Consumption

Welcome to the transformation and consumption stage for our tomato! Chef Katherine is showing us the beauty of fresh heirloom tomatoes in a Tomato and Halloumi Panzanella Salad. 

Heirloom vegetables are old varieties of plants that have been handed down through generations.  They differ from most vegetables you might find at a grocery store that are grown to be predictable in taste and size.  Heirloom tomatoes come in all sorts of fun shapes, colours, textures, and taste, and names such as Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, and Green Zebra. 

The other star of this recipe is the halloumi cheese. Halloumi is a semi hard cheese made from sheep and goat milk that is traditionally from Cyprus, and the best part about this salty cheese is that it has a high melting point, so it can be fried or grilled.  

Whether a cheese is soft and gooey, or stringy and melty, or hard and grillable depends a lot on the cheesemaking process, and the cheese’s molecular makeup.  To ooze or to stretch, a cheese must have a flexible network of proteins.  Halloumi is transformed through a long high heat cooking process that creates a rubbery, semi-firm texture that "squeaks" between the teeth and results in a high melting point, which means it softens when heated but doesn't melt entirely.

Halloumi is one of chef Katherine’s  FAVOURITE cheeses to cook with in the summer on a grill.

Learn more about this summer favourite and the perfect way to show off heirloom tomatoes here. 

Welcome to the transformation and consumption stage for our tomato! Join Chef Ryan as he makes restaurant-worthy Roasted Tomato Soup! 

How this recipe would be prepared in a processing facility for canned soup found at the grocery store, and how it's prepared at home or in a restaurant are very different, but both are considered the same stage of the food system. If you don’t find that to be super clear, or even find it a little confusing, that's okay! Our Food System is complex and constantly changing, and often different parts of it overlap.

This recipe relies on the maillard reaction and caramelization for sweetness and flavour. The maillard reaction refers to the interaction of protein and food sugars which creates unique colours, smells, and flavours. 
Follow the link to make this delicious soup at home!

For more agri-food programs, resources, and education, connect with the following organizations to learn more!