Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

I expect this tomato to be sweet, because why else would you name a tomato (or anything really) after a dessert if it was not sweet. I mean it would be just a cruel trick to name a vegetable after a luscious dessert if in fact it was not sweet.

Plus, this is another black tomato. Num-num-num. But, knowing that, I am confused. Black tomatoes do not normally bill themselves as sweet tomatoes. They tend to lean towards the savory end of things. Maybe that is about to change. We will see.

The description from the company I bought this tomato from reads:

This variety produces pretty, globe shaped fruit of medium size. They are a stunning deep caramel color with hints of red and chocolate. The flavor is rich, sweet and full-bodied, and the texture is tender and smooth. An attractive tomato that is great for both home and market.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: About the size of a baseball.

Shape: Mostly round. Slightly flattened sides.

Color: Deep brick red with deep green shoulders.

The inside:Multi-chambered with very loose gel and large seeds.

Texture: Smooth and silky.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: It is sweet, but not dessert sweet. More like melon sweet. But it also has the typical black tomato savoriness. It is an interesting combination and I am not certain how I feel about it.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt give it a more distinct melon flavor.

Cooking Thoughts: Certainly a complex tomato flavor, so would be fun for a slice and serve side dish.

Growing Notes:

Healthy enough with medium production.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Probably not. But not because it is a bad tomato. The flavor just does not sit well with me. It is interesting, complex and certainly unique – just not a combination I want in my tomatoes. I would recommend that others try it though.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

Ohhh… A black tomato. I love, love, love black tomatoes and am always keen to try new ones. I have to say that this one I bought for the name. What’s not to love about a tomato called “Southern Night”. It brings to mind sultry, steamy nights in New Orleans or Atlanta. Rich, thick and languid darkness filled with mystery and beauty. Well, it does right up until you learn that this tomato was developed in the USSR. Oops… I guess they had a different Southern Night in mind, but I can still dream that some cold and lonely Soviet plant breeder was dreaming of the warm and sultry US South when he named it.

The description from the company I bought this tomato from reads:

An attractive “Black” tomato developed in the old Soviet Union. Great tasting fruit are dark and intensely colored, being a deep maroon. Very sweet and luscious, these are hard to not eat right in the garden. A classic that is well worth growing if you like real flavor.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: About the size of a baseball.

Shape: Mostly round. There was cracking on the top as well.

Color: Deep reddish brown through the tomato with dark green shoulders.

The inside:Multi-chambered with slightly loose gel and rather large seeds.

Texture: Just a smidge mealy, but not enough to really be that bad.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: This is a good tomato. It starts out with very strong, deep tomato flavor and progresses into a savoriness that is reminiscent of beef. Plus, it has a wonderful aftertaste that stays with you, again, as though you have just taken a bite of steak.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt just turns all the flavors up and makes a party in your mouth.

Cooking Thoughts: This is a classic side dish tomato. Perfect for when you want to showcase to your friends what makes heirloom tomatoes awesome.

Growing Notes:

This has not been a big producer in my garden. Great tomatoes, but not many of them. As it is a Russian tomato and it is now getting cool outside, I may see an uptick in production now.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Yes, with a caveat. Certainly, the flavor of this tomato is a keeper, but if the production is not better, I just don’t have room for it. But, plants went in way late this year so that might be the reason for its under production. I will plant it again and give it another chance. Well worth it for the flavor.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

This is a Russian tomato, which means it should do well here because Russian tomatoes are bred to be fast growing in cold weather. I say should because in theory, Cleveland is suppose to be a rather cool place. In reality, we have a shortish growing season that consists of going from snow and 30F weather to drought like sun and 90F weather in a matter of weeks. Spring does not really happen here.

These tomatoes are suppose to be “early” type tomatoes. But, not surprisingly, these tomatoes did not really perform for me until the weather got cooler. Russian tomato like cool weather and these showed that.

I am a fan of Russian tomatoes. They tend to be good tasting. Which also makes sense, because let’s face it. If you are going to put that much effort into creating a tomato that can actually grow that close to Santa’s Village, it does not hurt to put in a little extra effort to make sure they taste good too.

The description from the company I bought this tomato from reads:

Great Russian tomato perfect for cooler/shorter growing regions. Sturdy plant produces abundant clusters of 4-oz., bright-red, round, juicy fruit that is surprisingly flavorful for a cooler ripening variety.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Slightly smaller than a baseball.
Shape: Slightly oval shaped with just a hint of ruffle on the shoulders. They were surprisingly uniform in shape and size.

