A tomato, you say? The time's ripe to buy

WATERTOWN -- Rob Jean picks up a vine-ripened tomato from a stack at A. Russo & Sons, gives a gentle squeeze, turns it over in his hand, and puts it up to his nose and sniffs.

``You want to smell sunshine, summer on the vine," he says. ``And you want it to be soft, almost to the point of going bad. That's when it's at its peak."

Besides these greenhouse tomatoes from Canada, Russo's display includes ``field ripe" tomatoes from New Jersey, yellow grapes from Florida, and more. Within a week or two, local field-grown tomatoes will become available at Russo's and other markets, adding a farm-fresh option to this array.

As executive chef of Italian restaurants Teatro and Sorellina , Jean knows what he wants, and that's flavor. With tomatoes of all shapes and sizes in front of him at Russo's, he keeps coming back to the Jerseys. Cherry tomatoes have a nice pop in a salad, and ``some people like orange tomatoes and yellow tomatoes, but they don't really do it for me like a good, ripe, red one," Jean said.

Consumption of tomatoes nationwide has risen 30 percent since 1985, according to the US Department of Agriculture, and in 2003, Americans ate almost 20 pounds apiece .

This year, the local field-tomato crop has been delayed about a week by the season's cloudy, rainy summer, says Jeff Cole, executive director of the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers Markets. But the recent sun and heat have the crops making up for lost time, and he expects no problems with quality. The local tomato season runs through October.

When it's buying time, Jean says, consumers should look for a tomato that feels heavy for its size: As with other fruit, that indicates juiciness. Many supermarket tomatoes are cultivated for their ability to withstand long-distance shipment, picked unripe, and then gassed to ripen. Vine-ripened ones are picked somewhat riper and taste better, but they're still no match for tomatoes that reach full ripeness before being picked. That gives the edge to New England farm products that don't have to travel far from field to market.

Among Jean's favorites are heirlooms, old varieties that have not been subject to hybridization, such as Ugli tomatoes, named for their misshapen appearance. They may not look picture-perfect, but the flavor is unbeatable when they're local and in season.

At Russo's, Jean passes up a pile of basic plums because they ``all look really green," and pulls out cans of San Marzano tomatoes imported from Italy.

If you're making a sauce and ripe local tomatoes aren't available, the canned ones are often superior to any other option, he says.

For the restaurants, Jean gets tomatoes from Specialty Produce, and in season from Stillman Farm of Lunenburg. By mid-August, he expects to see a tomato bounty at the Copley farmers' market on Tuesdays and Fridays, right across the street from Sorellina.

When tomatoes are flooding farmers' markets, Cole suggests that picking the perfect one for a particular use requires one simple strategy: Talk to the farmer.

``Tell them what you're going to use the tomato for, and they'll help you find the right one from their selection," he says. At a market with more than one farm represented, ``If they don't have it, they'll point you to a grower who does."

The details

Never refrigerate them. "The cold ruins the flavor," says Jeff Cole of the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers Markets.

Proper storage. Store them at room temperature in a cool, dark place, in a paper bag if they need help ripening. Windowsills are usually too hot, and light destroys the ripening process, according to Rutgers University.

Making a match. Match the use with the type and ripeness of the tomato. Make a salad of all heirloom tomatoes to showcase their unique flavors. Use over-ripe tomatoes in sauces, says chef Rob Jean, freezing them in zip-top bags for off-season use.

Secret sauce. When making a tomato sauce, forget the myth that it should bubble away for hours on the stovetop. "If you have good fresh tomatoes, don't cook them for more than 45 minutes," says Jean. "You want to taste the freshness."

SOURCES: Jeff Cole, Rutgers University, and Rob Jean

Joe Yonan can be reached at yonan@globe.com.