Topic: Best tasting tomato

[Jeannine]

 Salads in the earlier days were a meal in themselves..  I remember the ham salad vividly, served at most funerals way back , a slice of ham, 2 or3 whole lettuce leaves, couple of whole spring onions and a tomato which was usually in slices same with cucumber, half a boiled egg if you were well off, bit of potato salad  and of course the slad cream!! In fact I remember the day  when I was a child and went to dinner with the family and some friends and a man ordered a dinner with salad on the side.. tossed he said.. oh I thought he was so posh!!

There's now't so good as an 'am salad after a good funeral!!


 But I have promised my family if they do an 'am salad after me I shall haunt them !!

Sorry to go off topic.

XX Jeannine

[amphibian]

I don't really know what the point of a 'best tasting' test is. First of all you have to limit the field of thousands to a mere few, ignore the effect growing conditions and watering have on taste.

Then, having selected a handful of tomatoes, presumably from different sources and thus grown under different conditions, you then leap into the subjective world of taste. Even if you ignore the variability of taste between individuals, you're still left with the issue of what is a tomato 'meant' to taste like. A question you cannot answer.

My grandparents always liked the firmer acidic tomatoes, while I prefer the complex fleshy tomatoes, such as Paul Robeson or Japanese Black Trifele, they're both valid tomato flavours and there are many more inbetween, ye many when tasting a to mato would simply discount it if it simply didn't taste like a tomato should taste in the mind.

As already mentioned, it would be better if they attempted to list the spitters so they can be avoided.

[kmark]

hi all,
       The gardeners on our allotments tried many varieties of tomato over the last few seasons,and one that certainly stood out was Gardeners Delight that was kept on a "strict " organic feed of comfry water,and rainwater.
          The taste was totally outstanding.

                       Regards,
                            Mark.

[galina]

In defence of Matina aka Tamina, they are early and quite delicious on our soil.  Earlier than Gardener's Delight.   And a typical 4-5 slice tomato in size. 

Sungold is loved by many because it is so sweet.  Others love a tomato with a good sweetness/acidity balance aka  'depth' of flavour and Matina is in that group of tomatoes.

Gardener's Delight is getting more difficult to define.  I bought a packet 25 years ago and got a freebie with a magazine recently and they are different.  Both taste very good though.  GD is an old variety, probably much re-selected by different seed companies to different criteria and now quite diverse as a result. 

[Jeannine]

There are two Gardners Delight for sale  nowadaya, and some seedsman sell both GD and GD Original, the tastes are quite different.XX Jeannine

[tim]

It's all been said.
Given the huge variation in location, weather, in or outdoors, heat or not, treatment, individual preference & the fact that 1 of 3 toms off the same plant can be blah - how can one judge?
And Yellow V Red for arthritis? And were they kept in the fridge? And what did you eat them with?
Just try one or 2 new each year & keep an open mind.

If there WAS a 'best' - as all catalogues seem to suggest - someone would be in the money?

[Vinlander]

I'm all for taste tests personally - I know they work because Gardeners Delight and Sungold win them!

They are both almost immune to bad practice and bad weather because they really are the best.

Yes, there are some close behind - like Tigerella - and given a rich compost in full sun they will produce better toms compared to GD or SG on brick dust in the shade...

There is a bit of variation even on a level playing field - in some years GD are better and in others SG are better - and if there was another in the same class I'd grow it. I think Green Tiger is in the same class and in most years it's my favourite but I could still do with a fourth 'sure thing'.

I still hedge my bets with some outsiders like Black Cherry, Jester, Piccolino and Black Krim. If nothing else it's interesting how they respond to blight differently.

Not that I can make any recommendations - I thought one of the above was a useful 'canary in a coal mine' - a completely different dimension from resistance - but last year it was the last to show symptoms!

It would be nice to see stuff like this done scientifically.

It's just a pity that the journos who write about the trials call them 'best tomato" when they really mean "best non-cherry tomato".

It's even more annoying that the people who actually do the trials let them (journos are too keen on champagne and taxis to get their hands dirty).

Worst of all is that there's nobody to stop them doing trials in such a slipshod way that provides no baseline for comparison with previous ones.

Of course that's our job...

[jennym]

Think the comments about GD varying are quite right, have noticed this. I like Sungold too, also grew Jester - good tasting, skin toughish but I grow them hard  ;D but they kept very well. Will grow again if I've got seed.
Grew Black cherry too, prolific but won't grow again as my lot wouldnt eat them - maybe we're a bit conservative - they wouldn't eat yellow ones when presented on their own either.
Usually am dead boring and stick to ones that seem to grow well outside here and get eaten - GD, Sungold, Marmande beefsteak, Roma plum, Incas plum.
Was quite impressed with Red Cluster Pear, a centiflor (sp?) type, has dozens and dozens of small fruits on, easy to grow outside with support, found them very good for snacking. They also kept well, on vines cut and hung in the shed until around Christmas.

[FennelandFern]

I do love Sungold, and grow more and more Sungold plants every year as the flavour is epic! But I also fell head over heels with 'Purple Cherokee' last year, which has a beautiful sweet-smoky flavour - nice and wine-like. And I know this doesn't matter as much, but it was a real looker - huge pinky-purple fruit with these beautiful inky brushstrokes at the top. Lovely.

[Vinlander]

I'm a sucker for smoky tastes - that's why I grow Black Cherry and Black Krim.

I'm also really keen on other extra unusual tastes that chime nicely with the traditional flavour so I may try Purple Cherokee next year.

I'd recommend Green Tiger on the same basis - or maybe Highlander if it's the same - who knows?

[no-lottie]

I'd recommend Green Tiger on the same basis - or maybe Highlander if it's the same - who knows?

Just to confuse the name issue, I grew some tomatoes in 2008/9 from seed collected in Spain (Fruit from a Barcelona Market stall) and it had the name Cebrino. You guessed it - another look alike to Green Tiger.

[cleo]

If there WAS a 'best' - as all catalogues seem to suggest - someone would be in the money?
 
I still offer a few although I have yet to grow the `best` as I certainly do not make much from selling them.

We here are the ones who know-my mission is to try to convert the lost souls who pay 80p for a MoneyMaker plant :)