Tomato

Sit with a tomato for a moment before you cut it. Feel the weight in your palm, and let your fingers press gently into the skin — a ripe one feels heavy for its size, and gives just slightly under your thumb. Choose by smell too — hold it to your nose, near the stem. A tomato worth cooking with smells strong and full, like the garden it came from. Skin should be taut, not wrinkled or bruised. Give it a little squeeze, and you should feel the flesh yield, juicy and fragrant, right through to the middle.

Some people say the redder the tomato, the tastier it is. No! Plenty of deep red tomatoes are grown for looks and shipping, not taste, and colour alone won't tell you what's happening underneath the skin. Pick one just for its shine, skip the smell and the squeeze, and you'll find out too late at the table — it looks perfect, smells of almost nothing, and tastes just as dull as it smells. Pick up the tomato, smell it, press it gently. Trust your hands and your nose together, and your sauce will thank you for it.