Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010
It’s a true tomato garden tragedy. Hybrids on one side, Heirlooms on the other. And two star crossed tomato plants caught in between. “Oh Reisetomate, Reisetomate. Where for art thou, Reisetomate? Deny thy breeding and refuse thy heritage. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Hybrid. “
Unfortunately, this tragedy ends nearly the same as the Shakespearian one based on over hormonal children. My Juliet tomato is dying, as is the Reisetomate next to it. Tis a poison wilt that has taken them both (fortunately only manifesting in a bed with only a few tomato plants). So, what you see on that plate in the picture is all there will be. I am not sure the Reisetomate will produce at all.
Because this tomato plant is failing, I will state upfront that this tasting is suspect. Stressed plants do not produce the best of fruit.
I am embarrassed to say that, while I grew these plants from seed, I have no idea where I got them from. The packet I had them in is long gone, though a tickle at the back of my head tells me they were a seed trade.
The description from a place that sells the seeds reads:
Plant produces high yields of glossy red grape shaped tomatoes. Tomatoes are very sweet and perfect for salads and gourmet dishes. Grows in clusters like grapes too. Holds on the vine longer than any other cherry tomato.
The Beauty Pageant:
Size: Inch to inch and a half long.
Shape: Grape shape with a nipple on the end. I also have to say that they have a very pronounced sepal (that green thing at the top) that reminds me of a feminized Kermit the Frog collar.
Color: Solid red.
The inside:Thin walls with small seeds and a lance like core down the center. Almost no gel to speak of.
Texture: Very thick skin which is very noticeable when you eat it. Other than that, the texture is smooth and you can’t even feel the seeds.
Tasting:
Off the Vine Tasting: Very solid tomato flavor. Not at all sweet. The tomato flavor is very condensed and not at all complex. Not my cup of tea, but some people like a straight on tomato and this is one of those.
Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salting develops the pure tomato flavor of this tomato. It makes it more tomato-y and since it was pretty tomato-y before, this just makes it more in that realm.
Cooking Thoughts: A salad tomato if I ever saw one. I am not so keen on these for muching on their own as that skin is pretty distracting.
Growing Notes:
As stated, this is dying from wilt. It is suppose to be pretty disease resistant, but I can say that it has succumbed to the wilt in the bed as fast as the heirlooms did.
Will Hanna grow this one again:
Probably not. While I might give it a whack again just to see if the flavor gets more complex when not affected by disease, the skin on these is pretty icky.




I bought the black cherry tomato because it combined by most favorite type of tomato (black tomatoes) with my least favorite (cherry tomatoes). I thought that in combination, I might find that final cherry tomato that I would really enjoy in the garden.
Avast, ye maties. This blog post will be taking us well into the treacherous waters outside of the land of tomatoes. So, our tastie buds had better be ready. Savvy?
I have
Size: Roughly the size of marbles – mostly large marbles. The tomatoes actually look almost too large for the plant.
As far as yellow tomatoes go, well for me they are hit or miss. I have tried some really great yellow tomatoes, and others, well, not so much. The reason yellow tomatoes are so ambiguous on the flavor scale is the fact that yellow tomatoes are either full flavored or “mild” flavored (read no flavor). Hearing that a tomato is mild flavored is like hearing your blind date has a mild personality. That’s the first sign that your evening will end early and that you should probably check your local TV listings for something more scintillating to spice up the rest of the night, like golf. So it goes with yellow tomatoes. Mild is not a word I like to hear associated with a tomato.
This would be my freaky-deaky tomato of the season. It is a tomato that really, really wants people to think it is part of the very in hot pepper crowd. If you were not looking closely, you might mistake it for one. But even confused tomatoes can’t change who and what they are.
Size: Anywhere from as long as my hand to as long as my finger. Somewhere as thick as two fingers and three fingers.
If tomatoes spoke, I imagine in my head that this one has a southern accent. Granted,
This is the tomato that took my heirloom virginity. Many years ago, when I was but a sparkling, wet new home owner, I planted a vegetable garden. Sure, I had kept container gardens before. Grew an odd tomato here or there, had watched my own mother grow tomatoes in her garden, but now I had a vegetable plot and I was going to plant tomatoes.
I am not a white tomato fan. They tend to be bland because they tend to low acid. Great for people with acid reflux issues but not so much for my particular palet.
Size: About as wide as my palm, and a few inches tall.