With summer in full swing, it’s still the season of fresh Canadian produce. At Farm Boy, we’re all about getting you closer to the farm with the most local options available. We work directly with growers to provide you with the freshest, longest-lasting produce possible, including tomatoes. That’s just good food from good neighbours. While greenhouse-grown tomatoes are available year-round, field tomatoes are in season in Ontario from late July to late September. (Canada is the main source of greenhouse tomatoes in North America, according to Canadian Food Focus.)
In Farm Boy stores, you will discover that we only sell tomatoes grown in Canada. That’s one way we continue to provide you with a fresh-market shopping experience. From those that are ideal for snacking to the ones best for sauces, our Produce Department is proud to offer you the best quality at an excellent value. No matter how you slice it, there’s plenty of way to enjoy this Canadian crop!
Where Do Tomatoes Grow in Canada?
Thanks to our cooler climate, Canada has a shorter growing season for field tomatoes, which are primarily grown and harvested in southern Ontario. To combat our chillier seasons, greenhouses have popped up all around the country to provide Canadian with this red fruit year-round! You can find greenhouse tomatoes in southern Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia. Greenhouse growing allows farmers to more closely monitor their crops for quality, as issues like bugs, weather, and disease can be better controlled. This also means that greenhouse tomatoes result in less food waste, as the fruits are less likely to be tossed when these issues are properly managed.
Spotlight on SunTech Greenhouses
A four-acre family farm operating out of Manotick, Ontario, SunTech Greenhouses is one of Farm Boy’s suppliers of fresh tomatoes. As part of our commitment to getting you closer to the farm while providing you with good food from good neighbours, SunTech is one of the businesses we work with to provide you with fresh, local produce.
Using hydroponic technology to reduce water consumption, SunTech prioritizes sustainability as well as quality in their crops. As they continue to expand, the farm has begun offering cucumbers to consumers as well. A major supplier of local produce for many grocery stores across Ontario, we’re thrilled to have SunTech Greenhouses in the Farm Boy family.
Tomato Varieties in Canada
Brown
Flavour: Mild and sweet
Appearance: Deep brown with red or green marbling. Also known as Kumato tomatoes.
Best For: Bruschetta, salads, and sandwiches.
Ways to Cook: Best enjoyed raw.
Cherry
Flavour: Sweet, just like the fruit it’s named for.
Appearance: Small and round with thin skins. Found in a variety of colours like red, yellow green, and even purple.
Best For: Snacking, salads, pastas, or kebabs.
Ways to Cook: Roasting and sautéing, these tomatoes aren’t good for sauces.
Cocktail
Flavour: Sweet and tangy.
Appearance: Relatively small (about golf ball-sized), these tomatoes are often found on the vine and are red.
Best For: Salads, sauces, snacking, and kebabs.
Ways to Cook: Roasting and grilling.
Grape
Flavour: Sweet and less watery than cherry tomatoes.
Appearance: Smaller than cherry tomatoes and more oblong, with a slightly thicker skin. Found in red, yellow, and orange.
Best For: Snacking, salads, pastas, and kebabs.
Ways to Cook: Blistered or sautéed.
Heirloom
Flavour: Rich and tomato-forward.
Appearance: Widely varied in size, shape, and colour, from golden to purple.
Best For: Salads, pies, sandwiches, tarts, salsas, and gazpachos.
Ways to Cook: Baked or roasted.
Hot House
Flavour: Mild, with varying quality.
Appearance: Sold on the vine, these round tomatoes grow in greenhouses.
Best For: Salads, burgers, sandwiches, and sauces.
Ways to Cook: Roasting.
Roma
Flavour: Meaty in texture with a tangy flavour.
Appearance: Oval-shaped with a thinner skin and fewer seeds. A type of plum tomato.
Best For: Sandwiches, sauces, pastas, soups, and salsas, due to their low water content.
Ways to Cook: Roasting.
Strawberry
Flavour: Sweet and savoury, with a slight sourness.
Appearance: Strawberry-shaped with a slightly tapered point and vibrant red colour, these tomatoes are often sold on the vine in clusters.
Best For: Snacking, salads, sandwiches, gazpacho, and pastas.
Ways to Cook: Pickling, roasting, and frying.
How to Store
The number one rule when it comes to tomatoes? Don’t store them in the fridge! Unlike many other fruits and veggies that can last longer when refrigerated, tomatoes lose their flavour and texture when subjected to the cold. The result is pale, watery, and bland.
