Tomberries (yep, the little ones). Photograph: Sainsbury's/PA.
"Red is for tomato - yucky and disgusting." So wrote my stepson, then seven, in a poem in his schoolbook. Given that tomatoes are a key ingredient of numerous recipes in our repertoire, his mother and I have been trying without success to get him to change his motto to "yummy and delightful".
It was therefore with some scepticism that I greeted the appearance in our shops this week of "tomberries".
This tomato is a wild strain that's been commercially produced in the Netherlands for the first time, and is now on sale in Sainsbury's. The company hopes that the 1cm fruit - smaller than the cherry tomato - will be a hit with children. Its appearance in British stores follows that of the "tiger tomato" (which is striped) and the "straw-mato" (which tastes sweeter).
An identical quote from Sainsbury's "fresh produce technologist" Robert Honeysett appears in every single tomberry-related news report I've seen. I'd hate for it to be left out of mine, so here it is again: "You can't resist just popping them in your mouth. In fact, I bet it is not just kids who take a liking to these tantalisingly tiny toms, they are very more-ish."
Leaving aside the suspect punctuation here, I think this is wishful thinking from Mr Honeysett.
The only way we can get my stepson to eat tomatoes is by reducing them (roasting them with some garlic and olive oil is a favourite) as a pasta sauce. Our latest propaganda drive involves trying to convince him it's the seeds and skin he doesn't like, not the delicious flesh. He's so far been unmoved by this line of argument (other ideas are welcome).
On a non-blended plate of food, his style of eating is to first eat the thing he likes most (the meat or fish), then second best (potatoes) and so on. Last to go will be the vegetables - and the last vegetable to go will be tomatoes. Thrillingly new they may be, but I can imagine his reaction at being presented with "tomberries". For him not to grimace, they would need to be so microscopic that they were invisible to the human eye.
So I'm sorry, "fresh produce technologists", but I'm afraid it's back to the drawing board. Can I suggest a new "tongue-out-o", one that blows a big raspberry to daft gimmicks?
