Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
February 10, 2009 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: California Central Valley
Posts: 2,540
|
"best of" lists from group gatherings?
Here and there I've noticed some tomato descriptions include a tag line "voted best at [name of regional gathering] [year]." Has anyone compiled best-of lists from all the regional gatherings? It'd be interesting to see if there are regional trends.
In my garden, the "best" tomato is different every year because of weather, high proportion of new-to-me varieties each year, placement in garden, attractiveness to squirrels, etc. |
February 10, 2009 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Rockvale, TN Zone 7A
Posts: 526
|
I have had a small gathering for the past three years. Usually there are 15-20 people voting. They are comprised of my family and friends who grow my plants for the most part. There were usually about a dozen varieties sampled. Here are some of the varieties that have finished in the top 3:
Mong Green Zebra (don't ask me, I didn't vote for it) Stump of the World Earl's Faux Mortgage Lifter Berkeley Tie-Dye (best multi-color I have ever tasted) Yellow Perfection mater |
February 10, 2009 | #3 |
Tomatopalooza™ Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NC-Zone 7
Posts: 2,186
|
Check out the Tomatopalooza forum for a synopsys of the
favorites from each event. Also the CHOPTAG forum may list their annual best tasting winners. Lee
__________________
Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread. |
February 11, 2009 | #4 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
|
Quote:
And I don't put too much on what any tasting results are in terms of "best" varieties b'c you have to know what the competition was in order to make any sense of it and when there are a large number of varieties present for tasting not everyone tastes everything, and finally, not everyone bothers to fill out the forms to rate the various varieties. Been there, done that, used to hold lots of tomato tastings in the past.
__________________
Carolyn |
|
February 11, 2009 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Rockvale, TN Zone 7A
Posts: 526
|
A bit off topic but I should mention that my friend, Perry, is getting quite good at growing heirloom tomatoes. I introduced them to him, or vice versa, about 4 years ago. Being an old geezer like me he was already an experienced gardener. So, he has been growing my plants ever since and last year built raised beds. The Green Zebra and Yellow Perfection entries mentioned above are Perry's babies. Sometimes a little tomatoevangelism goes a long way.
Rik ain't doin' too bad, either. mater |
February 11, 2009 | #6 |
Buffalo-Niagara Tomato TasteFest™ Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Z6 WNY
Posts: 2,354
|
Over here on the Niagara Frontier, Earl's Faux won best in 2007, and Stump of the World won best in 2008. Sweetest went to Sungold both years.
Remy
__________________
"I wake to sleep and take my waking slow" -Theodore Roethke Yes, we have a great party for WNY/Ontario tomato growers every year on Grand Island! Owner of The Sample Seed Shop |
February 12, 2009 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 5,346
|
I'm not so quick to dismiss formal or informal winners at tomato tastings as long as some heavy hitters are present. Earl's Faux and Stump of the World are IMO, heavy hitters.
JD's Special C-Tex was especially delicious at the 2007 SETTFest. Despite the scoresheets and an attempt to quantify tomatoes, there were just too many tomatoes and too little data to really count. As I found when I visited Suze's place, tasting more than 30 tomato varieties in a row is quite difficult. Over 50 seems unlikely in one sitting. We didn't have any scoring sheets or make any attempt at accuracy in 2008, but as I was going down Michael Gunn's table, preparing samples of different varieties, it was by pure chance that I sampled Mountaineer Mystery. In fact I did not expect much as the tomato was very large and cracked at the top. However it was exceptional. I had Suze and a few others come over and they felt that it was the best or one of the best at the event. Now again neither of these were quantified results, but the number of people who saved seeds of Mountaineer Mystery truly surprised me. Varieties taste different from year to year. Paul Robeson was delicious in '07 and just so-so in '08. But each variety has a potential. Celebrity has a different flavor potential than Stump of the World. I choose to grow varieties that have a higher "flavor potential" in the hopes that if the soil, temperature, and rainfall are right, I'll have exceptional tomatoes.
__________________
[SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I] |
February 12, 2009 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Abilene, TX zone 7
Posts: 1,478
|
Amen to what Feldon said.
|
February 12, 2009 | #9 | |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: zone 5
Posts: 1,459
|
Quote:
__________________
Secretseedcartel.com |
|
February 12, 2009 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
|
"To-ma-to-e-van-gel-is-m"
You're gonna drive Worth crazy - - it is an 8 syllable word! Ray |
February 12, 2009 | #11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Rockvale, TN Zone 7A
Posts: 526
|
|
|
|