Instead, the best way to make your tomatoes last is to store them on your counter, stem-side down. The stem subjects the fruit to the air, leading to potential mold growth and moisture loss. Storing it stem-side down can keep it fresh and juicy for over a week!
Alternatively, you can process your tomatoes into sauce if you’re looking to use them in a recipe. Tomato sauce freezes much better than whole or sliced tomatoes, and can be stored in an airtight container for up to three months.
Health Benefits of Tomatoes
Tomatoes are an excellent, inexpensive way to add a lot of good nutrients to your diet. And, if you’re not a fan of consuming them raw in sandwiches or salads, tomatoes actually get healthier once cooked! While they do lose some vitamin C when cooked, the amount of lycopene—a heart-healthy antioxidant—increases!
According to Healthline, tomatoes are a good source of vitamins C, K, and B9, as well as potassium and fibre. Lycopene, an antioxidant that’s especially prevalent in tomatoes, is also linked to overall skin health and may even help in cancer prevention.
Garden Fresh Tomato Products
Farm Boy™ Tomato Basil Soup
Enjoy the pure flavour of fresh tomatoes in this soup. Made by our chefs in small batches with our own exclusive recipes and high-quality ingredients, this plant-based soup is accented with garden-fresh basil and a touch of orange juice for a hint of sweetness.
Get Inspired: Farm Boy’s Ultimate Guide to Soup and Sandwich Pairings
Farm Boy™ Fresh Salsa
Get closer to the farm with our fresh salsa, made by us with simple, wholesome ingredients. Available in Hot or Mild, it has a restaurant-inspired flavour that goes with everything from tacos to grilled proteins to scooping up our locally made Tortilla Chips.
Get Inspired: Saucy Skillet Eggs Recipe
Farm Boy™ Sugo di Pomodoro
Experience Nonna’s home cooking from the Farm Boy Kitchen! Using simple, classic ingredients and our own recipe, our velvety sugo di pomodoro is rich and balanced. Try it over your favourite fresh pasta or use it as a sauce for homemade pizza and enjoy the flavours of high quality olive oil, tomatoes, and authentic spices.
Get Inspired: Parmesan Eggplant with Sugo di Pomodoro Recipe
Juicy Tomato Recipes and Ideas
Tomato, Avocado, & Burrata Salad
Ingredients: tomatoes, avocados, burrata, basil pesto, extra virgin olive oil, fleur de sel, black pepper, basil.
This easy and delicious salad combines creamy burrata and avocado with fresh, ripe tomatoes. For this recipe, we recommend using heirloom tomatoes for their beautiful colours, varying shapes, and rich flavour. Ready in only a few minutes, this easy app or side perfectly complements a shareable summer meal.
Chef’s Tip: Swap out our freshly made Basil Pesto for our authentic Balsamic Glaze for a tart, tangy, and sweet twist.
Watermelon & Tomato Gazpacho
Ingredients: tomatoes, baguette, cucumbers, watermelon, shallot, sherry vinegar, salt, extra virgin olive oil, jalapeño pepper, cilantro.
Soup in summer? When it’s this refreshing, absolutely! Bright and vibrant, this watermelon and tomato gazpacho puts a fresh twist on the Spanish classic. Use Roma tomatoes, which have a tangy flavour and lower water content to really invigorate this soup.
Chef’s Tip: Sweeten this party app up with a touch of Farm Boy™ Pure Ontario Liquid Honey.
Roasted Tomatoes with Cerignola Olives
Ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, Cerignola olives, salt, pepper.
We love this easy app that unlocks the sweet flavours of grape or cherry tomatoes with the help of a little heat. Paired with mild, slightly briny Cerignola olives, it’s an elegant tapas dish to share with everyone at your next backyard get-together.
Chef’s Tip: Smear a slice of our beloved Sourdough Batard (a best-seller in our Bake Shop) with our Herbed Ricotta Spread and top with this recipe.
More Tomato Recipes & Dishes
Did you know?
- Over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes exist in the world!
- Spain hosts the world’s biggest tomato fight, an annual festival called La Tomatina.
- The heaviest tomato weighed 8.6 pounds. It was grown in 2016 in Walla Walla, Washington.
- China grows more tomatoes than anywhere else in the world.
- Tomatoes are a nutritional powerhouse: They contain vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, manganese, and fibre.
