It is tomato season. It has been for a
while, but now they are beginning to come out of our ears. At the beginning of
the summer we so look forward to them ripening, monitoring their transformation
from delicate yellow flower, to tiny green globe to half red, half green and
finally to full juicy, red ripeness.
How we delight in tucking in to a delicious
Caprese salad with fresh cheese and basil, but weeks down the line, we start
flagging, and absurdly wishing they would go away.
For the locals it is now tomato bottling
time.
Families who haven’t enough of their own will order crates of them from
the local suppliers. This is a ritual, serious business, and at daybreak you
can hear the clinking of glass as the neighbours get down to washing, squashing
(although there is a fancy machine that does that now), bottling and boiling. It
is an early morning job before it gets too hot, as large cauldrons of water over
powerful gas burners or wood stoked fires are brought to the boil in order to
sterilise the jars and bottles and then boil them again once filled.
It can take several early mornings to
complete the task. It is a combined effort, a well-oiled family production line,
each with their own task. The shelves in the storerooms and pantries quickly
fill up with rows and rows of jars ,all ready for the winter sauces. And
another job is done.
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