We solicited and received way more tomato-related tidbits than we had space for in today's cover story on eating tomatoes from morning to night.

Like: At Balsan in the Elysian Hotel, tomatoes are the supporting player this month and next. The hotel pre-ordered 2,000 pounds of the fruit from Heritage Prairie Farm in La Fox. It's just about time for the farm to make that delivery, after which the kitchen will be busy; 1,200 pounds have been allotted to make ketchup, 500 pounds for preserved tomatoes and the rest for pizza sauce. Not surprisingly, Balsan isn't the only kitchen around town going nuts for tomatoes.

For backyard gardeners taking notes, farmer Chris Covelli of Tomato Mountain offers this: "Water only as much as necessary. If you let the soil dry out, they taste incredible. And always harvest the day before watering, not the day after."

For tasting notes and photos of various heirloom varieties, check out this link from the Local Beet.

And if nothing about our story inspired you, there's always last year's.