Cherry Tomato Salads to Wet Your Summer Tomato Whistle

And whet your appetite, until we're in full-blown tomato time.

Cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, and torn mozzarella, topped by a little arugula salad!

NO ONE NEEDS AN INTRODUCTION to tomatoes, do they? I mean: Thanks so much, but we’ve met, about a million times and in a million different places and in a million different ways. The average American—with the exception of my friend Alice, who claims they are “still raw in the middle”— eats over 30 pounds of tomatoes a year, according to the USDA.

And tomatoes have become such an integral part the world’s culinary fabric —they’re consumed fresh, canned, frozen, freeze dried, pickled, and preserved and incorporated into sauces, condiments, soups, juices, and many other foods; worldwide consumption is expected to reach 161 million metric tons by 2026—that earthlings seem almost overfamiliar with them.

Tomatoes at the produce stand closest to my house back when I lived in rural North Carolina

Tomatoes are ubiquitous, the Zelig of the produce world, blending into so many of the dishes we eat on repeat that we almost stop noticing them.