Tormato wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:03 pm The story goes that White Queen is the one and only large white variety with any flavor. Since it never makes it near the top of any favorites list, I won't trial it. The only whites (very pale yellow) that I've tried are a few good cherries.

I'm a bit surprised that you like the bi-colors, as yes they have that wonderful fruity taste not found in most tomatoes, but they generally are extremely sweet. Also, they're basically the most finicky. When the weather conditions are bad, bi-colors are the worst, being flavorless, watery, bags of mush.

Bower wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 1:58 pm BTW, gala apples grown in Canada are delicious. Certainly not as you described. Fujis are dubious, seemed almost flavorless I did not repeat. I've had the Tango and didn't like it for fresh eating as much as the Gala we get. Honeycrisp is regularly available but not as good.
My favorite ever apples that I've tasted are Cox's Orange Pippin and Golden Russett. Been a while since I've seen either here though. We sometimes get small russets from Nova Scotia which are very nice indeed.
I agree that MacIntosh is just atrocious. Nasty skin, overly sour, texture can be mushy.
Still I like apples enough, I would be willing to taste even a few shockingly bad ones, just for fun.

karstopography wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 1:15 pm

Tormato wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:11 am

karstopography wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:40 am @Tormato the more I think about it, the more it may be that my sample size is just too small. Some of y’all have either tasted or grown and tasted a lot more varieties than myself and have likely or possibly honed in on some outstanding examples that rise above the rest. I’m still working through a variety of tomatoes to see what I like more than others.

The biggest question is, do you know what you like in a tomato, of the ones you've tried?

Sweetness? Tartness? In-between?

"Traditional" tomatoey flavor? (usually found in red globes) Citrusy flavor? (many of the yellow/gold/orange ones) Fruity flavor? (SunGold and others)

And, as I've often mentioned, I consider Stump Of The World (in good growing conditions), as the benchmark, a starting point to find out what one likes in a tomato.

Whether someone is an average taster, a super taster, or a below average taster could be a huge factor, but people have to come to that conclusion by themselves. Most already know my conclusions on many, but not all, dark tomatoes.

I don’t have a particularily long history of growing my own and haven’t had any other heirloom types except maybe here and there at a farmer’s market and once in a while at some locavore kind of restaurant. I’ll stick with ones I’ve grown. So I’ve grown Celebrity, Creole, Carmello, Big Beef, Super Fantastic, Blue Ribbon, Top Gun and several other hybrid reds. They all are good, really good, but I can’t think of one that stands out as far and above the others. I wasn’t crazy about Dixie Red, Creole, Moneymaker, tasteless, bland, no big tomato flavors at all, I’ve had Early girl out of a friend’s garden and didn’t particularily like it. I can’t think of a smallish/saladette type of tomato I’ve ever had and really liked. San Marzano was pretty bad, dry, no juice, but it isn’t made for fresh eating.

So, are any of those pink, I don’t think any are and it may be possible that Mortgage Lifter (no idea as to strain)is the only Pink I’ve grown in past seasons. It was different than the reds, I found it to be more bland, but my wife that has the most developed sense of smell of anyone I have ever met loved Mortgage Lifter.

I am growing several pinks this season. Gregori’s Altai, 1884, Hoy, ML (again), Pink Fang, German Johnson, maybe another one I can’t think of at the moment.

Bicolor tomatoes were a revelation to me as I didn’t realize tomatoes could taste like that, and that was fruity and sweet on my tongue, but more than simple sugar and water, other more robust tomato flavors in them also. Pineapple, Hillbilly, Old German, all were really tasty.

Lemon Boy and Golden Jubilee were great tasting tomatoes.

Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Carbon are wonderful. Earthy, tart, robust, just good.

I can see I’m deficient in Pink tomatoes and knowing what they offer. Plan is to see what I think of the ones I’m growing, evaluate the flavors and go from there. I plan on trying SOTW and couple more PL pinks in future seasons.

I’m growing a couple of white tomatoes this season, plan is to grow at least one GWR tomato next year.

Apples, yes, Macintosh is awful fresh, texture mainly, good maybe in a dessert. Fuji is awful also. I don’t like Gala either, both those are sugar water and bland. No thank you on Red Delicious, either.

Pink Lady, HoneyCrisp, Empire, Evercrisp, Jazz, Winesap, I like those and a few others. I like a firm apple and usually some tartness with the sweet like Honey Crisp has, but Evercrisp is a honey crisp minus most the tart. Granny Smith is good for cooking, but too tart for eating fresh.

In general, anything sweet needs something sour or tart or bitter to balance it out. Do not like sweet things without anything to offset it.

Toomanymatoes wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:38 pm Yes, you can get green tobacco sickness from handling tobacco plants too much. I have no intention to slow dance with my tobacco plants every day. So, I should be fine.

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:19 am @Tormato I haven’t given pinks a chance.One meh pink, ML, is not giving pinks a fair shot. I’m giving a few more pink tomatoes their shot this season. Early indications look promising. Gregori’s Altai is a current rising by virtue of fruit setting star. 1884 is picking up steam. Maybe the fruit once ripe won’t taste good, but that remains to be seen. I’m willing to try different things and other varieties. Worse case, pinks will all be spitters and I’ll just continue to grow what I think are delicious reds, purples, and bicolors.

We might all be chasing flavor, but lucky for me, I like a number of flavors and combinations of them and no one has ever accused me of being a picky eater. That doesn’t mean I don’t have taste because there are certainly foods and so called edibles that are awful such as oatmeal, please, why is that disgusting glop considered food?

My tastes have a wide bandwidth, but there is definitely a signal and not just noise.