A Culture of Heirlooms

Posted by dtpennington in Blog, Food, Grow, Life | 0 comments

I’m getting dangerously close to letting the hippie-flag fly. Hell, it almost unfurled in the middle of a restaurant the other night

(in PUBLIC!!!). I was having dinner with Wilson – a good friend of mine from back in the day – who was amazed at the yellow tomatoes which were served on our pizza. YELLOW!

“Son,” I told Wilson  (who has a year and a half on me), “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” The tomatoes were delicious, an heirloom variety, of which he had clearly never tasted before.

To think, for centuries the only thing we were eating are what we call “heirloom” today. So what, then, does it mean to be “heirloom”?

I am no botanist, or horticulturalist, and I’ve got the high-school report card to prove it. Then again, does one need a complicated, molecular understanding to see how our world works? What does it mean when the question keeps coming up more and more: “What is heirloom?” “What does that mean?” “What makes them so special?” “Why are they more expensive?”

Regardless of what the sign says at Whole Foods, tomatoes are not the only plant with heirloom varieties. There are heirloom corns, squashes, cucumbers, peas. Hell, there’s even heirloom chickens and cows. And they are all in demand.

The exact definition: Well, there’s not really an exact definition. Some professionals say heirlooms are any variety which existed and were farmed before 1951. Others say it is before 1920. Others still say it is any variety of anything which existed before industrial farming boom. During that time a few varieties of seeds were picked, bred, and crossbred for their desireable traits. As a result we have the varieties of cherry, Roma, and Hot House tomatoes which are readily available during any season at the grocery store.  Heirloom seeds are what these tomatoes were derived from, they are the start of the lineages. Just take a look at the title: heirloom - something of value which has been passed from one generation to another until it arrives to you.

So why are we paying more for heirlooms? Well, really, we shouldn’t be. It comes down to purely the supply/demand thing. There are fewer people growing heirloom varieites of food. As a result we pay more. Heirloom growers – commonly the organic, hippie types at farmer’s markets – aren’t as likely to receive government susbsides for growing food either.

Heirlooms are also a bit more of a challenge to grow. The generic varieites of vegetables have been bred to grow somewhat universally. Take out these qualities and you have a selection of food which can only grow in certain soil, at certain temperatures, in the pickiest of conditions.

And, typically, heirlooms are a little more. . .interesting looking? It’s still food, better food, and we should all make an effort to eat them because we know they’re grown with care. I’m reminded of that experiment in grade school (where my report cards were better) where certain foods were dyed different colors. Blue Ketchup? Red celery? Are you mad? Why would I eat that? We have been ingrained to expect food to just look a certain way. And when it doesn’t, we get panicky and start asking questions and fearing it.

But here’s the thing: heirlooms just taste better. And they’re better for you. In Barry Estabrook’s Tomatoland he observes that commercially produced tomatoes have about 1/4th of the vitamins (where the flavor comes from) and about 10 times as much sodium as their heirloom counterparts. I’m sure the same could be said for any variety of heirloom anything.

Next year, thanks to our trip to the Baker Creek Seed Bank, about 100% of our next planting will be heirloom. And it will all be delicious, and you’re all more than welcome to try it out. The folks at Baker Creek make a practice of growing and saving rare, heirloom seeds. After all, if they don’t then these varieties are as good as extinct. In fact, there used to be hundreds of varieties of vegetables which ahve been farmed out of existence due to industrial farming practices.

This is one of my favorite infographics ever, and it illustrates the point wonderfully:

Not only does this leave us with less to work with, fewer varieties and flavors to cook with, but it also makes the surviving varieties very, very susceptible to disease. Plants die, soil is exhausted, and we have an even harder time producing food all because there just isn’t enough variety. With heirlooms you at least know they were grown smartly; even organically!

Let’s move to take “heirloom” off the cool-and-trendy list and put them back into the mainstream. You can thank me for it later.

Looking for your own heirloom seeds to plant? Check out the Baker Creek website, order a catalog (like they did in the old days), or order online. 

read more