Look Back: History of the "Pittston Tomato'

Aug. 14—Beginning in late July through the fall season in the mid-to-late 1800s, advertisements began to appear in newspapers of farm produce for sale.

Several of the advertisements highlighted tomatoes growing in and around the Pittston area.

"In the lowlands along the Susquehanna River at Pittston, the tomato appears to get a growth and flavor that cannot be found in other districts of Northeastern Pennsylvania," read a newspaper advertisement published June 23, 1911.

As Pittston is known as the "Tomato Capital of the World," the 37th Pittston Tomato Festival kicks off Aug. 18.

An estimated 75,000 people are expected to attend the four day event wrapping up on Aug. 21. Their website promotes the event "as one of the best festivals in Northeastern Pennsylvania."

So how did the Pittston Tomato Festival begin?

It was the idea of Pittston resident Val Delia.

But one must look back at the geology of the Wyoming Valley.

In the 1800s, tomatoes were picked green from farms in southern states and shipped via canals, boats and railroads ripening red during the long transport to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Those southern tomatoes did not have the texture and taste compared to tomatoes grown from Tunkhannock to Shickshinny. In the middle of the two distant towns is Pittston.

"The Pittston Tomato got its name back in the 1930s from New York and New Jersey wholesalers who gave it the name because Pittston was the largest city in the strip at the time," the Times Leader reported Aug. 24, 1984.

Usually in the middle to the end of July each year, tomatoes grown on farms in the Wyoming Valley were beginning to ripen starting the selling season and shipments east to New Jersey and New York via railroad.

Tomatoes were such a common fruit in the Wyoming Valley that tomato recipes were published in newspapers.

Recipes for tomato catsup (spelling in a 1867 newspaper), tomato soup and believe it or not, tomato wine and tomato pudding.

The recipe for tomato pudding called for boiling tomatoes to remove the skins, place in dish with bread crumbs, and add sugar, butter, pepper, salt, eggs and bake for 20 minutes.

The Aug. 24, 1984, story in the Times Leader reported the first ever Pittston Tomato Festival.

Organizers in Pittston formed several committees in 1983 to plan the first ever Pittston Tomato Festival held Aug. 24 to Aug. 26, 1984.

"The tomato festival was something many people laughed at, something a lot of people thought would never be more than a crazy idea," the Times Leader reported June 21, 1984.

The idea to start the Pittston Tomato Festival is credited to Val Delia who lobbied for more than 15 years for Pittston to host a festival honoring the tomato.

"Delia who has been growing tomatoes in his backyard for about 30 years says Pittston tomatoes are the best-tasting tomatoes in the world and the strip (Tunkhannock to Shickshinny) is a natural resource the area should use to get publicity," reported the June 21, 1984, story.

Ken Scaz, the organizer for the first Pittston Tomato Festival, is quoted in the Times Leader, Aug. 27, 1984, story saying his expectations were blown away by the thousands of people who patronized the first festival. Scaz estimated the festival would continue in the years to come.

"Pittston showed signs of life and vitality during the festival," the Times Leader reported.

So why do tomatoes grown in the strip between Tunkhannock and Shickshinny taste the best?

Delia explains in a Times Leader story published Aug. 10, 1988: ""New York merchants used the term Pittston Tomato as a tag for all the tomatoes shipped from a fertile Pennsylvania crescent hugging the Susquehanna River from Tunkhannock to Shickshinny. Delia who first heard of the fertile crescent as a child during the Depression says the favorable blend of ascrobic acids in the anthracite soil is the ticket to good tomato flavor."

There you have it.

Now I'm hungry for a grilled cheese sandwich dunked in tomato soup.