tomatoes with flavors all-their-own / unique tasting

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by korney19

AGG = Aunt Gertie's Gold

Those in the pic were a couple of cherry picked good looking ones.

Smooth with only a bit of stitching?


As I've said before, and I don't mince words, a typical AGG looks like a baseball run over by a car, and then peed on by a dog.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Those in the pic were a couple of cherry picked good looking ones.

Smooth with only a bit of stitching?


As I've said before, and I don't mince words, a typical AGG looks like a baseball run over by a car, and then peed on by a dog.

.......

I have two transplants almost ready to go... You're not making it sound fun....

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Scooty

.......

I have two transplants almost ready to go... You're not making it sound fun....

AGG, not AGP, if you're not aware.



And the one REASON this usually butt ugly, very late tomato is a heirloom? Well, if you're almost ready for planting out AGG, you're likely 80+ days away from finding out.

[Scooty]

Yep. In addition to a bunch of other things, this year Aunt Gertie's Gold and Aunt Ginny's Purple (two of each) are both going in the ground.

[peebee]

Hmmm, I must've missed this thread when it first came out. Now I feel like trying some tomatoes I have already grown before that are mentioned here, like AGP, AGG & Prue. I didn't notice anything unique, but perhaps I wasn't paying attention then. The only tomato that made me notice a difference immediately was Sungold. Other than that, I just assumed for example, that orange ones like KBX etc tasted that way cuz that is how an orange tomato tastes. Just like blacks, greens,pinks and reds etc. taste like they are supposed to, sort of taste-like-their-color sort of thing if you know what I mean. But of course with their own individual flavors within those colors. That is why I try to grow as many colors as possible because to me they are all so different from each other.
Okay, guess I will hunt down these seeds for next year since I am already done with planting for this coming season.

[Scooty]

Prue seems to be the only one that Tormato and Carolyn both agree on as being distinctly unique, which in and of itself should give most people a good reason to try it at least once. I grew it out last year and the year before. I think it definitely occupies it's own space. Actually, I'm not even sure how to describe the smell that Carolyn identifies as unique. In a bucket of 30 odd grow outs last year, I probably could identify it blindfolded 9 out of 10 times.

I do think that SNFLA is quite unusual. There's something about the taste that I can't pinpoint. I tasted Aunt Ginny's Purple side by side with Polish Ellis. I think both are really bold 'maters, but AGP... I dunno, I'll have to retaste to see if i can recall the right words. I want to say there's more depth. Polish Ellis is just very sweet (I hit 11 brix on a big mater) and semi-tart. It's incredibly assertive, but brighter lighter and probably a bit more tart than AGP.

As far as yellow tasting like yellows..... I somewhat disagree. I haven't had KBX but everyone tells me it blindfolded it tastes the same as Kelloggs. But Kelloggs tastes a whole like like several other yellow maters to me... I'm growing out Aunt Gertie's Gold this year. Hoping for another nice surprise.

However, Summer Sunshine, Mr. Snow, and Sweet Sue are very intensely sweet maters. They rival and probably can exceed sungold in brix. The flavor palette of these three are very similar to each other, not unique. Though, I can tell them apart actually in a blind taste. Having tried close to 50 of the dwarf tomato project selections, everything orange and yellow else is passe to me (with the exception of Uluru and Blazing Beauty).

I have yet to taste a black mater that is unique. Just different shades of the same to me, which feels odd to say, since I probably prefer black/purple maters to about every other kind if given a choice. The only unique one might be Uluru, but that's a weird once since its orange/black.

[zipcode]

Originally Posted by Scooty

I have two transplants almost ready to go... You're not making it sound fun....

AGG is not necessarily a late tomato. They all did have some pretty severe bottom scarring however, which indicates big problems with pollinating.
Like with most famously late varieties, the trick consists in setting the earlier flowers. In case the plant doesn't reach the vigour/size/conditions by then, you are looking at fallen flowers and a late fruit. When I planted it, AGG was one of the first bigger tomatoes.

[e.thad]

There are too many tomato varieties.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by e.thad

There are too many tomato varieties.

Indeed. It would take a lifetime to try them all.... Maybe two or three lifetimes....

