This week: Tomato, tomahto – let’s find recipes to use them up, cookbook previews, giveaways and more!

Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit? The correct response is that tomatoes are a fruit since they grow on a vine. But in Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893) the Supreme Court of the United States decided that under U.S. customs regulations, the tomato should be classified as a vegetable. This case came before the Court as the plaintiff wished to recover duties paid under protest. Back then, imported vegetables were subjected to a 10% tariff upon their arrival in the United States, and imported fruits were not. The plaintiff learned: you import your tomatoes, you pay your taxes.

“Tomatoes have such an outlandish history,” said George Ball, the chief executive at the seed company Burpee. “Most people hear it and are bewildered for life.” “As Ball explains it, fruits and vegetables differ in one major botanical way. A fruit is technically the seed-bearing structure of a plant – and a vegetable can be virtually any part of the plant we eat.”The obscure Supreme Court case that decided tomatoes are vegetables (Washington Post).

Tomatoes are in season from May through October (November through April for the southern hemisphere), with some variation depending on where you live. Those of us who have a green thumb sometimes have an overabundance of these red, juicy fruits. My first year in Colorado, I had tomatoes galore – and played catch-up (pun intended) making and freezing homemade sauces (preserving recipes) and purees before they spoiled. Since then, my green thumb has shriveled up and died as the next year my garden produced zilch. I gave up my planting hopes and dreams (except for herbs) but plan to start again. My husband promises to build me raised planter boxes next year in our new yard (Colorado soil is like red clay and raised boxes filled with soil is the only solution.)

There are over 303,000 recipes (online recipes) using tomatoes in our EYB Library. In the warm weather, cooks welcome recipes that don’t require turning the oven on when it is 100 degrees outside. Caprese dishes are an easy way to use tomatoes and not melt in the kitchen. Making salsa and tomato jam are other great options.

Cookbooks devoted to tomatoes:

• You Say Tomato by Joanne Weir
• The Heirloom Tomato From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit by Amy Goldman
• The Big Red Book of Tomatoes by Lindsey Bareham
• The Tomato Basket: More Than 75 Deliciously Different Ways to Prepare, Eat and Enjoy the Tomato in All Its Glorious Variety by Jenny Linford
• Short Stack Vol 2: Tomatoes by Soa Davies
• Tomatoes: A Savor the South® Cookbook by Miriam Rubin
• Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things: A Cookbook for When Your Garden Explodes by Lois M. Landau and Laura G. Myers (for those of us who have a bounty from the garden)

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Featured Recently Indexed Cookbooks

• Higgidy: The Veggie Cookbook: 120 Glorious Everyday Recipes by Camilla Stephens
• The Borough Market Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Year at the Market by Ed Smith
• Bowls of Goodness: Grains + Greens: Nutritious + Climate Smart Recipes for Meat-Free Meals by Nina Olsson
• One Tin Bakes: Sweet and Simple Traybakes, Pies, Bars and Buns by Edd Kimber
• Root Stem Leaf Flower: How to Cook with Vegetables and Other Plants by Gill Meller
• Second Helpings: 70 Wicked Recipes That Will Leave You Wanting More by Liam Charles
• The Bob’s Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers by Loren Bouchard
• Sweet Nature: A Cook’s Guide to Using Honey and Maple Syrup by Beth Dooley and Mette Nielsen
• Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen by Ravinder Bhogal
• Friuli Food and Wine: Frasca Cooking from Northern Italy’s Mountains, Vineyards, and Seaside by Bobby Stuckey, Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and Meredith Erickson
• A Table for Friends: The Art of Cooking for Two or Twenty by Skye McAlpine
• New Scottish Cookery: 160 New and Traditional Recipes Using the Best Produce from Scotland by Nick Nairn

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This Week on our Blog

Since our last roundup, Darcie has written articles entitled: Celebrate World Chocolate Day, When in doubt, throw it out, The interesting history of the Popsicle, Neil Perry announces his retirement, Sur La Table to close nearly half of its stores, and Lockdown bakers get creative. Darcie’s weekly food news antipasto is shared every Sunday #foodnews brings up these information-packed posts).

This week I shared a new Quick Bites on food stylist and caterer extraordinaire Denise Vivaldo as well as the second Cookbook Tidbits. Be sure you also enter the Bitter Honey and Falastin cookbook giveaways posted this week as well. Lastly, I wrote a piece about recipe writing entitled: Let’s call the whole thing off.

Jenny and the EYB Team

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Member Photo of the Week

Rainbow salad sushi roll bento from Bento Power: Brilliantly Balanced Lunchbox Recipes by Sara Kiyo Popowa submitted by member Tina_Berlin

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Featured Online Recipe

Sweet corn and blueberry trifles from Saveur.com by Yewande Komolafe

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EYBDigital Previews

Recently we uploaded our 682nd EYBDigital Preview where a selection of full sample pages is available for the following cookbooks.

Learn more about EYBDigital Previews.

Note: To learn why you cannot add all EYBDigital Preview recipes to your Bookshelf, please read this Help page.

• A selection of pages and 9 recipes from Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen by Ravinder Bhogal
• 3 recipes from Falastin: A Cookbook by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley and 8 online recipes from The Guardian – Enter our giveaway to win a copy (3 US/1 copy worldwide).
• 3 recipes from Unbelievabowl Paleo: 60 Wholesome One-Dish Recipes You Won’t Believe Are Dairy- and Gluten-Free by Kelsey Preciado
• 3 recipes from The Low-Calorie Cookbook: Healthy, Satisfying Meals with 500 Calories or Less by Megan Olson

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Cookbook Giveaways

• Enter our US/UK/AU/CA giveaway to win one of two copies of The Irish Cookbook by Jp McMahon.  Please remember Eat Your Book members receive 30% off Phaidon titles when using the link provided Expires July 23rd, 2020
• Enter our US giveaway to win one of three copies of 100 Techniques: Master a Lifetime of Cooking Skills, from Basic to Bucket List by America’s Test Kitchen Editors Expires July 29th, 2020

*Please note due to the pandemic, promotions are extended until publishers are back in their offices, and warehouses are available to resume the shipment of books. The cookbook giveaway roundup shares all current giveaways.

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