The Brown Family Annual Tomato Tasting

This past year has been an unusually tough year for tomato farmers - not just from the sudden explosion of late blight (a plant disease that attacks both tomatoes and potatoes), but also due to the massive amounts of rainfall we've had here in the northeast. Luckily, Norman Brown of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, had (what some would call) success with his 15+ different strains of tomato - grown right here in Kings County.

On August 10th, 2009, Norman and his family hosted their annual tomato tasting at Superfine in DUMBO, Brooklyn. More than 10 different types of tomatoes were lined up on the bar, where guests would fill their plates and stomachs, and vote on their favorite strain of Mr. Brown's delectable crop.




Michael Brown shows off one of his father's
many 'Mortgage Lifter' tomatoes


Norman Brown welcomes and addresses his guests at
the 2009 Brown Family Tomato Tasting at Superfine


A select few of the wide variety of tomatoes
offered at the tasting


Guests were given 3 "voting coins" upon arrival. You
could use all 3 to vote for one tomato, or you could distribute
them among your favorites. These are the tallied votes that
decided which tomato would be crowned "king of 2009".


A tomato feeding frenzy along the bar at Superfine




Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato took the crown
w/ 55 votes. My personal favorite.