Jersey Fresh in Tucson

I never thought I would miss the flavor, the smell, and "meat" of a true New Jersey tomato until I spent my first summer and fall in Tucson.  You'd think that being so near to California, the freshest and juiciest beefsteak tomatoes would be arriving daily in all the local supermarkets and specialty grocers. Tucson is even blessed with 4 Trader Joe's, along with several other local organic-style grocers.  Wrong!  Oh, so very wrong.  I quickly learned that all the freshest produce is either shipped from Mexico, which is a mere 60 miles away, or from Wilcox, Arizona.  When you hear the name "Wilcox," it is said in such reverence that you can almost hear the choir of angels singing the name and giving praise to the glory of all the produce grown there.  Wilcox, AZ is north of Tucson and at a higher elevation, which means cooler temperatures and a bit more rain.  It is also the home of the largest array of hydroponic greenhouses in the southwest.  This is where Arizona gets it's tomatoes. While they may be better than your standard greenhouse tomato found in most supermarkets in the winter months, they are nothing like a "Jersey Fresh," vine-ripened tomato.  Give me a Rutgers Beefsteak, a Celebrity or whatever else you have got growing in your New Jersey soil and it will be 100 times better than a Wilcox tomato. 

I soon started thinking of ways to ship New Jersey tomatoes to Tucson.  My father, always the entrepreneur, as well as Jim suggested I become a distributor of New Jersey produce.  What?  With all my old New Jersey garden and farm contacts, from my time as a New Jersey Master Gardener, and the owners of all the farm stands I had come to know and faithfully supported with my vegetable and flower purchases all my life in New Jersey, surely here was a business opportunity and a way for me to get the tomatoes I was lusting for.

Being a marketing professional, I began with a little informal market analysis.  The grocery store managers in town I talked to were not much interested in switching produce distributors just to satisfy the wants of one tomato-obsessed east coast customer.  I then surveyed locals I met in the produce sections of the supermarkets, farmers' markets, and specialty grocers. I asked my neighbors and new friends about their preferences in tomatoes.  What came as a complete surprise to me was that most people I met didn't consider  the tomato to be a central part of their lives.  I soon learned that the primary demographic of Tucson is W.A.S.P. from the midwest and northwest.  With a dirth of east coast ethnicity; people trained from birth of the importance of the perfect tomato in making the best Italian sub sandwich, the best tomato sauce, the best tomato salad or anything containing a tomato, my passion for New Jersey's best and finist tomatoes fell on deaf ears. 

So, I decided I needed to set up a test market with my neighbors and friends.  The following spring, on my next trip to New Jersey, I arranged to have the owner of my favorite farm stand, a little place in Warren, New Jersey where I stopped on my way from work for 20 years, ship me a box of his very sweetest tomatoes at the peak of the growing season. All that spring and into mid-summer I counted the days until my shipment would arrive.  As the time to ship approached, I made sure to call the owner of the farm stand to confirm that all was going according to plan.  He assured me he would ship my tomatoes just as soon as they ripe, which would be either at the end of July or early August. 

What happened next could have been predicted.  My father and the rest of the family still live in New Jersey.  My father's scheduled heart surgery turned into an extended hospital stay, the result of a series of infections and medical complications. I found myself in New Jersey from the beginning of August until the beginning of October.  The second week that I was in New Jersey, Jim called to let me know that my box of 20 tomatoes had arrived safely in Tucson. Here I was, at the peak of New Jersey tomato season, staying at my father's house in south Jersey while he was hospitalized, and enjoying the tomato harvest of his backyard garden, along with that of all his neighbors. Jim, not having been raised in New Jersey or taught the value of a good tomato, was not too thrilled to be recruited as my surrogate for the launch of my Tucson Tomato Test Plan. Jim did share a few choice tomatoes with our neighbors and he managed to slice, cook, and freeze the rest for me.  Upon returning home, I may not have been able to conduct my market test plan, but thanks to Jim, I was happy to at least have a freezer full of New Jersey's tastiest tomatoes for my winter cooking.  My little foray into cross-country tomato distribution, cost me $100, including shipping.     

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