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Old September 18, 2017   #3
Nan_PA_6b
Tomatovillian™
 
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Zipcode, tomato tastings are great!

First, the host/hostess invites people to the tasting. Those who grow tomatoes are encouraged to bring some of whatever is ripe. There were well over 50 varieties at the relatively small CHOPTAG tasting.

People may also bring food; there ought to at least be a palate cleanser such as crackers. Many times there's food enough for whole meals. Host ought to provide at least water.

Each variety of tomato from each garden gets its own paper plate. The variety name is written on the plate. A medium-sized tomato would be enough for a small tasting. Larger gatherings would require more. (If all you have is a small tomato, I guess you'd cut it into smaller pieces.) Tomatoes are cut or sliced or chunked into bite-sized or larger pieces. Cherry tomatoes are not cut, but piled on the plate.

Guests sample whatever tomatoes they like. Unless there's some very limited supply, I suppose nobody cares if you take more than one chunk of each.

Salt and pepper are usually provided, but you could always bring your own since it's important to you. Each guest samples whichever tomatoes he or she chooses. You eat them however you like; I suppose you could bring bread, mayonnaise or maple syrup if you wished. You're probably not alone in wanting to salt them.

Sometimes guests are asked to rate the tomatoes, or vote on them to determine the best-tasting consensus. There can be other contests, such as biggest, ugliest, prettiest tomato, etc.

Tomato growers who discover a good-tasting, new-to-them tomato, will want seeds. (Zip-close plastic bags may be provided but it's good to be prepared with your own.) Chunks of the tomato on the plate will be taken home by those who want the seeds.

The host/hostess is left with a ton of cut-up tomatoes (payment for hosting?) good food, and memories.

From CHOPTAG 2017:
20170827_140407_resized.jpg

A few more pictures of CHOPTAG 2017:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=45922

Nan
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