t like to eat raw tomatoes, but they love tomato sauce and ketchup. And there is a good reason for your body to crave some version of tomato - they are full of vitamins and minerals!

Vitamins A & C, minerals such as potassiums & iron… and just the overall abundance of antioxidants, especially lycopene, has brought much attention the the healing properties of tomatoes in recent years. The antioxidants in tomatoes, and other foods, are supposed to help fight oxidative damage in our bodies. This means that these antioxidants have the potential to help prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, which are all contributed to by oxidative damage. If you get to the nitty gritty details of vitamins, antioxidants, carotenoids - I find it to be really confusing! Vitamin C is also an antioxidant… hmmm?

I think the main thing to realize is that this beautiful food (supposedly the red color comes from the lycopene) is good for you. Eaten in season, and from a local producer, it can only be better for you!

The picture to your right is from our Eat Well Guided Tour of America last year. I met these girls from the Tomato Mountain Farm. They had everything tomato, including yummy baskets of cherry tomatoes, one of which I devoured while at the Chicago Green City Market where you can still find them.