Lucky Lee has been selling vine-ripened Florida tomatoes for decades, mainly to restaurants in winter. Now she has a new one, a hefty crimson beefsteak. It’s meaty, juicy, flavorful and, yes, a winter tomato that’s actually worth buying. Called the Tasti-Lee, it is a hybrid developed by Jay Scott, a tomato breeder at the University of Florida. The Lee part of the name, though, has nothing to do with Ms. Lee, the distributor who has just introduced them in the New York area; Mr. Scott named the tomato in honor of his late mother-in law, Leocadia Czarnomski.
Tasti-Lee tomatoes come two to a package, about a pound, for $2.50 until mid-February, and $3.50 after that, at Agata & Valentina, Eataly, Gourmet Garage and at Tarry Market in Port Chester, N.Y. They are available by the case (24 packages of two tomatoes each) for $56, plus shipping, from www.baldorfood.com.
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