We love them all! Our favorite summer crop is colored tomatoes. All colors sizes and shapes! And, in case you were wondering…
Tomato Calories – Guilt Free!
The calories in tomatoes are minimal, so you can enjoy this low calorie vegetable that’s high in nutrition and summer goodness.
Calories in One Tomato
- Small tomato contains ~16 calories
- Medium tomato contains ~22 calories
- Large tomato contains ~33 calories
Roasted Tomatoes With Roasted Vegetables
Roasted vegetables is my family’s favorite simple way to enjoy vegetables, such as this roasted mediterranean vegetables or these oven roasted Brussels sprouts, and are always enhanced with the addition of tomatoes or whatever other favorite veggies you have on hand.
You can also roast just tomatoes, and can it for future use. We don’t have enough sunny space for a large garden, so we haven’t done this yet but absolutely will once we’re able to grow larger crops.
Tomato Nutrition
Highest in Vitamins C, A and K, you’ll also get some doses of potassium, manganese and fiber and sprinklings of other nutrients.
Top 3 Tomato Nutrients
Serving Size = 1 Medium tomato contains Vitamins:
- C — 15.6 mg @ 26% DV
- A — 1025 I.U. @ 20% DV
- K1 — 9.7 mcg @ 12% DV
*Listed from highest to lowest down to 2% Daily Values (DV).
Do all Colored Tomatoes Have the Same Nutrition?
Black, orange, yellow, red… no matter what colored tomatoes you slice into, they’re all luscious, juicy, sweet tomatoes. However some are easier on the palate, because they’re less acidic. Some contain more lycopene than others.
But which tomatoes are healthiest? Is tomato nutrition the same, no matter the color?
If you’re wondering which tomatoes to grow this year, here are some of our favorites, followed by some more great information on health benefits, nutrition and more for the different colored tomatoes.
Nutrition aside, we love growing colored tomatoes for the beauty and variety they bring to both garden and plate.
Home Grown Tomatoes
Last year we grew a variety of heirloom tomatoes. Some, like the Hillbilly Flame, grew way past their 10-foot cane pole stakes, requiring a 6 foot ladder to harvest!
The Cherokee Purples have been coming in on a regular basis and we so love their flavor, even if they’re not the prettiest or best formed fruits. Other varieties we’re trying out: Beefsteak (an old standby heirloom), Beauty King, Pork Chop, Pineapple, and Amish Paste.
Heirloom Tomatoes we Grew Last Year
- Hillbilly Flame
- Cherokee Purples
- Beefsteak
- Beauty King
- Pork Chop
- Pineapple
- Amish Paste
(If you want to see images of these different tomato varieties, we’ve linked to them at the end of this article).
Most of our heirloom tomatoes are yellow-orange which are touted as being less acidic. They taste good on M & M sandwiches, aka: ‘mater and mayo’ (tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches), and fresh sliced on the plate, and of course any other way you want to eat them!
Yellow tomatoes are less acidic, so if your tongue burns from tomatoes, try yellow.
~GardensAll.com
Favorite Orange and Yellow Tomatoes
For years we struggled to grow just a few tomatoes, because of being in the woods, and just not having enough all-day sunlight. Then, with the trees all around, the squirrels figured it was their personal buffet, so we had to fight them for the meager few we had.
So when we finally cut a couple trees and limbed a few more, we were so happy to finally be able to grow tomatoes that we went overboard with around 40 tomato plants!
Naturally, with that many tomatoes… plenty for M&M sandwiches and a lot more, it was a given that we had to also plant some jalapenos, onions and cilantro for some homemade salsa. The first few batches were eaten so quickly that we didn’t even need to can ’em. Que bueno!