Color: Solidly red with just a hint of pink.

The inside:3 chambers with rather large seeds. The gel is very tight.

Texture: Pretty smooth meat. Skin is not thick. Seedscan be a bit of a distraction.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Good, very strong tomato flavor, especially in the meat. The gel has a strong sour, citrusy flavor that goes nicely with the tomato flavor in the meat.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt removes the tomato flavor on the initial bite, though it comes back as you swallow. The sour flavor is as strong as it is without salt. There is also just a hint of sweetness.

Cooking Thoughts: Good frying tomato. It will hold up well to frying in mouth consistency and flavor. Would also do for salsas and other tomato salads.

Growing Notes:

Was not an early producer in my garden, but now that the weather has cooled down, I can see this as the savior of my fall garden as I see it producing well until a hard frost takes it out.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Maybe. This is a pretty good tomato. The amazing uniformity of size and shape has some possibilities and the flavor is really nice.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

This tomato has eluded me since 2008. Every year I have planted the seeds and every year, disease, weather or my own stupidity took away my chance to add this tomato to my formal tomato list. But not this year, damn it. I have learned to label well, I have finally figured out how to rotate without spreading disease and a watering system has spared me most of the grief that weather can bring. This tomato is finally laid to rest on the tomato tasting list on this day. BTW, the seed viability shelf life on this tomato is outstanding.

The description from the company I bought this tomato from reads:

French heirloom. Produces dependable heavy, clusters of 6-ounce deep red, slightly flattened, oblate fruits that are meaty, lightly lobed and contain an excellent, complex, slightly tart taste. I’ve found that this variety also does well in the cooler summer conditions of California’s bay areas. An all-’round great tomato for slicing.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: As wide as a baseball, but just a smidge taller than a Krispy Kream donut (Mmmm… donuts).

Shape: The is a pretty flat tomato. Ruffled shoulders, but not dramatically so.

Color: Pretty red but with some small splotches of orange, particularly around the shoulders.

The inside:Loose gel with medium seeds. Multi chambered with thin walls and a thick core.

Texture: Silky meat and gel. Skin is a bit thick but not terribly so. Definitely a messy tomato, though. Juice everywhere.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Very strong savory flavor from the gel. Almost like a meat savory. There is a subtle sour flavor as well as just a little hint of sweetness. Nice solid tomato aftertaste.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt really tones down the sour, which leaves behind that sour and savory flavors. Really nice combination.

Cooking Thoughts: This is a good but messy sandwich tomato. I had juice all over me at the end of the tasting. But, I am thinking that it would be a great tomato to use for bruchetta. That juice would mingle, make friends and soak into the bread. Heaven.

Growing Notes:

Healthy… this year. It has succumbed to disease pretty quickly in the past.

That being said, the plant has grown well and is healthy this yera. Looks to be producing well, too.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Maybe. Flavor is robust and complex. Texture is nice. But it does concern me that it took 3 years for me to get this tomato to a tasting. I don’t have enough room in my garden to wait 3 years for a pretty good tomato.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

I don’t have too much to say initially about this one, other than to say I was not really all that impressed with how “early” it produced. Yes, it was among the first to ripen, but was not the first and there were several other plants in the garden that were also producing. I’m hoping its taste makes up for its marginal on-timeness.

The description from the company I bought this tomato from reads:

Brilliant red, 6-9 ounce slicing type fruits are produced even in the face of cold wet, springs or hot, dry summers. Reselected from the original Earliana in the early part of the 20th century by famed breeder Albert F. Yeager, working at North Dakota State University. Yeager was working to develop early maturing tomato varieties that would be reliable in North Dakota

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Pretty uniformly about the size of a baseball.

Shape: Roundish on the bottom, flatish on the top.

Color: Orange-ish red with orange shoulders. It does occasionally get a dark red stippling on a few spots on the skin.

The inside:Somewhat firm gel with seeds that are on the small side. The walls are a bit thin but the core a pretty wide and makes up for that. It is multi-chambered, which is pretty standard for a slicing tomato.

Texture: Firm meat and the gel falls apart well while you chew it, which mean that you get the impression of a juicy tomato without the mess. The skin is thin enough that it is not really noticeable while you chew it.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Strong sour tomato flavor. Not complex, but nice. The gel is more sour than the meat.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt just gives it a hint of sweetness and not much more. It is still pleasantly sour.

Cooking Thoughts: This is a great tomato for sandwiches. It gives a great mouth feel of being juicy without the mess. Perfect for a tomato sandwich or on a burger.

