Celebrate British Tomato Week with Dolmio

This year’s British Tomato Week is just around the corner – running from 15th–22nd May. 

Dolmio will be celebrating the great tomato with its Bolognese sauce, which is now better than ever - made with 100% natural ingredients

Dolmio’s “Tomatester”, Marco Geboers - is the man responsible for ensuring that every single tomato that goes into each jar of Dolmio Bolognese sauce is of the highest quality.  He literally understands the tomato inside out and to ensure your tomatoes make the highest grade in the garden this season, our “Tomatester” has put together some fantastic top tips on getting started with growing your own tomatoes:

Top Grow Your Own Tomato Tips:

Everyone has got room to grow tomatoes, whether it's a window box or a vegetable patch. Make sure it's somewhere nice and sunny though - sunshine is exceptionally important to tomatoes as it triggers certain reactions inside the tomato which give them their distinctive flavour.

When you’re sowing the seeds, most will germinate so scatter thinly and only sow a few more than you actually need.  Scatter them on the surface of a good free draining, damp seed compost.

Lightly cover the seed with dry compost or vermiculite 6mm (¼in deep).  Cover with a plastic bag and place on a window sill where they can capture some sunlight until germination - usually 7-14 days.

Don’t position them in direct sunlight all day long when they’re germinating, as too much sun could burn the young leaves.

Don’t forget to water them too – if the surface compost is dry to the touch, you’ve left it too long.

Transplant seedlings when large enough to handle into 7.5cm pots.

Plant in final situation once they’ve grown 20cm high and place them about 45cm apart.  Be sure to remove sideshoots regularly and enjoy watching them grow.

Once you’ve harvested your tomatoes, always be careful how you handle them and always carry them in a suitable container as the slightest damage to a tomato can have a big impact on its flavour.

“Tomatester’s” Top 5 Tomato Facts:

You can enjoy tomatoes knowing they taste great AND they’re good for you.  Tomatoes are a great source of vitamins A, B and C.  They are also filled with folic acid, antioxidants and fibre.

There are over 10,000 different varieties of tomato in existence and they come in an assortment of colours other than red.  Yellow, pink, purple, black and even white tomatoes all exist too. 
 
The tomato varieties range from tiny “tomberries” which are about 5mm wide to the Ponderosa variety, which weighs over 1.5kg (over 3lbs).
 
La Tomatina is an annual festival in Bunol, Spain, where participants throw an estimated 150,000 tomatoes at each other over a week.
 
The tomato plant originated in South America and was domesticated by the Incas as early as 700 A.D.  Back then, the tomato had many ruffles and ridges.
 
To further mark British Tomato Week, you may be interested in Dolmio’s resident “Mama”, the highly regarded Trish Davies, who has developed ten delicious new recipes, perfect for parents who want to give their families nutritious, tasty meals full of natural goodness. 

The collection of recipes which were developed to celebrate the versatility of tomatoes, include: Mama’s Ultimate Bolognese, a traditional Italian recipe which has been passed down from generation to generation, Mama’s Seafood Risotto, Mama’s Greek Style Chicken, Mama’s Lamb Meatballs and Mama’s Tomato and Red Bean Soup.