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Old August 12, 2017   #1
Karma
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Default Best Paste Tomato

Hi everyone,

I have grown lots of different varieties of tomatoes but not paste. My friends husband is a big tomato grower too and he always grows San Marzano so his wife can make sauce and soup. Well she brought some over and it was so delicious. Much better than mine made with non paste tomatoes. Next season I will definitely grow a few pastes. What are your favorite?

Hope everyone is having a good season!!

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Old August 13, 2017   #2
clkeiper
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san marzanon is my largest planting, largest fruit and does well and this year I grew "giant garden paste". someone who got some said they were the best flavored of the pastes she got from me this year.
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Old August 13, 2017   #3
Merediana
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I have the same problem, while most people here seem to not like paste tomatoes and use whatever they grow for tomato sauce - for me it's just not the same. I'm want the old fashioned tomato sauce taste from homegrown tomatoes... So I'll try some paste tomatoes next year. This year I had Auria, but the plant didn't do well at all, so not sure if I'll get some tomatoes to try, let alone a batch of tomato sauce.
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Old August 13, 2017   #4
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Typically I am an Open pollinated tomato fan but you might be better off with a disease resistant hybrid Roma. Fresh flavour is not the goal for a cooking tomato and your production will likely be better than most OP pastes.
Perhaps try some of each.
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Old August 13, 2017   #5
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Olpalka has been good this year, not much BER and the tomatoes were huge. Flavor is good cooked.
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Old August 13, 2017   #6
MarlynnMarcks
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Default Opalka vs Amish Paste

Opalka vs Amish Paste which does better in the heat?
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Old August 13, 2017   #7
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Shannon's is my fav.

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Old August 13, 2017   #8
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I have grown Amish paste and found it to NOT be much of a paste. Very juicy when I grew it twice.
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Old August 13, 2017   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clkeiper View Post
I have grown Amish paste and found it to NOT be much of a paste. Very juicy when I grew it twice.
agree. Amish paste is a heart not a paste imo.
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Old August 13, 2017   #10
Kpr121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clkeiper View Post
san marzanon is my largest planting, largest fruit and does well and this year I grew "giant garden paste". someone who got some said they were the best flavored of the pastes she got from me this year.
I did giant garden paste this year too, and it is definitely a great taster and has been outproducing all other varieties i am growing weight wise. 5 of my 6 largest tomatoes have been from that plant, including the largest at 26 oz. I will definitely be growing this one again.
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Old August 13, 2017   #11
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I've grown Roma, San Marzano, Heidi, Bernardini, Deep Space 9, and Amish Paste. So far, San Marzano is my favorite Paste for flavor and production. I agree with others here that Amish Paste is a heart, juicy and delicious fresh, but not the best for making sauce.

Next year, I have plans to try Opalka and Costoluto Genovese.
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Old August 13, 2017   #12
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I am growing San Marzano and Martino's Roma side by side this year, and MR is far outproducing SM--would recommend giving MR a try if you're looking for determinate roma types.

As for indeterminate, growing Opalka and Jersey Devil--both are doing great, but Jersey devil is getting a lot of BER, so I'll likely pass on that in the future, and stick with Opalka.

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Old August 14, 2017   #13
TomNJ
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My favorite paste is Rio Grande - extremely productive (32 lbs per plant last year!), very firm 3 oz tomatoes with no scabs or BER.

For tasty fresh eating tomatoes I grow Brandywine Sudduth, but with 90+% of my tomatoes getting canned into salsa, sauce, & soup I focus on productivity for the rest. Productivity is not just pounds per plant, but also how much of the tomato makes it into the pot. Therefore I look for smooth meaty varieties that require little trimming of cores, scabs, fiber, and imperfections. Kosovo is my mainstay for canning - huge, smooth, sweet and meaty, and also makes a great sandwich tomato. Rio Grande is so perfect that I just cut out the tiny core and 95% makes it to the pot.

The taste of the sauce depends on the ingredients and how it is cooked. My canned tomato products all contain onions, garlic, peppers, salt, sugar, oregano, and basil, so I doubt that the fresh taste of the tomatoes make much if any difference in my final sauce. If you simmer the sauce a long time it gets dark and takes on a cooked flavor. For a more tomatoey taste, I squeeze the cut tomatoes to drain away much of the watery juice and thereby reduce cooking time. Likewise freezing the cleaned cut pieces and then draining after thawing does even better as the liquid removed is almost clear water. Sauces and salsa made this way are brighter red and fresher tasting.

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Old August 14, 2017   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarlynnMarcks View Post
Opalka vs Amish Paste which does better in the heat?
Oddly enough none is probably what can be considered a paste. Amish paste is a classic heart, and Opalka kinda also. It doesn't have the shape of a heart but the smooth texture and other qualities are more heart related than paste.
Typical pastes are San Marzano, Romas, Costolutos, De barao, and a whole bunch of commercial 'Roma type' and 'San Marzano type'. Much drier when crushed, and more or less mealy.
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Old August 14, 2017   #15
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Default Voting for San Marzano Redorta

The Redorta is larger than the typical San Marzano. When I was processing them this week, the puree had the consistency of ketchup. Hardly enough liquid to let it run from the processing chute.

I also had no BER on any of these plants. The Super Italian Paste was similar size and consistency but no where near the same production. These paste tomatoes earned a spot in my garden again next year and I'll probably only grow these and the Goldman's Italian-American.

I haven't done it yet but I bet these Redortas will make a wonderful roasted/dried tomato too.

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