It’s All in the Latitude

Have you noticed it’s been hot lately? That’s a good thing—if you love tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and eggplant. They like it hot so I’m trying to be grateful that the weather is helping lots of tomatoes and eggplant ripen, making hot peppers hotter, sweet peppers a little bigger, and zucchini—well, zucchini just grows and grows.

I’ve pondered previously on these blog about Cincinnati tomatoes, or let’s say Ohio River Valley tomatoes to be more inclusive. Why are the so good? It can’t be the soil itself, because our soil is mostly clay and not all that great (though here at the Enright CSA, our gardens are of course enhanced by all the great work done by the Soil and Bed Preparation Teams!).

Tomatoes and eggplant and squash and peppers are all crops that do well in the Mediterranean region (those vegetables and fruits—yeah, tomatoes are fruit—turn up in Italian and Greek cooking a lot). What do we have in common with the Mediterranean? Well, what we have in common with the countries around the Mediterranean Sea is latitude.

It’s a little hard to believe in February when we are up to our earpans in snow, but look at a map—the latitude of Athens, Greece, is about 37 degrees above the Equator. The latitude of Rome, Italy, is 41 degrees north of the Equator. And what is the latitude of Cincinnati, Ohio? We’re right between those two cities, at 39 degrees north.

What we have that they don’t have is humidity. My daughter, who’s living just north of Rome this summer, reports that it’s “dry heat” over there. I’d like to think the humidity hereabouts is a positive when it comes to growing Mediterranean crops, though—we get the same amount of heat and sunshine as the Mediterranean region, being at the same latitude, but the crops we grow also get just a little extra moisture with all of our nice humidity, right?

Okay, maybe that’s stretching it. But the next time you’re thinking of something to do with all that great basil (a popular Mediterranean herb, too), tomatoes, peppers, and other semi-tropical produce, just thank the old Mercator map that we’re at just the right latitude to enjoy all these delicious foods as locally grown crops. Ciao!