When I was little, I hated eating Tomatoes. I was never forced to eat them; however, I ate them anyway because I wanted my blood to be ‘good’ as my mom always told us that tomatoes gave us ‘good blood’.

I think if my mom brought Piennolo Vine Tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius by Casa Barone, I would have a different childhood ‘tomato’ story.

I can eat Piennolo Vine Tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius by Casa Barone straight from the jar without them bothering my taste buds. I eat them almost like I eat cherries, the only difference here is I don’t have to spit out a seed.

I went to Gustiamo.com to find out what was so special about the Tomatoes because after all, I am not the only one who feels a certain way about them. They were mentioned in The New York Times, The Rosegarten Report, and Il Mattino.

They are from a region in Italy called Campania, which you may remember me mentioning before because that is also where the friarielli is made.

They are grown organically on Mount Vesuvius and benefit from the high concentration of minerals of the rich lava soil. Something a few of us think about when eating tomatoes, is the soil it came from.

The Piennolo tomato variety is the ONLY one included in the Slow Food Ark of endangered foods, which means that the tomato is rare and hard to find. (So be thankful that Gustiamo is selling them)!

The Piennolo by Casa Barone tomatoes are the ONLY certified organic tomato of its kind and has been growing on the Mount Vesuvius slopes since 1944. It is also DOP certified and they are one of the very few varieties recommended by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. This I thought was the most interesting after looking up the DOP acronym.

DOP, according to Michele Topor from Boston North End Market Tours stands for Denominazione d’Origine Protetta. Which means that these tomatoes are so special that the European Community makes sure it is the authentic tomato with a ‘homemade taste’ when it is sold.

It’s no wonder that everyone is talking about them!

Get your Piennolo Vine Tomatoes at Gustiamo.com.

This week, I did something I haven’t done in a long time, I fried chicken.

I wanted to serve Gustiamo’s Piennolo Vine Tomatoe’s in a different way.

I had them with pasta and Zenzero (thank God for Google Translate) told me how well they were with soup, even the New York Times suggested having them on your pizza but what about fried chicken?!

While I was cooking, I kept thinking how would I serve the tomatoes? Should I mix it with olive oil and garlic like Gustiamo suggested or just serve it plain.

Because I am used to cutting regular tomatoes and eating them without anything added, I even considered serving them straight from the jar.

And, that is what I did.I did not even heat them.

And, they tasted good. Actually, better than the “regular tomato” I’m used too.

My family had fried chicken, sweet yams and Piennolo Vine Tomatoes.