Edit History

You may be surprised that I'm including these here. Nothing exotic about them. Well, I'm not trying to show you "exotic", but what we get in China. In fact, one of the Chinese names for this item suggests that the Chinese once found them exotic.

 

西红柿/西紅柿 (Mand: xī hóng shì; Cant: sai1 hung4 ci2) literally means 'western red persimmon'. The other, equally common name is 番茄 (Mand: fān qié; Cant: faan1 ke4*2) and they are tomatoes.

 

 

The quality of what we get is average. I've had worse. My problem is getting my nearest supermarket to stop shelving them in the chill cabinets and ruining them. In season, we also get them on the vine, which improves them.

 

 

They are not so common in Chinese cuisine as in many western cuisines, although there are a few well-known dishes that use them.  Best known is scrambled egg with tomatoes, the one dish that every Chinese person over five-years-old can cook. Often the only dish some can cook.

 

 

Other dishes that come to mind are Nanning's "Old Friend's Noodles" and Guilin's Beer Fish and a few Sichuan dishes.

 

These tomatoes are always displayed in the vegetable sections of supermarkets and on vegetable stalls in farmers' markets.

 

Cherry tomatoes are sold separately in the table fruit sections and stalls. The Chinese consider them to be unrelated.  In Mandarin, to my delight, they are known as 圣女果 (Mand: shèng nǚ guǒ) which means "Saintly Women Fruit", There  may be no saintly women in Cantonese speaking areas as they don't use this term, but instead go for 车厘茄 (Cant: ce1 lei4 ke4*2) which doesn't really mean anything at all.

Cherry tomatoes most often turn up in fruit salads in western restaurants or are simple eaten as a table fruit. My Chinese friends are always surprised that I use them in savoury dishes.

 

 

These, too turn up on the vine at the appropriate time of year. They are also dried and sold as a snack item. These I like a lot, although I usually dry them myself.

 

 

Canned , imported tomatoes are only generally available on-line at silly prices.

 

Edit April 2023

I recently came across these canned tomatoes from Xinjiang, China's westernmost province. They're good and reasonably priced.

 

 

 

 

You may be surprised that I'm including these here. Nothing exotic about them. Well, I'm not trying to show you "exotic", but what we get in China. In fact, one of the Chinese names for this item suggests that the Chinese once found them exotic.

 

西红柿/西紅柿 (Mand: xī hóng shì; Cant: sai1 hung4 ci2) literally means 'western red persimmon'. The other, equally common name is 番茄 (Mand: fān qié; Cant: faan1 ke4*2) and they are tomatoes.

 

 

The quality of what we get is average. I've had worse. My problem is getting my nearest supermarket to stop shelving them in the chill cabinets and ruining them. In season, we also get them on the vine, which improves them.

 

 

They are not so common in Chinese cuisine as in many western cuisines, although there are a few well-known dishes that use them.  Best known is scrambled egg with tomatoes, the one dish that every Chinese person over five-years-old can cook. Often the only dish some can cook.

 

 

Other dishes that come to mind are Nanning's "Old Friend's Noodles" and Guilin's Beer Fish and a few Sichuan dishes.

 

These tomatoes are always displayed in the vegetable sections of supermarkets and on vegetable stalls in farmers' markets.

 

Cherry tomatoes are sold separately in the table fruit sections and stalls. The Chinese consider them to be unrelated.  In Mandarin, to my delight, they are known as 圣女果 (Mand: shèng nǚ guǒ) which means "Saintly Women Fruit", There  may be no saintly women in Cantonese speaking areas as they don't use this term, but instead go for 车厘茄 (Cant: ce1 lei4 ke4*2) which doesn't really mean anything at all.

Cherry tomatoes most often turn up in fruit salads in western restaurants or are simple eaten as a table fruit. My Chinese friends are always surprised that I use them in savoury dishes.

 

 

These, too turn up on the vine at the appropriate time of year. They are also dried and sold as a snack item. These I like a lot, although I usually dry them myself.

 

 

Canned , imported tomatoes are only generally available on-line at silly prices.

 

You may be surprised that I'm including these here. Nothing exotic about them. Well, I'm not trying to show you "exotic", but what we get in China. In fact, one of the Chinese names for this item suggests that the Chinese once found them exotic.

 

西红柿/西紅柿 (Mand: xī hóng shì; Cant: sai1 hung4 ci2) literally means 'western red persimmon'. The other, equally common name is 番茄 (Mand: fān qié; Cant: faan1 ke4*2) and they are tomatoes.

 

 

The quality of what we get is average. I've had worse. My problem is getting my nearest supermarket to stop shelving them in the chill cabinets and ruining them. In season, we also get them on the vine, which improves them.

 

 

They are not so common in Chinese cuisine as in many western cuisines, although there are a few well-known dishes that use them.  Best known is scrambled egg with tomatoes, the one dish that every Chinese person over five-years-old can cook. Often the only dish some can cook.

 

 

Other dishes that come to mind are Nanning's "Old Friend's Noodles" and Guilin's Beer Fish and a few Sichuan dishes.

 

These tomatoes are always displayed in the vegetable sections of supermarkets and on vegetable stalls in farmers' markets.

 

Cherry tomatoes are sold separately in the table fruit sections and stalls. The Chinese consider them to be unrelated.  In Mandarin, to my delight, they are known as 圣女果 (Mand: shèng nǚ guǒ) which means "Saintly Women Fruit", There  may be no saintly women in Cantonese speaking areas as they don't use this term, but instead go for 车厘茄 (Cant: ce1 lei4 ke4*2) which doesn't really mean anything at all.

Cherry tomatoes most often turn up in fruit salads in western restaurants or are simple eaten as a table fruit. My Chinese friends are always surprised that I use them in savoury dishes.

 

 

These, too turn up on the vine at the appropriate time of year. They are also dried and sold as a snack item. These I like a lot, although I usually dry them myself.