Tomato Taste Test 2013

FWIW, here's my assessment. The order is earliness/yield/flavour

Greenhouse

Sungold...............10/10/10
Country Taste........7/9/5
Cuore Di Bue.........6/8/0
Super Marmande...7/3/6

Outdoor

Gardeners Delight....8/10/7
Cuore Di Bue............6/8/0
Ferline......................7/8/6
Legend......................7/8/4
Ildi............................6/9/6
Roma.........................5/6/5

These results are based on my impressions as I didn't line them up and taste each in turn like I probably should have. I found that some of them changed as the season went on. For instance, the Gardeners Delight seem to have lost their flavour of late. They are also splitting the moment they start to ripen so I have (have had) a lot of unusable fruits.
On the face of it, the Ildi scored the same as Ferline with regards to taste, but it's worth bearing in mind that Ildi are a much smaller tomato and should (imo) have scored higher than the much larger Ferline. Legend returned some really good sized tomatoes, but had a very dry texture, not really a problem though as these were cooked, for the most part. As has been the case in previous years, Sungold were by some distance the best tomato, for me. I was quite disappointed with Cuore Di Bue which really had no flavour at all. They also suffered from splitting at the top of the fruit. I was quite surprised by Country Taste as it produced some very large fruits with no effort on my part. I just let them get on with it and yet there were usually 6 or more of these large fruits per truss. Flavour wasn't great, but given the size, I didn't expect much, cooked up good though

Cheers...Freddy

 

I feel like a heathen here.

I grew a taster-test selection of varieties this year.

They had interesting / varied flavours, but none so startlingly good that I particularly wanted to grow it again. In the main what they did have was light cropping weight, and many of them very late for first ripe fruit.

I have enjoyed having Tomato sandwiches from the Beefsteak varieties ... but I suspect that I would enjoy Tomato sandwiches from Shirley just as much ... and I could have them from a much earlier first-harvest date than the Beefsteak variety harvest date.

Other problem I had (of my own making) was that I grew 2 plants of each (of 10 varieties, I have room for 20 plants in the greenhouse). What that meant was that I could get a decent number of fruit, all-at-once, of any single variety - for example to make a salad for a dozen people coming to lunch.

So I think?? that I'm going to revert to 6 each of Shirley, Sungold and Gardener's Delight in future years ...

So I suppose that begs the question: Why do you grow so many varieties, or such specific ones, in a way that I am not seeing the reason?

 

Funnily enough I often ask myself that question having grown 19 varieties this year (actually 22 but 3 failed to set fruit). I guess it's a bit of fun trying something different each year. if you have a look on the Tomatoville forum you'll find some members growing an incredible number of varieties.

My poly tunnel grown beefsteak tomatoes don't actually take up much room as I grow them next to the cover where the height is limited so the number of trusses are restricted to what can feasibly ripen and 'standard' size cordon tomatoes are grown in front of them and allowed to grow right up to the apex.

 

Good idea

 

I'm disappointed with what I've grown this year. That may be my choice of toms or could be climate. There are some varieties that I grow every year and I know from growing these that crops differ year to year. Until this year my toms have all been greenhouse grown but I decided to try a few plants outside this time. As I expected it was a disaster, they just don't like the climate here and my coastal position, they were slow to crop and only three tomatoes out of three different varieties ( which were unknown) ripened. Greenhouse only next year!

Unfortunately I gave my Gardeners Delight plants to my son-in-law by mistake, so this is what I was left with.

Greenhouse grown below.

Golden Pearl .........(Yellow, semi cherry)........... These never fail me. High yield, early and long cropping. Trusses were absolutely loaded with fruit. Very sweet with a mild flavour and juicy fruit.

Red Zebra.......... (Red with gold stripe, salad tom)............Low yield, although reasonably early. Skins were tough and fruit bland.

Tamina..........(Red, salad tom)...........A potato leaved tom. Fruit when starting to ripen became very pale and ripening a couple of weeks later than the others. High yield. Size inconsistent from small to quite large. Tasteless, pappy and only fit for cooking with.

 

A bit of a difficult one this....for instance...My early Better Boys were delicious but one or two of my later ones from the same plant were very bland...almost tasteless unless unless plenty of salt was added...
So here goes....Yield...Ripening...Taste...

Beefmaster F1.. 9.9.9.
Big Zac.. 7.6.6.
Better Boy.. 9.9.5
Early Goliath.. 7.9.7.
Alicante.. 6.9.9.
Stonor.. 7.9.9.
G Delight.. 9.9.9..
Tumbler F1.. 10.9.9.

My 2 grafted toms...

Arnold F1/Beefmaster....8.7.8..
G.Delight/Beefmaster....8.7.8..

My only real disappointment this year was the Alicante.....lowest yield i've ever had.....

 

Nothing scoring a 10 for Taste Loli? Any varieties in the past that you remember that did?

 

@Kristen .....my old Alicante have usually done it for me....but this year not quite up to par...previous years have had a much higher yield and right up to November i've been picking them with many unripe ones to spare but this year all my toms are all but done.....

 

Just back from hols and weather has been good so things have surprisingly come along much better than anticipated, still picking from all plants but pretty much getting ready to preserve both red and green in the next couple of weeks. Revised ratings (provisional original near top or thread):

Yield Ripening Taste

Alicante 8 7 7
Ripened very late, but nearly all ripened the last two weeks, taste a bit bland but ok, better than store bought though but nothing special)

Marmande 6 7 9
Ripened very late also, but the taste is lovely, tart and sharp but ooh so tasty, wish I had more!

Ailsa Craig 8 7 5
Lots of them but blandish taste, no bite, no proper tomato taste

Sun Baby 9 9 9
Excellent in every way, still cropping and almost every tom ripened, marvellous taste

Despite weather, not a fantastic year but decent enough, have been preserving and freezing sauces etc for winter-time treats.

I am going to give Ailsa Craig and Alicante a miss next year.

I'm compiling a list for next year based on all experiences here which are really useful, thanks to all contributors. Sun Baby and Marmande definitely on my list already.

Cheers
GG

 

Has anyone grown the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes....i got a call from my nephew to tell me he has a plant and the fruit are brown and should he eat them...on further inspection turns out they're these 'chocolate cherry toms'....he says they're really nice....so i'm expecting a delivery anyday now... i'm curious ...i've heard of them but never tasted them...

 

That's interesting Loli, let us know what they were like!

 

They never reached me i'm afraid...he assures me they were lovely but he eats kebabs from an unsavory source so that's nothing to go by....
I feel sure one of us has grown some Chocolate Toms but can't think who

 

As they're non-f1 get him to save some seeds and send them to you as they sell for silly prices - nearly £3 for 10 seeds.

 

@Loli ....If I'm not mistaken, I think it was @liliana who was growing the chocolate cherry toms.