Best tomatoes for sauce

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AKgardener
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Best tomatoes for sauce

#1

Post: # 31220Unread post AKgardener
Wed Sep 23, 2020 1:38 pm

I’m making my list already for next year :lol: but I would love some opinions are best tomatoes for sauce my husband and I like more tangy than sweet would love some ideas and variety suggestions thanks

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karstopography
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#2

Post: # 31224Unread post karstopography
Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:24 pm

Carmello is balanced tangy/sweet hybrid or there is an open pollinated version. It can grow and set fruit in cool or hot conditions and is a 70-75 day indeterminant. Reliable and very productive, not a space hog, grows upright, but with foliage that droops enough to fit them about 18-24” apart. Crimson red color, multi purpose tomato. I freeze them whole, then peel the skins in seconds after they thaw a bit. They break down nicely in the sauce pan and just make for a wonderful fresh tomato flavored sauce with enough of that bright acidity along with a nice sweetness that has nothing harsh or off putting in it.

I guess they could be further processed to make a super smooth or silky sauce, but after 15-30 minutes simmering along with some herbs I get a sauce that could be great tossed with pasta or spread over meatballs or fried eggplant or as part of a lasagna.

Carmello is supposed to be a top market tomato in much of Europe, especially France. The French if anyone love good and flavorful food.
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Tormato
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#3

Post: # 31225Unread post Tormato
Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:23 pm

Everything but the Kitchen Sink (KS is not yet a variety, but I'm working on it).

Seriously, the best sauce I ever made had dozens of varieties in it. It makes a complex taste that can't be had by using just one variety. The downfall is that unless you keep records of how any ounces of each go into the pot, that taste can't be duplicated.

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AKgardener
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#4

Post: # 31228Unread post AKgardener
Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:43 pm

That is so true on different tomatoes thank you all for commenting

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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#5

Post: # 31272Unread post bjbebs
Thu Sep 24, 2020 4:16 pm

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Any tomato that tastes good is used for sauces and salsa. But I will say if I could grow only one for processing, it would be Curtis Cheek. Big, meaty and blemish free. 3rd year growing it and finally figured out how it does best for me. Rather than an early May planting, it goes in about mid June. No disease and still makes a big crop. A couple pictures of a good producer. Tomatoes average close to a lb. and taste as good as a tomato can get.
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ponyexpress
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#6

Post: # 31287Unread post ponyexpress
Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:11 am

One variety to avoid is Roma. They were kind of hollow without much meat.

This year I used Pony Express, Jersey Giant, Rutgers, and Brandywine. I recommend all of them with Brandywine being the best for BLTs.

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Shule
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#7

Post: # 31292Unread post Shule
Fri Sep 25, 2020 6:48 am

I imagine Burpee Gloriana, Cuostralee, Matina, Mountain Princess, New Yorker V, Sasha's Altai, or Manitoba would make a nice tangy sauce. Early Girl F1 is great for spaghetti sauce, in my experience (I mean, the version of it that existed in the early 1990's or before; I'm not sure about the modern one). I'd love to find an OP Early Girl based off of that older version. There are a lot of versions of Early Girl F1, but when they sell them, they don't usually say the actual name of the one they're selling. They just say Early Girl, or some such.
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TXTravis
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#8

Post: # 33930Unread post TXTravis
Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:21 pm

I had exceptional results in both flavor and productivity with Andiamo, a San Marzano hybrid. Just a ballpark, but of 32 plants of 10 varieties that gave me 350+ lbs of fruit this summer, I'd guess 20% of that production came from my 4 Andiamo plants. They continued to set fruit in the Texas heat, and the one I kept and cut back is now loaded with a Fall crop (hoping they ripen before a freeze--our average first frost is Dec 1 and it's looking good). And they have that classic San Marzano flavor. I peel them and can them whole, and they primarily get used for pizza sauce (a bit of basil and a quick pulse in the blender is all they need).
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#9

Post: # 33936Unread post Gardadore
Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:08 pm

I agree with Tormato that mixing different varieties makes great sauce and you cannot duplicate the flavor easily but that has never been an issue for me. Carolyn Male recommended using heart tomatoes since they are often big, meaty and few seeds over the “paste” varieties. Consequently I try to include as many hearts as possible in my mixture. I grow a lot of varieties each season, usually only one of each so getting enough tomatoes from one variety is a challenge and I don’t even try. I also usually oven roast my sauce which I find tastier and more intense than stovetop.
Have heard great things about Curtis Cheek so not surprised it was highly praised above. I grew it this summer but it didn’t come true so hoping for the right one next summer. And it’s a heart!

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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#10

Post: # 33938Unread post MrBig46
Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:27 pm

In 2019, I tested six varieties of tomatoes intended mainly for sauces. All varieties with a minimum of seeds and juice - Jersey devil, Opalka, Gilbertie, Scatolone, San Marzano Gigante and Andes Horn. Opalka and Gilbertie were the best for me. I'll be growing Fred Hempel's Marzano Fire with them next year.
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Whwoz
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#11

Post: # 33957Unread post Whwoz
Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:11 am

One that was highly recommended a few years ago on TV is Costuloto Genovese in all it various varieties especially "Brokenbar" named after a TV member who made a lot of sauce with it exclusively, from memory it was in the region of 500 US gallons a year. Trialling it this year thanks to Tormato

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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#12

Post: # 33959Unread post MrBig46
Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:49 am

I used to grow Costoluto Genovese, I didn't like it very much - I don't like organ tomatoes. In 2015, I also had a Brokenbar (from MMMM), but all the undergrowths were better for me (gilbertie, etc.)
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Tormato
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#13

Post: # 34080Unread post Tormato
Mon Nov 16, 2020 4:23 pm

Worst tomato for sauce - SunGold.

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JRinPA
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#14

Post: # 34975Unread post JRinPA
Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:12 pm

Possibly, but I'd say yellow pear may be worse!
Actually sungold and sunsugar etc can make a pretty nice juice/soup. And some go into sauce each year. But they are surely more wet than most. This year they were mixed in the last few batches, instead of held for their own. I didn't pick enough at once to get their own cook pot for "orange" tomato soup canned in pints to drink cold.

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MrBig46
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#15

Post: # 34981Unread post MrBig46
Wed Dec 02, 2020 2:19 am

There is a problem with tomatoes for sauces. It would be best to taste the sauce. If you want to find a tasty tomato, all you have to do is grow one plant and taste the fruit. If you want to taste the sauce, you must have more plants (if the variety is not determinative with the mass ripening of the fruit). I want to test Marzano fire in the new season and also a new Italian hybrid Genarro F1 (hybrid variety of the San Marzano type. Medium early variety with large solid fruits weighing 130 to 140 g. Tolerant to calcium deficiency (BER)). If anyone is interested, I can send seeds.
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AKgardener
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Re: Best tomatoes for sauce

#16

Post: # 38106Unread post AKgardener
Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:43 pm

I’m truly looking forward to this year’s tomatoes I picked all new varieties I have never heard of or grown cause this really in my 3rd year doing tomatoes so I’m still learning and looking for that tomato that I’ll keep growing every year. Thanks for all the advice I have always just wanted to make my own sauce and say ya I did that haha

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