10 Delicious Ways to Cook with Summer Tomatoes

The last days of summer are always sweetened by gardens and farmers’ markets ripe with an abundance of fresh tomatoes. Finding ways to make the most of those tomatoes before the season ends can be tricky, especially if the thought of canning sounds as scary to you as it does to me.

What makes fresh, farm market tomatoes so much tastier than their grocery store counterparts? Most mass–produced tomatoes are picked while still unripe to allow time for shipping. Once they’ve reached their destination they’re chemically-ripened with ethylene, which triggers the ripening process. Ethylene-ripening gives tomatoes a longer shelf-life but it alters both their taste and texture, giving us the often tasteless, grainy tomatoes found in many produce sections.

I’ve rounded up 10 of my favorite tomato recipes to inspire you to put the season’s bounty to good use. Many of these recipes are from the two columns I write for the Patch.com online newspapers. Enjoy!

1. Tomato, Shallot & Caper Salad