Heirlooms NOT to grow!

[Tracydr]

I don't think I've seen many good reviews of yellow pear.

While I loved Yellow Pear as a child, most folks today don't seem to like it. It may be my "growing wild in the neighborhood" yellow pear tasted different than today's commercial variety. Mine had a full, rich tomato flavor. Today, reports from gardeners claim it is bland and almost tasteless.

Ted

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by tedln

While I loved Yellow Pear as a child, most folks today don't seem to like it. It may be my "growing wild in the neighborhood" yellow pear tasted different than today's commercial variety. Mine had a full, rich tomato flavor. Today, reports from gardeners claim it is bland and almost tasteless.

Ted

I used to grow them and liked them.
I would let the fruit get almost orange on the vine then they had a flavor.

Worth

[NewWestGardener]

I like Yellow Pear, and am growing them again this year.
And I won't waste my time trying Black Cherry again, too late, too bland for me. Chocolate Cherry is a better alternative, although they have a tendency to split.
Weird, eh?

[shelleybean]

I like Red Pear more than Yellow Pear. It has more flavor, though still not a knock your socks off kind of flavor. Both colors are very cute and make great dried tomatoes. Drying might concentrate the flavor a bit.

[Wi-sunflower]

When I was young up til about 25 years ago, I used to like Yellow Plum. Personally I don't like the after-bite that most reds have so Yellow Plum was about the only tomato I liked.

But that was before I found heirlooms of all the other colors and flavors. Also about that time Sun Gold came out. Now Yellow Plum is just so BLAH in comparison. Of course nothing quite equals the sweetness and fruity flavor of the Sun Gold / Sun Sugar varieties. But so many others are more flavorful than Yellow Plum. Even other yellows like Yellow Submarine and Medovaya Kaplya (sp?) and Dr Carolyn.

But so much depends on location and weather from year to year. Most years I rank Black Cherry, Chocolate Cherry and Brown Berry in that order with Black Cherry the best and Brown Berry nearly tasteless. But 2 or 3 years ago, Brown Berry was absolutely the best. Go figure. Most years Dr Carolyn is very good but last year it was just a watery bag of seeds. Again, go figure.

Carol

[walt456]

I realize taste is a very subjective thing, however there is one heirloom I can't imagine any one would find enjoyable. The Hank plants I grew last year were so beautiful and loaded with fruit but after tasting them most were left on the vines to rot. I wouldn't even risk adding them to my canned tomatoes. Every single person that sampled them spit them out.

[bughunter99]

Mr. Stripey: Blech
Japanese Black Trifile: Very pretty, but blech
Silvery Fir Tree; Different but ptooey, blech
Sungold: Fruitflies stuck to tomato cracks--blech

Stacy

[Cole_Robbie]

Out of the 100+ varieties I got from swaps, Mr Stripey and OSU Blue are the only two I'm not going to start.

[joseph]

I don't give tomato varieties second chances... If I try a variety and it does really poorly then it's not welcome in my garden. There are many varieties that do great every time I plant them. That's the varieties that I want in my garden. If a tomato does well only if the weather is perfect for it and not in other years, then it doesn't fit in with my way of doing things. Sorry about it's luck. Doesn't matter how rare it is, or how old, or how tasty, or how famous. If it doesn't grow well every year that I plant it, then it doesn't get re-planted.

[nathan125]

Joseph gets it.

[Tomato Beth]

I'm with Joseph on this one. I hear rave reviews on Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate, but last year, Cherokee Chocolate was late and a poor producer in my south central PA garden. I wasn't impressed, even though the taste was quite good. I just can't see giving the small space I do have to a tomato that only makes 3 or 4 tomatoes.

The Myona tomatoes planted right next to it produced like crazy and had a great taste.

I won't give up space for San Marzano, either. I know paste tomatoes are supposed to be dry, but this one was like eating a sawdust-dry, mealy, tasteless rind with a few seeds hanging out in an empty cavity. I'll take Myona, Amish Paste and Kenosha Paste over that any day. Maybe it would be better if I gave it a second chance, but my other pastes taste a whole lot better!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tomato Beth

I'm with Joseph on this one. I hear rave reviews on Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate, but last year, Cherokee Chocolate was late and a poor producer in my south central PA garden. I wasn't impressed, even though the taste was quite good. I just can't see giving the small space I do have to a tomato that only makes 3 or 4 tomatoes.

The Myona tomatoes planted right next to it produced like crazy and had a great taste.

I won't give up space for San Marzano, either. I know paste tomatoes are supposed to be dry, but this one was like eating a sawdust-dry, mealy, tasteless rind with a few seeds hanging out in an empty cavity. I'll take Myona, Amish Paste and Kenosha Paste over that any day. Maybe it would be better if I gave it a second chance, but my other pastes taste a whole lot better!

Have you ever planted out Cherokee Purple and cherokee Chocolate at the same time so you can compare them directly? And I ask b'c they are the same in all ways exceot CP has a clear epidermis and CC a yellow epidermis which makes for a darker fruit.

I haven't seen anyone refer to Myona in a very long time.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/M...b=General_Info

Tania doesn't really have the right background info, all I'll say is that it is still listed in the 2015 SSE Yearbook and my seeds were from John Rahart, a dentisit whose father was Andrew Rahart, who collected many other great varieties as well, and John shared them with me. But do you think I can remember any of them now? Nope, I'd have to go to some older SSE Yearbooks to try and find them.

I agree that Kenosha Paste is a good one, I offered it in my seed offer here for many years, but do not agree about Amish paste being a paste variety, far too juicy with too many seeds. Years ago some varieties where named paste tomatoes b'c of just shape and another one that was called a paste, but isn't, is Lillin's Red Kansas paste.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/L...d_Kansas_Paste

Most consider it as a paste b'c it has Paste as part of the variety name. it's a great variety, though.

Carolyn

[clkeiper]

I totally agree with Carolyn on this....Amish Paste.. Is NOT a paste. that is for sure. way too juicy. I won't grow it unless someone asks me for it specifically and I only grow enough for them. None to sell to anyone else.

[Tomato Beth]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I haven't seen anyone refer to Myona in a very long time.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/M...b=General_Info

Tania doesn't really have the right background info, all I'll say is that it is still listed in the 2015 SSE Yearbook and my seeds were from John Rahart, a dentisit whose father was Andrew Rahart, who collected many other great varieties as well, and John shared them with me. But do you think I can remember any of them now? Nope, I'd have to go to some older SSE Yearbooks to try and find them.

I agree that Kenosha Paste is a good one, I offered it in my seed offer here for many years, but do not agree about Amish paste being a paste variety, far too juicy with too many seeds.

Carolyn

I received Myona as an 'extra' in a tomato seed order and decided to give them a try. Those two plants ended up being one of my best producers last year. The RL vines got really tall and had to be staked. My fruit was long and pointy like Tania's pictures show, but I wouldn't call them small. They were not dry at all.

Kenosha Paste is my new favorite, however. The flavor was fantastic.

Originally Posted by clkeiper

I totally agree with Carolyn on this....Amish Paste.. Is NOT a paste. that is for sure. way too juicy. I won't grow it unless someone asks me for it specifically and I only grow enough for them. None to sell to anyone else.

I'd agree that Amish Paste really isn't a paste, but it's kind of Roma-shaped, which I think is why people keep calling it a paste. It does cook down with a nice flavor, at least. We enjoyed it in bruschetta and salsa, too.