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.

I can say that I am hopeful. These cherry tomatoes do certainly look like true black tomatoes. I just have to hope the flavor holds true to the color.

The description from the company I got it from reads:

It is not a plum, but a perfectly round cherry with classic black tomato flavor, sweet yet rich and complex. Fruit picks clean from the stem and is produced in abundance on vigorous, tall plants. These cherries are irresistibly delicious and a unique addition to the color spectrum of cherry tomatoes now available.

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Slightly larger than a shooter marble but smaller than a golf ball. It is on the large side for a cherry tomato.

Shape: Very round. Near perfectly round, and I have harvested a good several dozen so far like this.

Color: Dusky pink on the bottom that gradually morphs into a dusky purple on top.

The inside:Medium size walls for a cherry tomato. Small seeds with rather firm gel. The core is almost as round as the outside of the tomato.

Texture: The skin is just thick enough that the cherry still has the ‘eyeball” effect, but it is certainly not as bad as some other cherry tomatoes I have tried. Once the skin pops though, the texture is smooth and silky. The seeds are small enough that they do not feel like seeds in the mouth.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: I like the flavor and it is almost exactly like they crossed a black tomato and a typical sweet cherry tomato and the fruit is the perfect balance of the two. It is interesting when you taste it, because your tongue is hit with both a deep, rich flavor and a sweet flavor at the same time. The flavor persists through when you swallow.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salting intensifies that dichotomy of rich and sweet. It is almost like the two ends of the flavor spectrum are pulled even further apart which make for an even more complex flavor.

Cooking Thoughts: It is a good salad tomato, but to be honest, I have been serving these as a side dish. Some nights we have them just plain and whole, and on other nights, halved, salted with some chopped basil thrown in. This is a great appetizer tomato. Just the right size.

Growing Notes:

Very vigorous vine, in both shape and production. I have had enough from this plant to keep tomatoes on the table every other night, despite the fact that my “big” tomatoes are under producing.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

Most likely yes. I love the flavor of this cherry tomato and my kids love the flavor as well. Which is important, because it make a good side dish that they will eat and would not just be a snitching and snacking tomato in the garden, which is what many other cherry tomatoes I have grown have turned into.

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?

Ok, so I need to work on my pirate speak a lot before the next Talk Like A Pirate Day. But the point I am trying to make is that these little cherries’ name was the one and only reason I bought them. There I was sailing down the plant isle and I see a sign that says “Black Pearl Tomatoes.” Since I am a HUGE Pirates of the Caribbean fan (translation, I think Johnny Depp is really hot), I had to have these tomatoes. And since Rowena (from The Proud Garden) made the same comment about the name, I feel that this was a blatant marketing attempt on the part of the breeder. This is a hybrid, but I am not that kind of tomato snob (I am another kind of tomato snob, but if you have read long enough, you know what that is). Needless to say, the breeder’s marketing ploy has worked and I (along with most likely 100s of others) bought this tomato purely based on the name.

The description from the company I got it from reads:

A true treasure, ‘Black Pearl’ is two different flavors in one cherry tomato. Enjoy right off the vine, but be sure to put a big bowlful in the refrigerator for a special treat. When chilled, ‘Black Pearl’ has a unique, extra sweet, ‘Concord’ grape flavor. Indeterminate vines produce 1 ½ inches, purplish black fruits in abundance until fall. A rare pearl!

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: The size of shooter marbles

Shape: Mostly round but with just a bit of a flattened area on the top of the tomato. Uniform in shape and size.

Color: Deep orange-red on the bottom with classic green-brown black tomato shoulders. The shoulders fade down over the side to about midway down.

The inside:Thin walls and a moderate size core for the size. Seeds are very small. Gel is very loose and watery. Two chambers hold the seeds and gel.

Texture: The texture is pretty liquid. The gel is so loose, that it floods your mouth when you bite the tomato. The skin is thin along with the walls, which means that this does not have “pop” like eating an eyeball that you normally get with other cherry tomatoes.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: The flavor of this is really very interesting. It starts out really, really tart (which is the gel flooding your mouth), but the flesh is really, really sweet, so you get this cool melting from one extreme to the next.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt really cranks up the tartness, but does nothing for the sweet. This means that the really nice flavor balance from before is completely thrown out of whack and that is not all that good.

