At the Saturday farmers market, in the coveted shade-adjacent corner spot, Delia Marsh stood behind a folding table bearing a hand-painted sign — THE SONORAN STANDARD: A TOMATO THAT STAYS — and a pyramid of medium-sized red tomatoes that she claims do not care about the heat.
“Six seasons,” said Marsh, who has been crossing varieties in her Green Valley backyard since 2020. “Six seasons of watching everything else quit in July. This one doesn't quit. This one barely notices.”
The claim has electrified the market's small but opinionated tomato community. “Every summer somebody has a miracle tomato,” said rival vendor Tom Okafor, two stalls down, arranging his own tomatoes with the serenity of a man who has seen miracles come and go. “Ask me in September.”
A Ledger taste test conducted on-site found the Sonoran Standard to be, in the considered opinion of this desk, a good tomato — bright, structured, unbothered. Whether it is a great tomato is a question the Food desk is prepared to revisit weekly, at the vendor's expense, through October.
The county extension office, asked to evaluate the heat-proof claim, said it “does not certify tomatoes” but allowed that August “has humbled stronger claims than this one.” August, reached for comment, said nothing, which is how it gets you.
The Food desk will follow the Sonoran Standard through the summer, a commitment it does not regret yet.