A group of Chilean farmers in the rural town of Peumo decided to rescue an ancestral pink tomato because of its unique aroma, texture, and flavor. This tomato is a natural product that, despite its extraordinary qualities, was displaced by industrial crops.
Farmer Jose Flores has been growing seeds of this tomato, an atavistic variety of the Solanaceae family which retains its natural characteristics without the presence of GMOs, about 144 kilometers south of Santiago.
This tomato had a high penetration in the traditional Chilean table in the mid-twentieth century and it is still remembered by older adults as the tomato that tastes like childhood, but that eventually was replaced by industrial tomatoes, which have less benefits.
Jose Flores told Efe that "this is an ancient species being rescued. It is a totally natural product, we're not using pesticides; we feed it with organic matter, and is not transgenic," he said.
"This tomato has unique characteristics, and it has a great advantage because it is very juicy. Additionally it has a pink color, which differentiates it from the traditional red tomato. It is very bright, it is pretty, and it is attractive," said the farmer.
The initiative to rescue this fruit is driven and funded by the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation under the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture to the few farmers that currently grow this species.
"This tomato has been consumed in this area for half a century, prior to all the genetically improved tomatoes that no longer have their original properties, texture, flavor, and color," said Ricardo Quiroz, technical director of the Farmers Cooperative of the Maule Region, Coopeumo, which groups 400 farmers in the area.
Farmers are waiting for the results of the analysis of the properties of this species being carried out at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, in the University of Chile.
"Modern and genetically modified tomatoes have a better presence and are more uniform, but they have lost properties such as flavor and aroma," said Quiroz.
One of the kitchens using this tomato variety is the one at the Hotel Vik, located in the Millahue Valley, 200 kilometers south of Santiago and 20 minutes away from Peumo, the land of pink tomatoes.
This seven star hotel in South America is well known for its luxury accommodation and cuisine, which focuses on only offering traditional Chilean dishes made with local products.
"We are working with farmers engaged in growing pink tomatoes and have achieved wonderful results with it," said Rodrigo Acuña, the hotel's chef.
"This species has characteristics that one doesn't find in the tomatoes sold in stores or supermarkets, because these were modified with chemicals. The tomatoes from Peumo are pure, clean, and give incredible results," he added.
The rescue of this unique specie is similar to the rescue of the Carmenere grape variety; a variety that was originally planted in the Medoc region of Bordeaux, that disappeared from Europe because of a plague, and that was found in Chile in 1994 by French enologist Jean Michel Boursiquot.
Since its rediscovery in Chile, the Carmenere grape variety has been promoted as a Chilean grape throughout the global wine community, something that Peumo farmers aspire to repeat with the pink tomatoes.
Source: 7dias.com.do