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More Seeds
We named this tomato after the South Asian dish 'Kachumber' as an ode to the humble, yet ubiquitous side dish that we grew up eating. These tomatoes are firm, juicy, umami with the perfect ratio of sweet to tangy. They're a delicious fresh eating tomato and adding them to any tomato salad or side dish levels up the flavor profile exponentially. It's remarkable how delicious a simple dish can be when using heirloom vegetables that are not mass produced with GMO or hybrid seeds and pesticides.
This is a determinate tomato variety meaning it will set all its flowers within a 1 month period and the harvest period will soon follow. Each plant produces nearly 100 tomatoes that are each 2-3 inches in diameter. The plant grows in a bush habit so no staking is necessary although it can help with ease of harvest. We do not recommend pruning off the lower branches. These tomatoes are perfect for fresh eating but can also be used as a cooking or canning tomato.
Kachumber is just one of many 'tomato salads' that exists throughout the SSWANA region but also in the Mediteranean and Central America. In East Africa there is a nearly identical dish called Kachumbari; in Iran it’s known as Shirazi; in Iraq it's Summag. There are countless variations of this kind of salad and they always contain fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and a variation of other vegetables, herbs and citrus. Here in the US we are all probably familiar with the variation from Mexio known as Pico de Gallo.
Here is our family’s recipe for Kachumber:
Equal parts tomato, cucumber, onion all diced very finely, with a squeeze of lemon, some cilantro and salt. Other additions to this simple salad are optional (such as avocado or green mango) but using fresh, locally or home grown vegetables always makes this dish go from ordinary to extraordinary.
Our seeds are originally from India and this is our second year growing this variety for seed.
25 seeds per packet.
Beautiful purple flowers producing 2-3" long half moon shaped beans in late Summer and Fall. Known as hyacinth bean in English. Delicious pods can be used for dishes like Undhiyu. Beans can also be shelled and used to make Surti Papdi Lilva shaak, where the green bean seeds are shelled and cooked with spices, onions, garlic and ginger. Vining variety, requires a trellis. Can either be direct seeded outside or started indoors 2-3 weeks before planting outside.
An heirloom variety that has been stewarded for over 6 generations in the Kodhi Village in Surat, India.
20 seeds per packet.
A popular variety of eggplant in South and Southeast Asia. Small oval eggplant with glossy reddish-purple skin. This variety grows to 2-3” and is a bit easier to grow than other eggplants. Perfect for making masala stuffed eggplant. I was shocking just how many eggplants we were able to harvest off of each plant. If you are consistently harvesting them when they are still small, the plant will continue to put energy back into flower/fruit production. You can also let the eggplants grow a bit bigger and they are still delicious. We made a lot of batches of baba ganoush with the eggplants that got a little too big.
This variety is one of the first crops on our farm to start producing fruits and produces all the way until frost. Grows as a small bush and does not require staking or trellising. Can tolerate colder climates.
25 seeds per packet.
An heirloom pepper variety originally from Hubli, India. These peppers are long (5-6”), thick walled and spicy. They’re the classic Indian chillies, an essential for any and all South Asian cooking.
The plant itself is extremely prolific, sending out dozens of chillies that go from green to orange to red, affecting the spice level with it. The is our most favorite pepper variety on the farm. Perfect for those who like to have a few spicy green peppers to munch on with their meals. We have also made a delicious achaar (Indian pickle) using these green peppers and green mango. When the peppers turn red we like to put them in the oven on the lowest heat to quickly dry them down and either blend them into a chilli powder or into chilli flakes. Highly recommend using the chilli flakes for a chilli crisp! They have the perfect heat and smokiness.
These seeds were gifted to us by one of our customers at the Irvington Farmers Market in Fremont. He brought them back from his hometown of Hubli, in the Southern State of Karnataka, India. We have been stewarding this variety for the past four years.
25 seeds per packet.