Tomatoes
The tomato is one of the most compromised ingredients in the food supply chain — bred for shelf life, harvested under-ripe, ripened artificially in transit. The result is a fruit that looks the part but delivers very little in the way of flavour.
Every variety in this collection is sourced from specialist growers in France and Italy, harvested at or close to peak ripeness, and delivered to order during a strictly seasonal window. The difference is not marginal — it is the difference between a tomato that tastes of something and one that does not.
The collection spans seven varieties across the season: San Marzano, Datterini, Vesuvio Pomodoro, Marmande, Provence tomatoes, Cherrystar baby vine, and Le Jardin Rabelais cherry vine. Each has a distinct character, a specific culinary application, and a provenance worth knowing.
The Varieties
San Marzano
The most famous cooking tomato in the world — a long, plum-shaped Italian variety grown in Campania and the reference point for any serious pasta sauce, ragù or braise. Dense, low in seeds, with thick flesh and a balanced sweet-acid flavour that concentrates beautifully under heat. Not a tomato to eat raw — bred for cooking, and cooked is where it excels.
Season: June to August.
Datterini
Small Italian plum tomatoes — the name translates as "little dates" — with an exceptionally high sugar content and a thin skin that suits both raw eating and quick cooking. One of the sweetest tomatoes in the collection. Excellent halved in a salad, blistered quickly in a hot pan with olive oil and garlic, or slow-roasted until concentrated and jammy.
Season: April to October.
Vesuvio Pomodoro
Grown on the volcanic slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Campania — one of the most distinctive growing environments for tomatoes in Europe. The mineral-rich volcanic soil produces a tomato with an intense, complex flavour unlike anything grown on more conventional land. The variety most associated with the area is the Piennolo del Vesuvio, traditionally vine-hung to continue ripening after harvest. These are tomatoes with a genuine sense of place — worth planning around when they're in season.
Season: July and August only.
Marmande
A large, ribbed French heritage variety from Provence. Irregular in shape, deeply flavoured, with a good balance of sweetness and acidity and a dense, meaty flesh.
Season: May to September.
Provence Tomatoes
A broader selection of large heritage varieties grown in Provence — Rose de Berne, Black Krim, Coeur de Boeuf, Copia, Moya, Marmande — rotating with what's at its best at harvest. Each has a distinct colour, texture and flavour profile. Together they make one of the most visually striking salads possible with almost no effort beyond slicing.
Season: June to September.
Cherrystar
Belgian cherry vine tomatoes — small, sweet, consistent, available for most of the year. A producer whose name is on the variety as well as the box.
Le Jardin Rabelais
A French specialist known for flavour depth rather than purely cosmetic quality, harvesting at the right moment rather than to logistics schedules. The more flavourful of the two cherry vines when in season.
Season: summer months.
How To Cook
For Pasta Sauces & Long-Cooked Dishes
San Marzano is the first choice — dense flesh, low seed count, and a concentrated flavour that holds up under heat. Datterini work well in quicker, sweeter sauces. Vesuvio Pomodoro, when in season, adds a mineral depth to a simple tomato sauce that's worth trying.
For Salads & Raw Eating
Marmande and the Provence tomatoes need nothing beyond olive oil, flaky salt, and time at room temperature. Datterini and both cherry varieties are excellent halved in a salad or served simply as they are.
For Roasting
Datterini blistered in a hot pan with olive oil and garlic. Cherrystar roasted on the vine alongside fish or meat. San Marzano halved and slow-roasted at low heat until concentrated and caramelised.
For Bruschetta & Simple Appetisers
Marmande or Provence tomatoes roughly chopped with olive oil, torn basil and good bread. Datterini or Cherrystar halved with a little shallot and red wine vinegar for a quicker version.
Wine Pairings
Light, acidic whites work best alongside tomato dishes — a Vermentino, a young Côtes de Provence rosé, or a Greco di Tufo. For cooked tomato sauces, a Sangiovese-based red such as Chianti is the classic match.
Storage
The single most important rule with tomatoes is to keep them out of the refrigerator. Cold temperatures destroy the volatile compounds responsible for tomato flavour and produce the mealy, flavourless texture familiar from poorly stored tomatoes. Store at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and eat within 3 to 5 days of delivery depending on ripeness on arrival.
If tomatoes arrive slightly under-ripe, leave them at room temperature — stem side down — and they will continue to ripen over 1 to 2 days. Do not place in a sunny windowsill, which can cause uneven ripening and skin splitting. A bowl on the kitchen counter is ideal.
By variety: San Marzano and Datterini are more robust than the larger heritage varieties and will hold for up to 5 days. Marmande and Provence tomatoes are best used within 2 to 3 days. Vesuvio Pomodoro should be used promptly — the season is short and the flavour is at its best immediately. Cherrystar on the vine holds well for up to a week.
How To Tell If A Tomato Is Ripe
A ripe tomato gives slightly under gentle pressure — it should not be hard or rock-firm, nor should it collapse. The skin should be taut and the colour deep and even. Smell is a reliable indicator — a ripe tomato has a distinctive, faintly sweet aroma at the stem end. For heritage varieties like Marmande and Vesuvio Pomodoro, some surface irregularity and cracking around the stem is normal and not a quality issue.
Seasonality
The tomato collection is strictly seasonal — every variety grown in its natural outdoor season, none available year-round with the exception of Cherrystar. This is deliberate: outdoor, seasonally grown tomatoes develop more flavour than year-round greenhouse equivalents, and restricting availability to the natural season is what makes the collection worth stocking.
The height of the collection is July and August, when the full range is in season simultaneously. This is the moment to order across varieties — a selection of San Marzano, Vesuvio Pomodoro, Datterini and Provence tomatoes together covers every culinary application and produces one of the most flavourful weeks of cooking possible.
Sourcing
The tomato industry at commodity scale is one of the most intensive in European agriculture — high-input, year-round greenhouse production, harvested under-ripe for logistics rather than flavour. The varieties in this collection sit at the opposite end of that spectrum. Every variety is grown outdoors in its natural season by producers who treat tomato growing as a craft rather than a volume exercise.
We do not substitute with out-of-season supply when varieties finish, and we do not list tomatoes outside their natural growing window.
Delivery
UK next-working-day delivery on orders placed before 2pm. Complimentary weekday delivery on orders over £225.
