Beautiful, uniform, blemish free tomatoes
 

I normally grow larger beefsteak tomatoes, but now I want to compile a list of tomatoes that meet these four criteria: 1. Excellent old-time tomato taste even if they are the earlier, smaller fruited varieties. Some of the smaller ones tend to be somewhat sweeter, and that is OK, but I also would like varieties with a more tart, acidic taste. 2. Blemish-free appearance. The varieties that consistently produce beautiful, uniform tomatoes that are practically blemish-free with good eye-appeal. I am primarily interested in varieties that produce smooth, round globes and are free of cat-facing and ribbed shoulders or an irregular or fluted main body. 3. A relatively short date-to-maturity after transplanting time (less than 72 days) so I can have nice-looking tomatoes earlier, and plant a later crop that can mature well before frost. 4. By virtue of taste and appearance, would be an excellent market tomato.

We know that most of the cherry tomatoes are small and virtually perfect, so I'm more interested in somewhat larger varieties, that produce tomatoes up to about the 6-8-10 ounce range, including the bush varieties. I have a definite interest in the bush varieties since I can grow more in less space and they don't require the substantial staking or caging like the big beefsteaks need, such as Goliath.

Thanks in advance for what I expect to be a great list tasty and beautiful varieties suggested by the knowledgeable growers here at Tomatoville. I don't have much experience with these and I'd like to try a few while I still have time to grow them off before the cool weather sets in.

Don

I go with 4th of july hybrid for a fast good tasting golf ball size tomato, indeterminate.
This year I also added Independence day,a determinate plant it was based on, for a
variety of sizes per plant.
Bloody butcher is also a good smaller size tomato,indeterminate.

You'd probably enjoy Moonglow, a compact plant that produces multitudes of slightly tart perfectly round orange orbs from 6-8 oz AND it does well in a cage.

An added advantage is that Moonglow contains high amounts of Lycopene, even when eaten raw.

Linda

I've read a lot of good things about EVA Purple Ball, although it may be pretty small. I read that it's only 2 inches across, which makes it closer to a cherry than a beefsteak.

I loved Eva Purple Ball when I grew it, but it's not tart/acidic so I don't think you would like it.


Linda

Looking through Carolyn's book .......

Box Car Willie perhaps

My Big Beefs look like regulation tomatoes. Great taste, and look like the tomatoes in the grocery store.

Big Beef is a good one. It's second on my list to Goliath which is very close to being the perfect tomato for my area.

What about Park's Whopper? Isn't it about 65 DTM? Doesn't it meet all the requirements?

I've grown Red Racer for two years now and it is a dandy. It is in the process of replacing 4th of July as my go to early. The fruit is larger than 4th of July and, for me, it is consistently earlier. It has a tart, pleasant taste and, unlike 4th of July, splitting has been uncommon (on the other hand, the skin is on the tough side).

I live in Grand Fork ND, so early matters. So far this year, as of July 12, I have harvested 28 tomatoes off of 4 Red Racer plants. I harvested nine on July 2, a record for me. By comparison, I have harvested one tomato of off my one 4th of July. The fruit ranges from golf ball to egg (if you squash the egg and make it round)

This is my last year with 4th of July. While it is early, the harvest is spread out (so I don't get a lot of earlies and the late ones aren't worth bothering with). And the fruit splits easily, and I hate splits (but fruit flies and other insects love them).

Red Racer is a determinate and tops out at around 4' or so. Garden variety tomato cages work just fine with it. Its only is issue is a slightly too tough skin, but marinading it takes care of that issue. It is not a slicer. It is just something good to eat while I wait for the main crop to come in.

Red Racer is a All American selection (National) from 2018.

Estiva, a Johnny's Seeds introduction, is gorgeous mid-sized tomato that is slightly earlier than Big Beef (for me) and bears its fruit in an attractive (marketable) cluster. The plant is vigorous, the fruit is very tasty (with character), the fruit clusters are very attractive, and each fruit is a looker.

New Girl, also by Johnny's Seeds, is a week to ten days earlier than Big Beef (Early Girl season). The attractive fruit is more consistently sized than Early Girl (Early Girl's fruit size is all over the place for me, from sorta big to small), I think New Girl, while similar, is a better plant with better fruit.

Red Brandywine, Druzba, Arkansas Traveler, Lemon Boy, Azoychka for some ideas.

Hi Craig and thanks for the suggestions. I tried about 20 Arkansas Travelers this season and they didn't do well here at all. Very small fruit and not much of it. I'll try to get a picture to send you.

I may compile a new list from input here and things I've seen on the internet, and see which ones you like best. I hope Fusion will chime in, too, because we are in the same zone with the same weather and live less than 100 miles apart. I've been over there several times to get seedlings in the past and he always has lots of tomato info for our area..
Thanks again. This is getting more and more interesting.
Don

Thessaloniki
 

According to my tomato growing diary, Thessaloniki comes to mind. Great tasting, old fashioned taste, probably 75 DTM here in FL. Grows 5 or 6 tomatoes in truss and always has smooth, round globe tomatoes about 6 to 8 oz size fruit. I always have to support the branches because sometimes the tomato truss will break from the weight of the tomatoes. They are mid-season and indeterminate. It's one of my top 10 tomato varieties that I grow each tomato season. Good production as well for me.

Eva Purple Ball is in the almost Big Beef size category (2-300g), certainly not small (although size varies quite a bit more than Big Beef). They are rounder than Big Beef which is a bit more flat.
I've grown some blemish free types, but none so close as EPB to the round type.

Neves Azorean Red is a very big dark red (maybe too big?), very attractive, but more flattened.