Where to find the best TOMATOES and a good Candy Thermometer?!

[bbeline]

I am hoping someone can help me find some good fresh tomatoes in Montreal. I love the Jean Talon Market... and there is a stand there that sells the best tomatoes I have ever tasted; but as a resident of Verdun (sans voiture) it takes forever to get there. Where else can I find good tomatoes... or good PRODUCE for that matter.... like carrots that acutally have a flavor.

Where I live there is a Provigo... where they sell a few different kinds of tomatoes. I've been eyeing these organic ones from Italy with the hope that they might have some taste but I've yet the courage to buy them.

Also, I need to buy a good Taylor Candy Thermometer... you know one of those long ones encased in metal... I can't find it anywhere downtown. This is Montreal... there must be a specialty food store somewhere that sells this thing!

Dying for decent produce...

[spankyhorowitz]

Also most restaurant supply shops. I shop at Mona's on Parc/Mont-Royal and Norten on St-Laurent/Beaubien.

[thermometer girl]

hi , have you found the candy thermometer ? Please see the attachment of candy thermometer ~

[cherylmtl]

Have you tried Cuisine Gourmet, at the corner of Drummond and de Maisonneuve? They have a pretty decent selection of cooking equipment, and it is downtown. As for produce, nothing is great around here in the winter, unfortunately. But Verdun isn't too far from Atwater market, which might be worth checking out...

[spankyhorowitz]

We all have to realize that most vegetables and many fruits should be considered seasonal treats. Many foods do not taste as good out of season and they waste a lot of fuel getting them to their destinations.

Our parents and grandparenst did just fine without exotic fruits and vegetables all year round. We must learn to not buy these items and then maybe the stores will stop carrying them out of season, or at least let us know what we are buying, how it was produced, and where it is from.

[ios94]

As the 2 above mentioned, I have a hard time eating tomatoes in the winter, they all taste like cardboard, I'm at the Jean Talon Mrkt every weekend and I've tried a few but to no luck. Sorry, I'm spoiled I grow my own in the summer.

[bbeline]

Interesting. I have to admit that I didn't realize tomatoes are a summer treat!

[ScoobySnacks20]

Good luck with tomatoes in the winter here. Most if not all hydroponic tomatoes are pretty much garbage, they really the soil to impart flavour on top of the ripening.

I actually like to pick up earth tomatoes from wherever and let them ripen a little next to the window. Alwasy remember than tomatoes (and other fruits for that matter), do not have to look perfect to be good, on the contrary, the ugly ones tend to taste better

Cherry tomatoes also tend to have more taste than other rhydro varieties especially if you sauté them. If you are looking to cook them for a while, good (probably italian) canned tomatoes are the way to go, unless you thought of freezing the summer ones.

For carrots, look for organic produce as well as brown carrots, they will taste better. Unless you can find stemmed carrots, you can pretty much assume they came from last summers picking. (Carrots like potatoes and apples will not rot if kept in a dark refrigerated warehouse.)

As for the candy thermometer, it shoudl not be tough, I think even the Bay have them, there are specialty shops around the city too, where to you live?

[bbeline]

You would think they would have them at the Bay but they don't. To make candy you need a good accurate thermometer... not one of those glass ones. I've tried Stokes, that cooking specialty shop near the corner of Guy and St. Cath... all without luck.

[SnackHappy]

I google imaged the Taylor candy thermometer and I think I've seen one of those at Deco Découverte/Home Outfitters. I'm not sure though, but I can check next time I go. I don't konw why I still go to that place. They never have what I'm looking for. It was nice when it opened, though.

[spankyhorowitz]

I generally do not buy fresh tomatoes in the winter. I do eat some, but usually only in restaurants or when served them at other peoples homes.
I consider them a summer treat, because that is when they taste best.

For your candy thermometer, try one of many kitchen/cookery/restaurant supply shops.

I'd start with Dante, but that is near JT market - too far for you...
Look up restaurant supply in Verdun, maybe on google.

[bbeline]

Really! I was just at my Provigo today and saw said Savoura tomatoes... maybe I will try them. The entire plane thing does sit well with me either.

[SnackHappy]

That could have been a very privileged tomato, though. Most of the time I find the Savouras to be good enough. I certainly don't buy them in summer when those delicious field grown pink tomatoes are around. Pink tomatoes are the shizzy, yo!

[SnackHappy]

I don't know about the BEST tomatoes but I just ate a Savoura Beef (#4853) that was pretty darn tasty.

I'm not an expert so please correct me if I'm wrong, but I would expect that imported tomatoes, wether organic or not, wouldn't be very tasty. I'll take industrial greenhouse LOCAL in winter over stuff that had to take a plane to get here.