Best tomato for sauce and soup

[(bryan)]

My wife wants me to grow the best tomatos for sauce and tomato soup. So I figured I would consult the experts.

What's you input?

Thanks
Bryan

[Redbaron]

I vote for Rutgers as the best all purpose tomato, but it is very juicy. San Marzano is the standard for paste and sauce.

After that, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of options. You just have to try what works and you personally like.

[Father'sDaughter]

I'd say my top sauce tomatoes last year were Franchi Giant Pear, Russo Sicilian Togeta, and Opalka. While I did grow several others, these three had the highest yield. They are all meaty and dry enough that they don't have to be cooked down too long to thicken up.

Personally, I had mediocre result with San Marzano and San Marzano Redorta, so I'm not growing either again this year. San Marzano Redorta did produce a good number of tomatoes, but they were much later than most of the others I grew.

I am from the school of thought that mixing the varieties all together makes good sauce, so I can't comment on how the sauce from one single variety would be. Just keep in mind that a good sauce/paste tomato is often one that tastes much better when it's cooked, but is not necessarily so great for fresh eating.

Good luck on your search!

[Baja_Traveler]

Any thought on Burpees new SuperSauce tomato? I thought I'd try a few this year...

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tom...rod003154.html

[clara]

For me it's Fiaschetto! If you grow it, please don't over-water it to get the full flavor - in Italy (Apulia) where it originates, it's only watered twice per season. clara

[loeb]

One person told me that White Tomesol was a perfect soup tomato for her. But it's "white" not red..

[b54red]

Any of the large productive hearts make good sauce tomatoes; but my favorite would be Kosovo since it is also a good fresh eating tomato. Milka's Red Bulgarian made a great sauce tomato for me year before last. It had very large meaty fruit that didn't need too much cooking down. I don't like using too many juicy tomatoes in sauce because they require so much cooking down and I usually get impatient and turn the heat up on them and end up scorching them. If you start out with a relatively dry meaty tomato then the cooking down process is much easier and those varieties also tend to have less seeds.

[nancyruhl]

I'm with b54red, hearts are the best thing going. Thick and meaty with very few seeds but more flavorful than most pastes. I have lots of heart favorites and Kosovo is one. So are Fish Lake Oxheart, Anna Marias Heart, Tsar Kolokol, Veras Seed, German Red Strawberry, Gildo Pietroboni, and the one they won't let me say here, Monkey ★★★.

[dustyrivergarden]

San Marzano are my favorite I did really like Opalka but the San Marzano's just out preformed them I think Opalka needs a little cooler weather than were I live.

[afrance30]

Originally Posted by Baja_Traveler

Any thought on Burpees new SuperSauce tomato? I thought I'd try a few this year...

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tom...rod003154.html

I ordered a couple of plants. It doesn't hurt to try it and see. Plus this year the focus is paste/sauce tomatoes so I am testing some hybrid and OP varieties. I am tired of buying Roma tomatoes to make Picante Chile Ketchup!

[Tormato]

This will likely not help, but...

the best sauce I ever made had about 60 different varieties in it. Pinks, reds, golds, greens, blacks (about the only thing I've found black tomatoes good for), beefsteaks, hearts, cherries, etc...with not a single "sauce type" tomato. It had a complex flavor that no one single variety could ever match. Since I did not record the varieties nor their quantities, I cannot repeat what I did.


What will likely help is ...

suggesting to not make sauce entirely with Sungold, or entirely with Aunt Gertie's Gold. But then, who in their right mind would?

Dr. Lve Apple

[camochef]

As someone that has grown literally thousands of heirloom tomatoes over the years, I can honestly say that you can expect to receive as many different responses as I've grown tomatoes.

Over those many years and many different varieties, the best sauce we ever made was the Combination of two different varieties. They were Cowlick's Brandywine, (pink) and Cherokee Purple (dark purple).

I no longer grow Cherokee Purple as I've found better dark purple, (black), tomatoes to grow instead. Such as Dana's Dusky Rose or Bear Creek or Amazon Chocolate. While they all make great sauces, they just don't equal that year or two where the Cowlick's/Cherokee Purple's ruled the sauces put up. I think it was 2007/2008, without digging out my journals to check for certain. Then too, they were exceptional years here in the gardens.

Cowlick's are still among my favorite Brandywines but are frequently paired with the likes of Purple Dog Creek, German Johnson-Benton strain, Barlow Jap, DDR or Liz Birt and Bear Creek.
Good luck in finding those combinations that satisfy your palette. After all, that's most of the fun in growing so many different varieties.
Enjoy!
Camo

[John3]

Originally Posted by camochef

Over those many years and many different varieties, the best sauce we ever made was the Combination of two different varieties. They were Cowlick's Brandywine, (pink) and Cherokee Purple (dark purple).

Ditto this. I don't remember which Brandywine I grew but it was a pink. Made the best spaghetti sauce.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I make my sauce as Tormato does, with all different types; whatever is ripe gets jarred. Greens and Yellows will give you interesting colored sauces.

[efisakov]

I used Black Pineapple/Ananas Noire and Eva purple Ball. Both tasty and super productive for me.