Hugh’s Tomato: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008

This is a Hoosier tomato, born and bred in the farmland of Indiana. I looked very closely, but I did not see anything that would indicate that this tomato had an affinity for basketball (which is a sure sign of a Hoosier if I ever saw one). But, I am sure that when I am not looking, there is a faint flicker of TV light coming from my veggie garden due to these tomatoes watching replays of Bobby Knight games.

I also scoured the internet but could not find why these tomatoes were name “Hugh’s”. While I am fairly certain it is most likely the name of the original grower, his or her history has been lost to time and all that remains of their lagacy is a pale yellow tomato.  Let’s see if it is a worthy legacy.

The description from the company I got it from reads:

Heirloom variety from Indiana in the 1940′s. Tall, heavy plants grow very large, 1-2 lb., beefsteak tomatoes that are pale yellow, thin-skinned, with a touch of pink on the blossom end. They are very meaty, and delicious seemingly bursting with summer sweetness. Truly on of the absolute best yellows. Indeterminate. 85 days.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Large. Easily 1 – 2 pounds.

Shape: Typical beefsteak.. Slightly oblong and squared up. Lumpy and bumpy.

Color: A pale yellow both inside and out. The only exception is just a kiss of pink in the meat and skin at the blossom end.

The inside: Very meaty tomato. Thick cores with sliver thin chambers. Gel is not loose and holds up well.

Texture: Just a little mealy. This is another one that holds together well, but is soft to the bite.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: This tomato has a strong flavor but with low acid. It has a sweet undertone with a more complex tomato-melon dominate flavor. But, as I said, no real “bite” due to the low acid. The flavor is delicate though because of this. It would have a hard time standing up to other flavors.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt makes this a sweeter tomato but absolutely kills that complex melon-tomato flavor.

Cooking Thoughts: This is certainly a candidate for a side dish tomato. A great one if the acid in tomatoes bothers you but you enjoy the flavor of tomatoes. Frequently, low acid tomatoes are also low taste tomato but this one is good. Structurally, it would be good on a sandwich, but you would need to be careful what you paired it with as it has a hard time standing up to more powerful flavors.

Growing Notes:
Healthy, large plant but I have only gotten 3 ripe tomatoes off of it this year. I have read that this is a late performing tomato, but in my garden, late is not a good thing. If this tomato does not start producing soon, it will have taken up a lot of space for very little return.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
Probably not. Don’t get me wrong, this a fantastic yellow tomato and I would recommend it to anyone who likes tomatoes, but I like tomatoes with acid so this is just not a tomato for me.