Special Tasting: Since the seller claims that these tomatoes taste good cold, I am going to give this a try. I find this an interesting claim because normally you are told not to because it destroys some of the flavor chemicals in tomatoes. Maybe, for this tomato, it kills the right ones, which changes the flavor in a positive manner.

Nope, that was a fail. Chilling just made this tomato taste like a run of the mill tomato. It loses its personality completely. It tasted more like grapes before I chilled it.

Cooking Thoughts: I think that these would be disrespected if they were served any way but in a bowl as an appetizer for your guests at a dinner party or at least as a nice afternoon snack. Served as is, without accompaniment, so that their natural flavor can be appreciated.

Growing Notes:

Typical cherry tomato vine. It is all over the place and is producing prolifically.

Will Hanna grow this one again:

I would love to, but and this is a big but, it is a hybrid. Because of this, I can only grow it as long as the seller sells it. The first year the seller decides it does not sell well enough, it is gone from the market never to be seen again. A shame really.

I have talked about Micro Tom Tomatoes before, way, way, way back when this blog was relatively new. I grow them on and off as purely decorative plants, because they are damn cute and weird. I realized this year that I had never done a tasting on them though.

These tomatoes don’t have much of a yield. That’s the consequence of only growing about 5” high. That’s right, look at the picture. That is a quarter nestled in there. That’s as big as they get.

Freak plants tend not to produce good tomatoes. When more time is spent on making a tomato unusual rather than tasty, taste suffers. So, for the record, I am not expecting much.

The description from the company I got it from reads:

Tomato Micro-Tom. The world’s smallest tomato plant. Plant only grows between 6-8 inches in height. Fruit is red and one inch in diameter. Succulent sweet flavor. Excellent for hanging containers, pots, small gardens, or indoor window sill..

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Roughly the size of marbles – mostly large marbles. The tomatoes actually look almost too large for the plant.

Shape: An off-center round shape. Like they are trying very hard to be round but have tried to get to the front row of a Bieber concert.

Color: Orangish –red.

The inside: Rather thick walls for the size of the tomato and rather large seeds as well. The result is each fruit only has maybe 4-5 seeds in it. Very little gel, and the gel that is there is clinging tight to the few seeds.

Texture: Pretty mealy, and the skin is surprisingly thick.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Plain Jane tomato flavor. More tart than sweet, which is surprising for a cherry tomato.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt makes this a much sweeter tomato. Still not quite a cherry tomato sweetness, but much closer.

Cooking Thoughts: I am going to leave this as a “growing for the kids to snitch” tomato. Salad tomato if I could get more than 3 tomatoes off the plant at a time. But since the yield is so low, I would rather just let the kids get them.

Growing Notes:
Teeny, tiny plant. You would not plant this in a traditional veggie garden. It belongs in hanging baskets, window boxes and kids’ gardens. They are a very compact plant, which does cause some fungus issues sometimes.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
Will I grow it again for flavor? No. Will I grow it again because it is a freak of nature? Yes. It will show up in decorative plantings on and off for years to come.

I know, I know that I dropped the ball on the 2009 season, but my tomatoes plants ended up being destroyed by a groundswell of critters in my garden.  Not only could I not get tastings done, I could not even get tomatoes for myself.  I was sad.

But this year, thanks to an ingenious obstacle course consisting of a series of buckets, pots and garden tools, the animals have stayed away and my tomato plants are heavy with… um… green tomatoes.  I am sure they will be turning soon…

So here is the list for this year:

• Micro Tom
• Rainbow
• Reisetomate
• Henderson’s Pink
• Juliet
• Violet Jasper
• Lemon Boy
• Matina
• Black Pearl
• Purple Smudge
• Black Cherry
• Aunt Ruby’s Green
• Chile Verde

As always, your opinions on the tomatoes are wanted and encouraged.  What may do well here may not do well where you are and vice versa.  These tastings are so that we can place a record of how a tomato really tastes out there in cyberspace.  I also encourage you to blog about your own tomato tastings experiences on your blog.  I will happily link to any tomato tastings that other people do as well.

Here are links to previous years:
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2006
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008
Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2009