最好的传家宝西红柿在弗吉尼亚
厨师帕特里克·奥康奈尔凝视着汉诺威传家宝的公寓小旅馆在华盛顿，他的标志性三米奇林星餐厅。詹姆斯·比尔德基金会（James Beard Foundation Foundation）终身成就奖得主召集了他的行政人员厨师和驻地农民，欣赏赏金。
他说：“有些普通的东西，看上去有所不同。”“我们希望我们的员工尽力而为。”奥康奈尔（O'Connell）回忆起他曾经从意大利渡过家的强烈番茄泥。“也许在那不勒斯，有一些可比的东西。”
该国最美味的西红柿是在弗吉尼亚州的沙质壤土上种植的。和我战斗。实际上，不要与我战斗 - 厨师，食客，土壤专家和农民的战斗不仅仅是当地统治的意见，而且还确定了事实。
汉诺威县（Hanover County）在弗吉尼亚州东部的三条河流接壤，是一条长长的条纹，跨越了大西洋沿海秋季线，这是一个地质边界，将沿海平原的柔软沉积物与山区皮埃蒙特（Mountain Piedmont）的固体基岩分开。从新泽西到佐治亚州，I-95驱车I-95，您本质上是骑这条线。
West of I-95, red clay and Blue Ridge Mountains give rise to Virginia wine country, where there's too much water for tomatoes, but the perfect amount for grapes. East of I-95, the topography flattens out, warms, and turns sandier, making it ideal for crops. But something magical happens in Hanover, where Coastal Plain and Piedmont Plateau join for hot days and cool nights. "Best general farming soil of the Coastal Plain uplands," readsSoil Survey of Hanover County, 1905.“番茄植物迅速生长……质量优质的大西红柿的重型果实。”
Tomatoes grow wild in the Amazon and are found in the Andes from Chile to Colombia. Spanish conquistadors brought tomatoes to Europe in the 16th century. By the late 18th century, they were Italian mainstays. The first reference to Hanover tomatoes appeared in里士满时报 - 迪斯塔奇，1878年：“昨天展示了一些精美的甜potato，在本赛季的第一季度……没有像汉诺威奖杯西红柿那样好奇。”
Other states grow exponentially more tomatoes, including some notable heritage varieties, but most of them are modern commercial hybrids grown from patented seeds lab-engineered by the agriculture industry for uniformity, disease resistance, mass harvest, and shelf-life—flavor be damned. Heirlooms, by contrast, are publicly available, self-pollinating, pure-bred varieties that have been conserved and shared by seed-savers since at least 1951 (when hybrids were first introduced), and many have traceable lineages going back centuries. Colorful as Skittles, heirlooms range from a pea-sized Blondkopfchen ("little blonde girl") to the two-pound-plus Ukrainian Zimarevsky Giant. They're sometimes cat-faced (cracked and dimpled), critter-bitten, and ugly, but they're always tasty. And in one corner of Virginia, Big Agriculture and commercial tomato-tech are no match for old-fashioned heirlooms.
汉诺威（Hanover）通过为农民提供早期，更一致的农作物，无论多样性如何，赢得了对番茄友好的风土的声誉。汉诺威番茄现在是邪教经典。甚至还有一个汉诺威番茄节with an appointed tomato queen.
"Hanover County is ideal," said Mark Reiter, Ph.D., Professor of Soils & Nutrient Management at Virginia Tech. "There's more organic matter in the soil, more sulphur available. There's enough water retention, but not too much." Add in the county's lower-pH soil and natural slope, and it's prime tomato real estate.
Village Garden RVA坐在州际公路以东的翠绿，略微凸的地块上。该农场在两种番茄含量的土壤类型的Nexus的保护性小屋内装备，农场只有一英亩。但是，这英亩的神圣程度使一切都不同。在4月下旬，最后一个大霜冻袭击了汉诺威。在街道的一端，一个家庭失去了整个番茄作物。在另一端，距离900英尺，没有一个乡村花园植物受到损失。
“农场在山顶;它会流失[water and cold air] well," explained Joe Morina, Ph.D. Candidate in Microbiology at VCU. "And it's a mix of sand and clay. Nutrients plus some water storage potential with the clay, and then lots of sand, which heats up faster, all surrounded by healthy forest feeding the microbiome."
Factory-farming monoculture is impossible here. In lieu of high production, farm and life partners David Hunsaker and Barbara Hollingsworth plant for quality and diversity. They founded Village Garden in 2011 and cultivate over 200 varieties, specializing in old forgotten gems (Mikado, named after the opera), wild color variants (El von Phuket, a pink Easter egg tomato), and Oxhearts—"my favorite of all," said Hunsaker. "The filet mignon of tomatoes."
为了纪念乡村花园的第十个季节，Hunsaker和Hollingsworth正在与顶级区域厨师合作，共进十个番茄晚餐，并与弗吉尼亚州最荣幸的酒庄配对。亚搏电竞巴伯斯维尔葡萄园，由意大利人拥有和经营，他们对西红柿有一两件事，将展示Vermentino，Barbera和Nebbiolo的桃红葡萄酒。该系列称为晚餐|夏天|索姆（Somm）上个月开始启动，当Va'Maters最重要时，跨越了顶峰。
“他们是如此的令人惊叹和美味，”两次詹姆斯·比尔德奖半决赛的厨师布兰尼·安德森说，他说。Top Chefcontestant, and owner of Metzger Bar & Butchery and Brenner Pass. "We've been using Village Garden for years. At first, it was all word-of-mouth to get them."
虽然商业西红柿是未成熟的，然后被融合并运出了，但乡村花园传家宝以主要的成熟度挑选，直接送到切片和品脱樱桃的餐馆或市场。安德森说：“小红肋骨，只有直肉，没有种子。条纹呈粉红色，黄色和橙色。”“品种令人震惊。”她的7/14番茄晚餐菜单是由番茄冰糕和番茄倒挂蛋糕预订的。
"It started on Saturdays after we finished the famers' market. We'd pull up to a restaurant's back door, unannounced, with every color and shape of tomato that no one else considered worth their time to grow," said Hollingsworth.
“这与公司无关mmerce," added Hunsaker. "It's about nature, life, humanity, cooking, the relationships we have with chefs, and the love affair we all have with tomatoes."
也许您已经吞噬了其他杰出的西红柿，但是您从来没有过得更好。这不是运气，不是肥料，不是营销。是炼金术。乡村花园将爱（但没有化学物质）倒入地面上，因此我们可以从中获得华丽的水果。
晚餐|夏天|索姆（剩余日期）
- Wednesday, July 14 –Metzger Bar & Butchery
- Wednesday, July 14 –中座厨师的厨房
- 7月18日，星期日 -Alewife
- Wednesday, July 21 –Lillie Pearl
- Friday, July 23 –Palladio餐厅at Barboursville Vineyards
- 7月26日，星期一 -塞森
- 8月4日，星期三 -Quirk Hotel Charlottesville的粉红色松鸡和大厅酒吧
- Monday, August 9 – Grand Finale atVillage Garden RVA
请联系各个餐厅以进行预订。