Growing Notes:

As I said, I was not terribly impressed with this being an “early” tomato. Conditions here have to be better than in North Dakota, right? So you think that would have played into its favor on being early.

That being said, the plant has grown well and is healthy. Looks to be producing well, too.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

No, but not because it is a bad tomato. It a nice tomato, but I like a little more complexity in my tomato flavor.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

This was not a tomato on my original tasting list. Yet, oddly enough, I have 15 of these tomato plants in my driveway. Funny story (as if anything in my life is anything but).

So, a few years ago, in a fit of industrious maternal instinct, I helped my kids build a fold-away lemonade stand/puppet theater. Honestly, it was far less effort than it sounds like and maybe someday I will post the plans. But, long and short of it is that my kids have a little stand they can drag out whenever they feel like being entrepreneurial. Which is cute and charming and sweet… right up until I found them out at the end of our driveway one morning hawking half dead plants that they had dug up from my garden. Then, it was not so cute.

“Look, Mom,” my 7 year old told me proudly, “We are going to sell plants to get enough money to buy a new Lego set. We are selling this one for $10.” He said as he indicating a wilted chunk of lamb’s ear. While I commend them for aspiring to become the Junior Petitti’s (including the blatant price gouging), I was not so keen on sacrificing my garden for the cause.

So, not wanting to have my garden claimed by the market forces of my children, I went to a plant auction that night and snapped up 20 gallon size Patio Tomato plants for $2 apiece. I figured that if the boys sold them for $3-$5 each (which is less than the $9.99 that they are sold at the store for) they would make a little profit and be happy. My children instantly lost interest in selling plants as soon as they saw them. That get-rich-quick scheme was sooooooo yesterday, apparently. Now they were hatching up a plan to build a super robot who would rob a bank for them. Still, I forced them to drag a few tomato plants to the neighbors and they managed to sell 5 before rebelling completely and abandoning the rest on the driveway, where they have remained (except for the few that my youngest son and I spent 3 days shuffling back and forth from the driveway to the porch because he insisted that PATIO tomatoes would grow better on a PATIO and I insisted that the mailman would sue us when he tripped over one of the 15 tomato plants placed in the middle of the front porch).

Thus, I have many of these plants and, I will admit, they are only minimally cared for. But, I figured as Patio Tomato tends to be a popular starter garden plant (you know, “well, we will get this tomato and put it on the porch and see if I can actually grow something before I put in a whole garden”), it would be best to see how it performed under conditions similar to how your average newbie gardener would care for them.

The description from a company that sells this tomato reads:

The University of Florida developed this variety just for the home garden, with a compact habit ideal for containers, patio culture, or small-space gardening. It’s a great combination of big fruit on small plants, and is as stunning as an ornamental as it is delicious!

The big, bright red, smooth-skinned fruits weigh between 8 and 12 ounces each, measuring 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter. They are firm and crack-resistant, with good uniform coloring and terrific juicy-sweet taste.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Varies WIDELY. The picture above is  a good selection of the typical size of the tomatoes I get from these plants. Anywhere from golf ball size to baseball size.

Shape: Tends to be round when small but will flatten if the fruit is larger. They are a bit lumpy, but not grotesquely so.

Color: On the vine, they get to be an orange-ish red with slightly yellow shoulders. If left on the counter, they will develop to a deeper red. But, if you wait for them to get deep red on the vine, they will fall off and rot. Odd.

The inside:Pretty loose gel., which makes it very juicy. Medium seeds on just this side of being small. Walls and core are medium thickness so the inside it pretty evenly split between gel and flesh.

Texture: Surprisingly smooth. It has a nice mouth-feel . The skin is a little on the thick side, but not distractingly so.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: The flavor is ok. Really, just ok. Better than a store tomato, certainly. Not too much sweet about this tomato. Both the flesh and the gel have a tang and a bit of sour with the tomato flavor.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt really brings out the tomato flavor in this tomato while playing down the tang and sour. It become a full flavored, standard tomato.

Cooking Thoughts: Great baseline tomato for basic recipes, like sauce, salsa and salads.

