Tantalizing Tomato Harvest Recipes

How to Grow Figs. Live online class. June 23, 2025. Find out more.
***

We get an update from gardener, chef, and author Signe Langford on her hay-bale garden, and then talk about tips for using fresh tomatoes in the kitchen.

Langford suggests using fat to soften the acidity of fresh tomatoes. She likes mayonnaise, olive oil, or butter. Some people use sugar to soften the acidity…but she prefers fat—and says her favourite fat to use with tomatoes is with butter.

For a quick, easy tomato sauce, Langford suggests mashing fresh tomatoes, adding basil, and butter (a “generous knob” of butter). Add salt and pepper, and then heat and serve.

Bread, she says, is part of the “Holy Trinity” of enjoying tomatoes. The other two ingredients are cheese and the tomato itself. Langford’s bruscetta tip: For the best bruschetta, use fresh basil—and fry the bread in olive oil.

***

- Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

- Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

- And say hi—we love to hear what you think!