Tomatoville® Gardening Forums

Thanks for your kind comments.

First of all, not all the tomatoes were ripe enough for tasting today. Secondly, I'm really not good at describing taste...at all..I either like them or I don't and for the most part, I don't. I taste 'em plain, near a sink, compare 'em to my faves and it's thumbs up or thumbs down. But since some of you asked, I'll share my thoughts about these few...just this once...

JD's is a fave from last year and it's the only larger tomato that I regrew from last year's list. This year it hasn't been as good as I remember- the fruits are a bit larger but they have kind of a mushy texture. The Black of Tula I had earlier in the week was a much better dark for me...it's a repeat fave from a couple years back.

Didn't care for Elfie at all- sliced up the rest of the mater for drying. Too mild- not at all sweet. I wanted to like it because it's a lovely color and fairly early...and has a cute name.

Grub's Mystery Green was good tasting but I've only tried one. Not good for snacking, but for sandwiches maybe. I ate one slice and cut the rest up for DH's tacos...which tells you a lot. It got quite yellow on the bottom when it got ripe so that helped me know when to pick, but there's something about eating a green tomato that makes it hard for me to like it as much as a tomato of any other color. DH thinks it's weird, too, when he sees it diced on a plate for his tacos. It would be beautiful sliced on a plate with other colors. It might be my favorite green-when-ripe so far...I'd have to try it against Aunt Ruby's German Green...but probably won't.

Fish Lake Oxheart was nice in taste and texture. It could have been a bit riper and it's not sweet like I prefer, but was good for a not sweet, not quite ripe tomato. I'm glad I liked it as much as I did because it's such a pretty pink, has set a lot of tomatoes, is the earliest heart this year, and I got the seed from Carolyn's offer. Too bad it got a really bad case of Septoria and had to be wrapped in shadecloth to avoid losing all the lower fruits to sunscald.

Sylvan Guame wasn't ripe enough to cut. It's got a pretty shape but it seems to be taking a long time to develop full color and it's not nearly as early as I thought it was going to be. It also has been comparatively stingy with the fruit and got EB really badly.

Goose Creek does not appear to be the pink that it was supposed to be but rather the red kind like I grew last year and didn't care for- and that's how I felt about it again today...oh well.

Amarillo was just ok for me- a bit mild & fruity and sweet, but thick skinned... nothing special and I'm not really into the salad-size tomatoes- thought it was more of a cherry type than it is.

Black Mountain Pink-Not was not Black Mountain Pink- and it was a spitter- and it turned out to be salad-sized. Three strikes- it will get pulled. Maybe I'll try again next year.

The Aldi Orange Grape had a really good flavor but I'm not fond of the texture of the grape tomatoes- so crunchy. It was the second time I tried one and this time I let it get a lot more ripe on the vine. Not as good as Sungold, although it has a similar taste, and that's what I'm hoping to find in an open-pollinated variety.

Mini Romano tasted like, well, a mini Romano- so what's the point? It's cute, I guess, but not my idea of snack food. Good for salads, maybe, for some extra crunch and color.

Jaune Flamme is too biting for me-wowee! It went in the dehydrator with the Elfie remains but I'm not sure why I think I'll like it more after the flavor is more concentrated by the drying process. Think I'll let the next one ripen more on the vine and see if it helps.

Cherrio, Remy Rouge and Mexican Cocktail were ripe enough to try today, but for a red cherry I do like Matt's Wild Cherry better than any of them; although I liked Mexican Cocktail the best of the three and so far it's much better behaved than Matt's Wild Cherry. Sara's Galapagos had more zip than sweet.

Mom's Big Red Grapes and Medovaya Kapla aren't ripe enough yet but both are bigger than I like for a cherry. They're also feeling really hard but maybe they'll soften as they ripen. Bigger than one bite with a cherry makes a mess unless you're inside with a knife. Rideau Sweet also needs more time on the counter.

So that's it for today's tasting...over 200 to go. I will taste all these again, with the exception of the spitter. I grow a lot of varieties each year because I don't care for most of them and I'm looking for a few winners that grow well for me. Please don't be influenced by anything I've said about any of these tomatoes. My neighbors will probably think they're all terrific, just like last year. It's for the best if I just declare my few winners at season's end...or not.;)

Kath