Gazpacho

I’ve tried growing tomatoes every year for the last 5 years. Very little success. They grow. They go green and then never ripen or indeed they ripen but taste of rather little, let alone tomato. So when I was invited to Spain to learn about how tomatoes are grown over there, I was packed and ready in a flash!

My visit was to a farm called Clisol which has been a family business for generations. It’s now run by the inspiring and energetic Lola Gómez Ferrón. She started “farming” when she was just a toddler. Her job would be to push a broomstick along the polytunnel which would shake the rain off. Since then she’s been obsessed not only with growing them but also teaching people like me about how she grows them. It’s very different to anything I’d ever seen before.

Firstly she uses no insecticides or pesticides on her crops but rather a system called biological pollination which uses bees. For pest control she buys insects which eat the insects she doesn’t want in her environment and so it’s all a natural cycle.

Her method is used across 2.2 hectares of land much of which is covered in polytunnels, which not only protect from the wind but also automatically adjust the vents to allow air in when the environment becomes too warm.

Lola says the best way to eat tomatoes to absorb their nutritional values is completely raw sprinkled with olive oil and salt. This was delicious but I had another very tasty tomato dish when I was out in Spain that I know I will make again and again. Gazpacho. I have never been able to palate this because I don’t like the idea of cold soup, but in the Spanish heat with a glass of local red wine it was truly magnificent.