Growing Notes:

Despite being only marginally cared for, they have done pretty well.  First and foremost, they are not dead. They are not big plants, but they produce well. They do stay very compact and almost upright despite not having any support.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

No, I won’t, but I would recommend it for what it was bred for. If you are looking for a starting tomato to test the waters out with vegetable gardening, this is a good choice. Even if you flake out and don’t care much for the plant, you will be rewarded with a decent tomato.  And thus the addition begins.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2011

This was not supposed to be the first tomato I did a tasting on for the season. The tomato that I was supposed to do first fell victim to several instances of “oh look, tomatoes on the counter. I will just use them and I am sure no one will mind.” Have I mentioned, that for the past, I don’t know, 5, 6 years now I have made it an important part of my blog and life to taste different tomatoes? Don’t you think that might make friends and family (particularly family) ask before taking the tomatoes on the counter? I had 3 tomatoes from the first plant to get ripe tomatoes and 3 different people (read family members) walked into my kitchen and ate them – one by one. *sigh* Well, I guess there will be more tomatoes and it is in a way a compliment to the gardener.

But that really does not have any bearing on the tomatoes I am tasting today. The Violet Jasper tomato failed in my garden last year – wilt (arggggg!!). This year, so far from my adoptive plant parents, I have had glowing reviews, so I am looking forward to trying this one finally. Also, it is a Chinese tomato, which I believe is a first for me. Yet one more thing in my home labeled “Made in China” – which according to my kids is where all the best toys come from (think on that one for a second, then do a mental rimshot) – so maybe it is true of tomatoes too.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

When these little Oriental jewels ripen, your eyes will be stunned with color. They have pretty violet-purple fruit with iridescent green streaks! Fruit weigh 1-3 ounces, are smooth and have good tasting, dark purplish-red flesh. This variety will also amaze you with its yield: it’s not only high, but incredibly high, being one of the most productive tomatoes we have grown.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Uniformly about the size of a golf ball.

Shape: Soft heart shape with rounded sides. They did crack A LOT. It has been a tough year on tomatoes for this due to the large amounts of rain, but these cracked more than most of the tomatoes in my garden.

Color: These are a very pretty tomato. Not quite purple, but a dark red. And the stripes really are iridescent green. The stripes really do shimmer. It does look like someone placed gold leaf on the tomato.

The inside:Fairly tight gel with medium size seeds, given the size of the fruit. Core is thin as are the walls.

Texture:Really soft and really mealy (I tried several, just in case). Plus that pretty skin is pretty thick. Not pleasant.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Gel has a somewhat sour tomato flavor, which is nice, but the flesh is pretty bland. And the flesh is so mealy, it is really hard to get past that when tasting the tomato.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt pretty much destroys anything positive this tomato had going for it. It becomes horribly bland and mealy to boot.

Cooking Thoughts: I can’t think of one good thing to do with this tomato other than a nice table decoration. It is too mealy for a salad and too bland to add much to cooking or salsa.

Growing Notes:

Healthy plant. Succumbed fast to wilt last year, but many tomatoes do. This year it is a vigorous plant with plenty of fruit.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

No. Unfortunately, it has followed in the steps of many other pretty tomatoes I have tried (and pretty men I have dated). All form and no substance – plus just really unpleasant once you got to know them.

I know, I know. I am a bad, bad, bad blogger. No posts for oh so long. And I do apologize. Life just seems to be interfering these days.

But it is that time of year! The tomatoes are ripe and the tastings must commence at once. And yes, it is late this year – but that, ladies and gentlemen, is not my fault. It was the darn rain. It came down in buckets in the spring and the plants went in late. When the plants go in late, the tomatoes ripen late and so here we are.

But, not to fear, I can a whole crop of yummy, tasty tomatoes ready to review. I promise, that no matter what, I will always post about my tastings. And the list for this year is:

• Henderson Pink Ponderosa
• Marmande
• Red Siberian
• Celebrity
• Crème Brulee
• Southern Night
• Giraffe
• Chile Verde
• Violet Jasper
• Cosmunaut Volkov
• Kimberly
• Black Krim (Mislabeled seeds. The fruit were yellow)
• North Dakota Earliana
• Patio
• Red Ponderosa

And if you would like to peruse the previous year’s tastings, you can find them here:
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2006
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2009
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010

The full name of this tomato is “Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge”, which wins the prize for the most literal tomato name and the longest tomato name I have ever heard of. It makes me think that the person who developed this tomato had absolutely no friends and family and no ego whatsoever. Come on, didn’t you have at least a Great Aunt Ester or something you could have named this for? I just call them Purple Smudge Tomatoes because it takes too long to say the WHOLE name.

Regardless, this will be a good tomato. I have this on the authority of the daughter of one of my adoptive plant parents. Eileen, age 8, tells me that these were “her most favoritest and very yummy”. Who am I to argue with an 8 year old?

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

These have a nice sweet, mild and fruit-like taste that make them good for snacking or cooking. Fruit weighing 4-10 ounces were produced in abundance and tended to get more purple as the season progressed.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Ranging from ping pong ball size to racquet ball size.

