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Discovering the magic of tomatoes

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TomatoFare 2009: Sunday, Sept. 6, White Heron Cellars Seattle couple specializes in heirloom varieties

Several years ago Martin Ringhofer was saddled with heart problems, and doctors weren't exactly sure of his prognosis. He thought that he might only have a few years to live.

"I thought I was going to die," he said. "My heart was a mess, and they never did figure out exactly why. I did not leave the intensive care unit at the hospital for three weeks."

Ringhofer was obviously distraught, but pledged to keep on fighting, to make as good of a life as he could for his wife, Jennifer, and two children, and began to make changes. He started exercising more, eating healthier and found ways to decrease his stress levels.

One way he found to relax was to start growing heirloom tomatoes, which, by the way, contain a chemical called lyco-pene, which is known as being heart healthy. Ringhofer, who. has residences in Seattle and Soap Lake, had grown regular hybrid tomatoes before, but immediately took to the new breed.

"I took six plants to my house in Soap Lake and planted them next to my other tomato plants," Ringhofer said. "They just kept growing and growing. They made the regular tomatoes look like dwarves. They turned into giants. The next year I got rid of the hybrids and have done heirlooms ever since."

An heirloom tomato is an heirloom plant, an open-pollinated (nonhybrid) cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. Heirloom tomato cultivars can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes. As with most garden plants, cultivars can be acclimated over several gardening seasons to thrive in a geographical location through careful selection and seed saving.

"Its skin is thinner, more fragile, and it's not as easy to keep in storage," Ringhofer said. "It takes heirlooms 80 to 95 days (to grow), while it takes hybrids 50 to 60 days. Hybrids produce faster, but I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in quality."

Ringhofer and his wife now annually produce about 1,200 pounds of heirloom tomatoes.

"The tomato is magic," he said. "Of course, I knew tomatoes have a high content of lycopene, and in part to that I've ended my heart trouble. I became familiar with the heirloom, and then became friends with it, and then the friendship has grown into much more, and it's taken me in directions I didn't expect."

One of the places the heirloom tomato has taken Ringhofer is his place as the founder and director of TomatoFare, which will be held at White Heron Cellars on Sept. 6 from 4 to 9 p.m.

In addition to the tomato tastings, the celebration of tomatoes will include live music by Andean band Quichua Mashis of Seattle and a high-energy rhythm and blues group, The Vaughn Jensen Band, from the Tri-Cities. Tomatoes will also be highlighted in dishes prepared by local chefs, including caterer Ann Phelps of Quincy, Chris and John Hussey of Griffin's Bakery and Cafe in Moses Lake and Amy Simonson of Seasonal Kitchen from East Wenatchee.

Founded in 2006, the TomatoFare has revitalized local appreciation and desire for true heirloom tomatoes over the past three years, Ringhofer said.

Ringhofer said the goal of TomatoFare is to promote heirloom tomatoes and tourism in the area. "For anybody who likes tomatoes, there will be no better tomatoes that you can find than the ones there," Ringhofer said.

Heirloom tomatoes will be sold for $1 a pound during TomatoFare.

TomatoFare has made Grant County the heirloom tomato capital of Washington and the Pacific Northwest, where 50,000 pounds have been grown in each of the last three years.

Ringhofer, motivated by seeing the success of a similar tomato festival in Carmel, Calif., held his first fare in the back yard of his Soap Lake cottage, but quickly realized that he needed to find a bigger locale if the fare was to become what he wanted it to be. It was held at Cave B Estates Winery for one year before relocating to Cameron Fries' winery last year.

"I got the idea because I thought it would be really cool to do something to promote tourism and merchants and the new crop," Ringhofer said. "It's just a fun thing that I wanted to do. Everybody who comes likes the event. It's in a great location. I plan to keep doing it at White Heron as long as there's interest. People like what I do.

"Our gathering will showcase a range of unforgettable epicurean creations from classical to innovative food adventures. The chefs and restaurants selected to appear at this year's TomatoFare lead the way to experiencing the possibility, range and pleasures of exceptional cuisine prepared with heirloom tomatoes."

Ringhofer's appreciation for Fries and his locale is reciprocated.

"The TomatoFare fits in with our philosophy of bringing food and wine together," Fries said. "The two have enhanced each other for centuries, and as the United States does not have a long wine drinking tradition thanks to Prohibition, we like to be able to provide people this experience. Tomatoes are the backbone of much of Italian cuisine.

"Clearly all of us who have had the experience of growing heirloom tomatoes in out own gardens know the wonderful colors and flavors of this fruit. Martin is a passionate advocate of the tremendous variety of heirloom tomatoes."

Ringhofer's vision of the event is continuing to expand, however. He envisions a day when he can solicit sponsors so that he can cease charging an admission fee. (Admission is $25 at the door for this year's fare.)

"If I can get that support, I'd like to take over the winery at different levels," he said. "I'd like to make it bigger without giving up the quality, have more music, more food, more everything. Picture what something like thai would mean to Quincy. The growth comes from the local support.

"My wife and I have been successful in creating this cool event, and we plan to add to it and refine it."

"For anybody who likes tomatoes, there will be no better tomatoes that you can find than the ones here."

Martin Ringhofer



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