Tomato Taste Test 2025

Early tastings.

Micro Dwarf Henry Harrington's Bush Cherry. From a December showing. Very compact plant, standing at a lofty 27cm and thriving in a 5l pot. Covered with small red cherries with proper flavour. A very good choice.

Micro Dwarf Lois' Baby Tiger. Sown December. Oh my! This is an absolute mess and is none the worse for it. The fruits were supposed to be small oval/cherries, striped with green and red. Well, I planted three seeds and got a round, red cherry with just a kiss of antho ( aka Plain, Fat Baby) another the same with more pronounced pigment on the shoulders and a little yellow/green striped oval with green shoulders. All three taste great - the GWR ( green when ripe) being particularly sweet and distinctive. This is more of a lucky dip than a variety. Height up to 34cm.


Bloody Butcher. I have a standard, quite compact version and an odd-bod dwarf thing that sprang up spontaneously from bought seed. Reliable, tough, early, tasty. Not the most exciting tomato in the world but a must-sow for me.


Purple Fairy. Very handsome bush tomato. Purple/green striped oval/pointed. About 30g. Disappointed on first taste but will update. Paste texture. Edit. Much better fried, on toast! Further Edit. Later fruits have lots of sweetness and a soft, paste-like texture. Plant continues to be productive. I quite like it now.

Micro Dwarf Groovy Tunes. Sown December. I've just binned these. Nothing wrong with the plants other than the most abysmal fruit setting. I got one ripe fruit from each plant without any more setting. Very attractive chartreuse foliage.Pretty striped 25g fruits, slightly boxy. Good flavour with a satisfying lingering sweetness.

 

I live in hope to have some to taste

 

I have fruit on 8 varieties, but none ripe yet....................

 

Here's a lovely little tom if you like dark and sweet. Baby Black Beefsteak. Indeterminate, averaging 23 grams.

 

Purple Cherokee - reasonably tasty - one slice per burger! (283gm fruit)

 

This is Norwood Meiners, a stripey salad tomato. Lots of proper tomato flavour. 40-50g. Vigorous plant and proving very productive. Recommended.

 

Ambrosia Gold. Tiny, sweet/tart and punchy. Very snackable. Upgraded assessment to "delicious" as the season has progressed. Skins a bit thick, if that bothers you. The plant habit is a pain in the backside. It's indeterminate but constantly sends out side shoots. Not particularly productive, but compact and good for pots.

 

Big Daddy - juicy, sweet, tasty, no pith - delicious!

 

I do wonder how much effect the weather and growing conditions, feeding etc., affects the flavour of tomatoes, as well as the variety.
I have given up growing Gardener's Delight because the flavour has dropped off over the last few years. I have found Cocktail Crush a good replacement. I do not like sickly sweet tomatoes, I prefer acidic ones so personal choice comes into it as well. At one time Moneymaker and Shirley used to be "the" tomatoes to grow but I find flavourless.
Each to his own.

 

I've not had one Tomato to taste yet

 

I just experienced on my own the effects that impact the taste. I repeated 2 varieties from the last season. Those were soooo flavourful, soooo tasty. ... and this season they are quite bland along with the others...

 

Burlesque - quite large, a little bland compared to Big Daddy.
Sun gold - prolific and sweet cherry tomatoes
Rosella - cherry tomatoes - sharp, tangy, maybe even smoky - like adding a gentle psychedelic to the frisson of being a little lost at dimpsy dusk time on the edge of a knarled and playful ancient oakwood, leering at you invitingly...

 

I guess plants are the same as us.
We are what we eat.

I picked my first ripe tomato, plus 3 to finish ripening indoors yesterday. Haven't tried the ripe one yet