Favorite Heirloom Tomato varieties?

[Sally PB]

These made the "for sure" list for next year:
Italian Heirloom
Hungarian Heart

I'll probably grow Amish Paste again too. I'm going to go all out with trying to improve the soil. That garden is going to get a big pile of year old wood chips, a pile of compost, the rest of the bunny manure I got last spring, and chicken poop as I have it.

I have been disappointed by:
Cherokee Purple (twice)
Brandywine (twice)
so I won't plant them again.

Wisconsin Chief and Mortgage Lifter were underwhelming, but if there are seeds left in the packet, I'll give them a try.

Other than that, I'll look around the internet and this thread to see what other favorites people have. My criteria are: large tomatoes, open pollinated (heirloom) so I can save my own seeds, and resistance to blight if possible.

Yeah, I want it all, don't I?

 

[SarahLadd]

Not much I enjoy more in this life than a fresh Cherokee Purple tomato slice on white bread with some Duke's mayonaise.

Ok, toast the bread, do the mayo, then the tomato, but top with extra thin slices of sweet onion and be sure to follow up with a fresh turn of salt and pepper. Chefs kiss.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Ok, toast the bread, do the mayo, then the tomato, but top with extra thin slices of sweet onion and be sure to follow up with a fresh turn of salt and pepper. Chefs kiss.

Most definitely will try that.

 

[Red Horse]

So far my favorite tomato lineup this year is (in no specific order):
Green Zebra Tomato
Riesentraube Tomato
San Marzan Tomato
Roma Tomato
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Early Girl Tomato
Sweetie Cherry Tomato
Sweet 100 Hybrid Tomato

What are the green zebras supposed to taste like? I tried them this year but we had such a wet rainy humid season that the plants got a lot of rot and the tomatoes were watery. The few zebras I ended up with mostly just tasted like a tomatillo but even my favorite varieties were bland and awful.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

What are the green zebras supposed to taste like? I tried them this year but we had such a wet rainy humid season that the plants got a lot of rot and the tomatoes were watery. The few zebras I ended up with mostly just tasted like a tomatillo but even my favorite varieties were bland and awful.

In my opinion they actually taste like a classic red tomato, despite their striped green color. They aren't chewy like Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato. They seemed to have a relatively high acid level; so very flavorful. I made some tomato sauce (with a huge mix of ripe tomatoes) that included the Green Zebra tomato and I thought it tasted really good.

They're a medium/small tomato variety, and were very prolific for us this year.

I would recommend trying them again.

I had a similar experience with the Chadwick Cherry tomato this year. The first few we got just tasted bland. I was really unimpressed.
I recently tried them again, but this time I was amazed by their incredibly sweet and distinct flavor. If I had to guess I'd say rain was to blame.

 

[NerdyBird]

Black Krim! Has such a deep, savory flavor with almost a hint of salt. It's also a beautiful deep burgundy/purple with green shoulders when fully ripe. Amazing for BLTs, tomato sandwiches or slicing on the side for supper.

 

[Red Horse]

In my opinion they actually taste like a classic red tomato, despite their striped green color. They aren't chewy like Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato. They seemed to have a relatively high acid level; so very flavorful. I made some tomato sauce (with a huge mix of ripe tomatoes) that included the Green Zebra tomato and I thought it tasted really good.

They're a medium/small tomato variety, and were very prolific for us this year.

I would recommend trying them again.

I had a similar experience with the Chadwick Cherry tomato this year. The first few we got just tasted bland. I was really unimpressed.
I recently tried them again, but this time I was amazed by their incredibly sweet and distinct flavor. If I had to guess I'd say rain was to blame.

I definitely will try them again, it was such a bad year for us! It rained more days than not, I only got one of my favorite cherokee purples the whole season and it wasn't even good Nobody had any concord grapes this year either and I was so prepared for them.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

Black Krim! Has such a deep, savory flavor with almost a hint of salt. It's also a beautiful deep burgundy/purple with green shoulders when fully ripe. Amazing for BLTs, tomato sandwiches or slicing on the side for supper.View attachment 3259851

Beautiful tomato! Yes, we now have seeds for the Black Krim tomato for next year. Thank you for sharing.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I definitely will try them again, it was such a bad year for us! It rained more days than not, I only got one of my favorite cherokee purples the whole season and it wasn't even good Nobody had any concord grapes this year either and I was so prepared for them.

Sorry to hear that! Hopefully you'll have a better time next season!

 

[Sally PB]

Black Krim! Has such a deep, savory flavor with almost a hint of salt. It's also a beautiful deep burgundy/purple with green shoulders when fully ripe.

Sounds good! I'll add this to my list of new tomatoes to try next year.

My goal is to have half a dozen kinds to grow. It'd be nice to have some shorter season ones too, so I can start canning earlier. Then I can stretch it out, and not have gobs of 'maters to process at the end of the season.

I realized how much less taxing it is to do a canner load, wait a day or so, do another batch. Not have to process a bushel before they start to go bad.

This is also the first time I've had enough tomatoes that I didn't have to buy ANY. I still might buy enough to do one more batch of salsa though. We'll see.