SeeCalifornia.com

Pictured: Oxnard Salsa Festival sizzles with tomatoes a key ingredient to this hot ticket, FREE ADMISSION event featuring a special concert with legendary Latin/Salsa jazz artist Pete Escovedo.

How important is the California tomato? For  Italian restaurants it’s survival. Chefs gotta’ have tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste to make customers’ favorite dishes — like spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna, pizza and Caprese salad. Without processed tomatoes (mostly grown in California,) Little Caesars, Pizza Hut and Domino’s would go belly up.

For consumers the TOMATO NEWS is great:

• Tomatoes have lypocene, an antioxidant shown to prevent cancer.
• Consuming tomatoes, tomato sauce and even pizza twice a week is associated with a slightly reduced risk of prostate cancer.
• Research has shown benefits against cervical, stomach and other cancers.
• A glass of tomato juice containing one, 4-ounce tomato supplies about 1/3rd of the daily RDA for vitamin C, plus a little beta carotene, potassium, folic acid and other B vitamins, iron and fiber.

For the California economy, TOMATOES mean money!

• Tomatoes – $1.05 billion crop (more or less) annually
• California is nation’s top producer of processed tomatoes
• 12.3 million tons produced in 2018, according to USDA

Now let’s CELEBRATE TOMATOES!

SACRAMENTO: Sacramento’s Midtown hosts Sacratomato Festival Week for an entire week! July 22-28, 2019

CAPAY: Capay Tomato Festival July 20, 2019 serves up Farm Fresh To You / Capay Organic tomatoes and dishes at its annual event — a down home celebration!

OXNARD: Get your tomato fix at the annual Oxnard Salsa Festival July 27-28, 2019

COMING SOON!

• FAIRFIELD: Fairfield Tomato Festival in August
• AMADOR CITY: Amador City Tomato Festival in August
• OJAI: Boccali Tomato Festival in September
• SANTA ROSA: National Heirloom Tomato Festival in September
• WINDSOR: Windsor Tomato & Pepper Fest in September
• LOS BANOS: Los Banos Tomato Festival in October