Originally Posted by Tormato

Flavor (my experience and opinion) is unique among many, many, hundreds (about 1,000) of tomatoes I've tasted, with no other tomato being close to this flavor. I've tasted only a few tomatoes that have a flavor all-their-own. Examples are Prue, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Sungold.

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I've grown and tasted about 4,000 plus varieties and about the only one,for me,that has a unique taste is Prue. Actually the aroma of cut fruits gives it away before I even taste it.

I wonder if Carolyn and Tormato have the highest count of tomatoes tried? They probably at least have to be on the top 10 within TV community.

Due to the differences in taste, terrior, descriptors, I made this thread to see if there was some consensus among the tomato grand poobahs on which tomatoes (if any) had unique flavors (and were tasty). I figured there had to be some consensus, and it seems there is to some degree.

There are a lot more tasty and good tomatoes out there than one can count, but to me, they are just different shades of the same. Oranges taste like oranges. Yellows tastes like yellows. Blacks tastes like black. It's hard to find something different or at least different enough you have to take a second bite to think about what you just had.

I'm glad that Tormato and Carolyn both pointed out Prue. If they hadn't, I probably wouldn't have even bothered. Aesthetically, it doesn't look anything special.

[Tormato]

I don't think I'm even close. I'm probably at 1,500 - 2,000 trials, but many hundred aren't varieties, they're unstable experiments. My guess is that some of the serious breeders have possibly trialed somewhere about 10,000 "different" tomatoes, many of which are abandoned selections from crosses.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

I don't usually put out negative opinions about varieties -- but I do make an exception for Purple Calabash. I have found it to be uniquely awful.

Paging Mr. Hempel. How many maters has a serious breeder tasted or trialed?

[Tormato]

Because so many people have such negative opinions about Purple Calabash, it's the ONE variety that I've simply refused to trial.



From the few descriptions that I've read, it seems that the flavor might be something like a cross between a mass commercialized shipping tomato prior to being gassed, a lime, and a bitter melon.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Scooty

Indeed. It would take a lifetime to try them all.... Maybe two or three lifetimes....





I wonder if Carolyn and Tormato have the highest count of tomatoes tried? They probably at least have to be on the top 10 within TV community.

Due to the differences in taste, terrior, descriptors, I made this thread to see if there was some consensus among the tomato grand poobahs on which tomatoes (if any) had unique flavors (and were tasty). I figured there had to be some consensus, and it seems there is to some degree.

There are a lot more tasty and good tomatoes out there than one can count, but to me, they are just different shades of the same. Oranges taste like oranges. Yellows tastes like yellows. Blacks tastes like black. It's hard to find something different or at least different enough you have to take a second bite to think about what you just had.

I'm glad that Tormato and Carolyn both pointed out Prue. If they hadn't, I probably wouldn't have even bothered. Aesthetically, it doesn't look anything special.

While Carolyn and I both agree on Prue being unique, we may have different reasons why. I'll attempt to explain mine.


Prue, to me, is unique because my perception is that there is some flavor component that I cannot detect. When I taste it, there is an area (taste bud, I must assume ) near the back of my tongue that doesn't pick anything up. It seems like all other areas (that taste tomato compounds) respond except this one area. And, Prue is the one and only tomato, out of the 1,500-2,000 that I've tried that I perceive to have this trait. And, my perception may be wrong, because when I pick up a Prue, I'm already biased about what I expect.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Tormato

While Carolyn and I both agree on Prue being unique, we may have different reasons why. I'll attempt to explain mine.


Prue, to me, is unique because my perception is that there is some flavor component that I cannot detect. When I taste it, there is an area (taste bud, I must assume ) near the back of my tongue that doesn't pick anything up. It seems like all other areas (that taste tomato compounds) respond except this one area. And, Prue is the one and only tomato, out of the 1,500-2,000 that I've tried that I perceive to have this trait. And, my perception may be wrong, because when I pick up a Prue, I'm already biased about what I expect.

Interesting, but any consensus even if it's for different reasons, gives me enough initiative to try something. I figure there's gotta be some there new for me to experience.

[Tormato]

When I first heard about Prue, I simply had to try it, because I heard that its origins were somewhere very close to where I live, in Western Massachusetts.


That, and that it's somewhat heart shaped. And anything that is, or is somewhat, heart shaped gets trialed, if I locate the seeds.