FROM BIG WAVE COUNTRY

Lycopersicon esculentum You Say “ Tomato” “ “ Tamata” “Tomater” “ ToMAYto”

*Botanically speaking tomatoes are the fruit of vines (berries to be precise) but a vegetable according to a famous court decision, Tariff Act of 1883.

North Shore Farms grows hundreds of tomato varieties year-round, with production that coincides with Big Wave Surf Season on the North Shore, during the winter & The South Shore, during the summer. But just like all the elements must come together for Big Wave Surf conditions so must all the growing elements to produce tomatoes with flavor in Hawaii.

North Shore Farms is a boutique grower of specialty crops, such as tomatoes, beans, chili pepper and popcorn on the cob selling near 100% of what is grown through value-added products such as Grilled Pizza with a hand of stretched mozzarella, Fried Green Tomatoes, Heirloom tomato sauces, salsa, lomi lomi tomato & salmon, pickled tomatoes, dill beans, okra, & asparagus.

North Shore Farms is staking appropriate steps to provide a healthy balance between our community’s food supply, the environment and a strong economy by focusing on growing all natural tomatoes that are scientifically field grown with Hawaii’s environment in mind, following I.P.M., Integrated Pest Management Strategies to reduce reliance on pesticides.

North Shore Farms is a member of the Waialua Farmer Cooperative with 10 acres of annual tomato production, located on former Waialua Sugar Cane land.

The farm has been dedicated to conducting on Farm Research since 1998 with projects sponsored by the EPA, American Farm Land Trust & USDA Western Regional Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education in partnership with Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, University of Hawaii & Crop Care Hawaii. Most recent research is sludge pellets.

Jeanne Vana is a Boutique grower of Waialua Big Wave Tomatoes, cultivating an assortment of heirloom and other culinary varieties in all shapes and sizes grown for flavor.

Cultivation of Tomatoes

We dry farm our non GMO tomatoes similar to grape wine production to obtain maximum flavor. Don’t be alarmed by cracks in the tomatoes or blemishes as long as tomatoes do not leak. Cracks develop when they receive a lot of water that cause the tomato to expand rapidly. Because we limit the use of pesticides unlike most tomato growers that produce that perfect fruit, blemishes may appear. Simply remove with a knife.

Our land is left fallow to starve soil borne nematodes. Prior to planting our tomato seedlings, a cover crop is grown, nitrogen fixing Crotolaria. This cover crop naturally releases toxins from its roots that kills soil borne pest populations. Because we do not fumigate the soil or spray pesticides, beneficial insects & natural predators are not killed.

We bait windbreak with an attractant to lure pests away from the crop.
Once fruit developes to golf ball size we attach mating disruptors to the stems of the tomato plants that release the scent of the female tomato pin worm, so male insects become confused and can’t find the female to mate.

What makes our tomatoes most unique is when they are harvested. Big Wave Tomatoes are picked-ripe from the garden, ready-to-eat (90% red, color stage 6) versus most commercial tomatoes that are picked less ripe on the vine, typically color stage 2 to 4, <10% to 60% respectively, where growers allow them to ripen during channels of shipping or Commodity producers that pick mature green tomatoes, (color stage 1), then ethylene gas them for color.

North Shore Farms sun-ripened tomatoes are hand picked fresh off the vine at the peak of and freshness for flavor, when fully ripe.

Farm To Table Tomatoes

One big advantage of the Waialua Big Wave Tomato is they are farm to table tomatoes, where, at the time of harvest “The Redder, The Better” according to an NBC Today Show report. “Tomatoes field grown, exposed to more direct sunrays, picked ripe contain more cancer fighter lycopene than tomatoes grown in a greenhouses and picked less ripe”.

According to a Harvard University study, eating tomatoes can reduce the risk for certain cancers. Men that eat 10 medium tomatoes each week, can reduce their risk of prostrate cancer by 45%.

Food Processing

Heating tomatoes, as in the preparation of the Tomato Confetti recipe dish, concentrates the lycopene, when the tomato ingredient is a picked red ripe tomato.

North Shore Farms sells 100% of what it grows. Our Honolulu’s Country-Side, Gourmet Basics, product line, offers a collection of gourmet preserved tomato sauces, (vacuum heat sealed), where all the works been done for the consumer who can still be creative in the preparation of dishes made from these jarred products. Choices range from red & heirloom tomato sauces to a low acid yellow Asian flavor sauce to a sweet pink tomato dietetic sugar free sauce.