A Taste for Tomatoes

Malta, a small Island nation, has lots of people and very little land to grow crops, so family farms are small and the land is terraced and divided into many small family farms.  The Mediterranean climate favors the farmers with a long growing season.  However, tomatoes, the main crop grown on the farm we visited, are grown in a greenhouse.

Since the same soil is used year after year, they sterilize the soil by flooding it, covering it with clear plastic and letting the sun heat it up to a high temperature for 2 - 3 months before planting.  The growers start their tomatoes from seeds from Israel which has a similar climate.  When the plants reach about 2 feet high they attach a string from the top of the plant to a wire overhead.  As the plant grows the string is shortened and the lower leaves removed.  As fruit forms on the lowered area it is picked and the plant lowered so it has more room to grow and the stem, now without leaves or tomatoes, is coiled on the ground.  This way, tomatoes are ready to pick every 7 - 10 days, and all picking is at a reasonable height.  The greenhouse is totally enclosed, so pollination is done by boxes of bees imported from Holland.



Most of the tomatoes are sold at local markets, but some are sun dried or processed into sauce, jam or sauce.  The farm also grows other crops such as artichokes, olives, zucchini, figs, prickly pears, strawberries, grapes and peppers.  These are processed, bottled and sold, either individually by the jar or combined into "Christmas baskets" which are sold by mail order.  The local grapes, 2 kinds, are made into wine.  The wine must be aged in either stainless steel or glass, usually in small batches.  They tried oak barrels, but for some reason it did not work out for them.  The wine cellar is 10 meters (over 30 feet) below the surface in a cave dug out of solid limestone to keep the temperature constant.






















Now that we had seen how the food was grown and the wine made, it was time to taste all that they had grown, processed and made.

We were served fresh strawberries (the best!), dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sweet zucchini pickles, artichoke puree, olives, home made bread, tomatoes, olive oil, bread with tomato spread, olives and onions and a baked bread with a filling of diced vegetables and olive oil.  All of this could be washed down with water or your choice of red or white wine from their wine cellars.

The old cathedral in Mdina

Our drive to the farm took us out into the countryside with several towns in the distance.  We could see the churches in Mdina and Mosta in the distance, but did not go into the towns themselves.

The old Cathedral in Mosta

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We passed fields of wheat and all kinds of flowers and vegetables.

Since we had to stay in Valletta overnight due to Tunisia being cancelled, we went to a local chamber orchestra and choir concert at the huge, old cathedral in the old capital of Mdina.  The Cathedral was very ornate, huge, acoustically perfect and the perfect place for the concert, one of the best we have ever attended.

The town of Valletta on the north side of the island of Malta has been a trading center for hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years, partly because of its excellent harbor.  The harbor is highly fortified with walls and buildings made of the local limestone.  This makes it one of the prettiest harbors to sail into and out of.

Our docking site, right by the Old Town

The harbor entrance

Once we were outside the harbor, the pilot ship came along side so the harbor pilot could leave us to go to another ship.  At each port of call a local harbor pilot is required to come aboard and guide us into the harbor and get back on board when we leave to guide us out of the harbor.