Jan Bilton: Slip, slop, slap those tomatoes

Tomatoes are great raw or cooked.

Tomatoes are versatile and make happy marriages - raw or cooked - with myriad ingredients.

There are so many varieties. Acid-free or roma or plum tomatoes have firm flesh and not too many seeds, ideal for making delicious pasta sauces that can be preserved to liven up meals later in the year. The big beefsteak is great for frying with bacon or for adding to casseroles. Heirloom tomatoes have been popular for a couple of years, especially with chefs because of their unusual colours, but having grown heirlooms twice, I now prefer more common varieties that provide bigger crops.

Cherry and pear tomatoes are cluster varieties that are excellent for snacking on or whole in salads.

One of the simplest but most delectable ways to enjoy juicy, ripe, flavoursome red tomatoes is to chop them coarsely and add to a slurry of extra-virgin olive oil, crushed garlic and freshly ground black pepper.

Scoop it on to bruschetta or use it as a dip.

I also love tomatoes grilled then topped with a little olive oil, chopped parsley and capers.

Store tomatoes - stem end down, according to some experts - in a cool, dark place, but preferably not the refrigerator. Tomatoes lose flavour stored in very cold conditions.

Five medium-size tomatoes weigh about 500g and will fill about two cups when skinned and diced.

Sunburn cure: Tomatoes are great for soothing and healing sunburn.

Crush half a tomato and mix it with two tablespoons of plain yoghurt.

Apply this concoction to your face, neck, hands or feet. Wash it off after 20 minutes.

Tomato cools the skin and neutralises the surface while yoghurt gives it a much-needed protein boost and leaves it soft and supple.