Shape: About half the fruit were almost perfectly round. The other half were just slightly flattened on top with just the faintest evidence of ribbing on top.

Color: True to their name, they have orangish yellow flesh with a bit of a purple smudge on top. Mine never got as pronounced a purple smudge as the ones pictured on the seller’s website, but it did get a slight purple smudge. The smudge was only on the skin and did not carry into the meat of the tomato.

The inside:Pretty tight gel and medium sized seeds. It has four chambers inside like many salad tomatoes.

Texture:Just a little on the mealy side. Not too terrible but you can’t say it is smooth.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: This is a smack you in da face tomato. When you first bite into it, it is really, really sour. The gel is almost as sour as lemons. You literally pucker your lips if you are not ready for it. The flesh though is really, really sweet, almost like melons. So, just about the time you recover from the sour, you realize that what you are eating is not sour at all anymore. It is sweet. I can see why my 8-year-old friend loves them. It is like a roller coaster for your mouth.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt tones down the sour just a bit and makes it less of a shock. It does not interfere with the sweet at all.

Cooking Thoughts: Gosh, maybe in a salad, but your dinner guests would be in for a shock. Straight eating is fun.

Growing Notes:

Healthy plant and was able to survive early deer damage. It produced pretty late for me, but I attributed that to the deer damage. All my adoptive plant parents reported pretty early harvests.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Maybe. The problem is that they are too small for the flavor. They very much are a standalone tomato. Putting this in other food is like laying down a land mine on a playground. I think the flavor complexity would be best appreciated as a side dish tomato – no embellishments, no distractions. But, those are typically a large beefsteak tomato. We will see in future years.

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010

Historically, I have enjoyed green (when ripe) tomatoes, so I am looking forward to this one. Green tomatoes are always a startling treat to set on the table as many people don’t know that there are tomatoes that are ripe and still green.

The name of this tomato intrigued me. Who was Aunt Ruby and was she related to Aunt Bee? Try as I might though, I could not find much out about it beyond that “Aunt Ruby” is Ruby Arnold , that she was from Greenville, TN and these were not her tomatoes but rather her father’s that he brought from Germany. I am left to assume that he did not leave her much and so she thought it was appropriate to put her name on her father’s tomato as a way to make up for the lack of inheritance. Who knows, but I suspect a soap opera plot here waiting to be found.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

One of the largest green beefsteak. Can grow to over 1 pound and are just delicious. They have brilliant, neon-green flesh with a strong, sweet and fruity flavor, much tastier than most red tomatoes. This family heirloom from Germany is beautiful.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: While these were touted as being HUGE beefsteaks, not one off the plant was much larger than the palm of my hand. Not a bad size, but certainly not the massive beast that I had read about.

Shape: Flatish top, with a round bottom. I could compare it to unfortunate women like myself, but I will refrain.

Color: Dark green shoulders with yellow green bottom. The blossom end almost always (but not always, always) has a kiss of pink. So slight that, like the perfume of a man’s mistress, if you were not paying attention, you might miss it.

The inside:Classic beefsteak interior. Massive core with multiple chambers rimming the edge. Very loose gel. Smaller seeds for the size of the tomatoes (which are apparently undersized anyway).

Texture:Very thin skin and very silky flesh. This is a nice raw tomato to eat.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: This tomato does pack a wallop in the flavor department. To be honest, it tastes a lot like a green unripe tomato except the mouth feel is so much nicer. I like the flavor of unripe tomatoes, so this is a plus for me. The gel holds nearly all the flavor as is rather sour (not unpleasant) and lingering. The flesh is not as strong on flavor but is a bit sweet, which is a nice counter to the sour.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt screws with this in a bad way. That really sour flavor is almost gone while the sweet in the meat is turned up. Not bad, but not as nice as without the salt.

Cooking Thoughts: I think this would make a great salsa. They are also a good choice for a slice and serve as a side dish.

Growing Notes:

Love the flavor on these, but was not all that impressed with the growing habit. They did not produce a lot of tomatoes, and the ones they did produce were very, very prone to cracking. I had one that literally cracked all the way around the “waist” of the tomato. This meant a lot of spoilage on the plant. Not only do they go bad, but a badly cracked tomato is like an Vegas Buffet for slugs. Plus, they did not grow large at all. I just don’t think this tomato is suited for the Cleveland climate.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Probably not. Great flavor, undoubtedly. But the prone to cracking nature just means I would be feeding more critters than I would like to.