Persimmon: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

Persimmon is an orange beefsteak. Orange and yellow tomatoes are a hit or miss type of tomato in my opinion. Sometimes they have nice, unique flavor and sometimes they are just watered down versions of red tomatoes.

The description promised that this was the best flavored orange tomato available. And if you can combine good flavor with a unusual colored tomato, you have a wowsa tomato you can serve to guests. Because of this, I was looking forward to trying this tomato.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

Beautiful, golden-orange tomatoes have one of the best flavors of all the orange tomatoes. Average 5 inches in diameter and between 1 2 lbs., quite meaty with few seeds. Vigorous plants bear well. Indeterminate, 80 days.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Good size. The one pictured is probably the largest that I have on the vine and it runs about a pound. The others are running at about 3/4 of a pound.

Shape: Lumpy and squat, as a beefsteak should be. But not so deformed that you can’t make it into nice slices.

The inside: This is golden all the way through. Very moist but the moisture is mostly in the meat, which indicates a juicy but not sloppy tomato. Few seeds and thick chamber walls, so this will be a nice meaty tomato. The gel is medium tightness, so it holds up well when sliced but you don’t feel like you are eating frog eggs.

Texture: Smooth and creamy. This has a nice texture on the tongue.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: This is a good tomato. Excellent flavor. Full of tomato flavor and tanginess that I like. The gel is tangier than the meat but the meat has more than enough flavor to stand on its own. Apparently, M Sinclair Stevens was also very impressed with this tomato. As I consider her a consummate gardener (I bow to her greatness), I am glad to hear that she thinks highly of this tomato as well.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Why screw with greatness? Although, admittedly, salt intensifies and sweetens the flavor of this tomato a little. But to tell the truth, this is not a tomato that needs salt to be an exciting taste.

Cooking Thoughts: Yep, this is a serve to the guests tomato. This needs no cooking what so ever. I would proudly serve this sliced and raw as a side dish. This would probably be good for a sauce as well. Few seeds and nice flavor through and through. Not sure how people would react to orange tomato sauce, though.

Growing Notes:
Decent size tomato plant. Not really producing a ton of tomatoes but it does not look like it will be a bad harvest. One note is that this tomato seems a bit more popular with slugs than most of the others. I have had to bring in a few low hanging fruit a little early because I have found slug damage on them.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
Yes. This is a fantastic tomato. This combined with the fact that it would be a show stopper at the table makes it a really nice addition to the garden.