Green Tomato Varieties-- wHY should I grow them? Which do you recommend??

[Arielle]

I am stumped. I see green tomato seeds offered and get stuck thinking these are immature tomatos so WHY WHY WHY would I want to grow these??

Would love to hear from folks that grow or have grown the green varieties of tomatos. WHen to pick them, how to use htem, how to make salsas, or what ever your favorite recipe is, bring it on. Convince me please to buy green tomatos seeds and give them a try!

Here is the selection from the company I usually buy seed from:
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/Green-Heirlooms/products/63/

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I grew the green zebras last year just because they are kind of fun. They did well, were prolific and the fruit was juicy. They're not hard like unripe tomatoes!

 

[Arielle]

THe green zebras sound promising!!

 

[MeatTheFlockers]

I am stumped. I see green tomato seeds offered and get stuck thinking these are immature tomatos so WHY WHY WHY would I want to grow these??

Would love to hear from folks that grow or have grown the green varieties of tomatos. WHen to pick them, how to use htem, how to make salsas, or what ever your favorite recipe is, bring it on. Convince me please to buy green tomatos seeds and give them a try!

Here is the selection from the company I usually buy seed from:
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/Green-Heirlooms/products/63/

A ripe green tomato is no different than a red, pink, yellow, or blue tomato as far as taste, texture and what to do with them. Cherokee green is every bit as good as CHerokee purple in taste. It is actually just a mutatuion in color from a cherokee purple plant. The Green when ripe (GWR) tomatoes are some of my favorites. They can be a little harder to know when to pick, but alot of the GWR tomatoes actually get an amber/yellow blush color when they are ripe. Cherokee green is one of them, and probably my favorite from the ones you linked to. It produces well for me, with consitent good size fruits, and fantastic taste. I have grown geeen zebra as well as a handful of others, but have since moved on to better tasting "Greens." One thing worth mentioning, as most people think they are unripe, is that you would not want to make fried green tomatoes with a ripe GWR tomato. The texture would not suffice for frying. You would truly be missing out in not trying at least one Green When Ripe tomato.

Hope this helps.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Wow, YOU have me convinced to try green tomatos. Looks like Green Cherokee would be the p lace to start and compare other greens to that one. Thanks.

 

[Arielle]

Would love to hear from anyone with green tomato experience to share!! WHich green tomato varieties have you tried? Did you like it? How did it perform in the garden? How did it taste??

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some tomatoes, like Cherokee Purple or Black Krim, ripen from the bottom and have a harder green bit around the stem end. When you look at them they don’t look really ripe, but the bottom will go bad before the top softens. My Japanese Black were especially bad about this. The way to tell if they are ripe is to feel them. When they are soft around the bottom they are ready.

The only green-when-ripe tomato I’ve ever grown was from a packet of mixed seeds. I never did figure out exactly which variety they were, but they were pretty good. They were fairly large and had a great flavor. They would get a touch of reddish-purple stripes on them and they did not have that ring of hard around the top, but you still had to go more by feel than looking to know that they were ripe.

The only way to find out if you like a variety is to try it.

 

[Arielle]

Hi Ridgerunner. Havent run into you in a while. . . .thanks for chiming in!

Yes, you are right. Ultimately I will have to jump in and try a few varietes to see what I like. That they dont ripen evenly is curious. THat makes me wonder if any of the red, orange, and yellow, and black and purple varieties might also follow that trend of ripening from the bottom up. I know I would prefer a tomato that I can use all of it at once with minimal " waste". ( Fortunately the chickens would get the "waste".)

 

[MeatTheFlockers]

Would love to hear from anyone with green tomato experience to share!!  WHich green tomato varieties have you tried? Did you like it? How did it perform in the garden? How did it taste??

The ones I've tried are Cherokee green, green zebra, green zebra cherry, green doctors, green doctors frosted, green tiger, verde claro and Berkley Tie Dye. Growing Malachite Box, Grubs Mystery Green, Summertime green, and Muddy Waters this year as well.

Cherokee green, green tiger, verde claro, and Berkley Tie Dye being the favorites. The larger greens I've tried ten to have an almost spicy complex taste to them. Sometimes a little zingy if you will. Verde claro is almost green grape like in flavor. I do enjoy them quite a bit. Just a nice contrast to the normal reds.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Oh that spicy complex flavor would be awesome in a salsa verde!! WE have definitely expanded our food choices here, and we are all for anything that uses tomatos, tomatillos and the like. I like making fresh, so these will be wonderful to try.

These are more varieties than I have found so far. Where do you get your seed??