Tomato Of The Year

[Tormahto]

I'm thinking we should start a "tomato of the year" poll, since we're almost at the end of this one. Tomato candidates could be "new" varieties widely released in perhaps just the previous 2-3 years. An example could be Girl Girl's Weird Thing, while released earlier, was very widely known and trialed in 2017 and 2018.

[Nan6b]

Dotson's Lebanese Heart (rel. 2016-17)
Post Office Spoonful (rel. 2017)
Wild Tiger (F6 now, but available from jandlgardens.com)

[MissS]

Elbonian Mud Ball
Scarlet O'hara in the Kitchen with a Knife
Purple Calabash

[Nico]

-Verde de las landas
-Rosao de ayerbe
-Rosa Melillero-

[Paulf]

For the several years the Mid-West Tomato Fest was in operation there were at least seventy tomato varieties to taste and between 40 and 70 tasters depending on the year. We had a vote every year to determine the best variety. It was "pick your top three" and votes were counted. Guess what? Every year there seemed to be a ten way tie and the "best" changed every year. I think the Tomato of the Year would most likely end up just like that.

Spitter of the year was easy: Purple Calabash five years in a row.

[Tormahto]

Elbonian Mud Ball
Scarlet O'hara in the Kitchen with a Knife
Purple Calabash

NO. NO. NO.

[Tormahto]

-Verde de las landas
-Rosao de ayerbe
-Rosa Melillero-

I'm thinking next year, unless I'm missing something, and those are widely available?

[asmx92]

Robledillo de la Jara
Rosado de Ayerbe
Kansas Depression

[worth1]

I liked Purple Calabash.
The deer didn't.

[bower]

This is awesome... everybody has their own three besties! Good luck with that poll, Cap'n.

[Shule]

[mention]worth1[/mention]
I hope I like Purple Calabash. It sounds like a prolific tomato that might be a good canner. People have different tastes, and tomatoes taste different in different gardens, sometimes. So, hopefully I'll see. Sometimes I like to grow tomatoes that other people hate. It seems as easy to find favorites that way as growing other people's favorites, especially when you like sour tomatoes, and many others prefer them mild.

[mention]Tormato[/mention]
What is this Elbonian Mud Ball I keep hearing about? I thought you made that up as a joke the first few times you mentioned it, but now I'm convinced it's real. Do you have pictures?

I don't mind a tomato of the year poll. I'm not sure what I would add to it from this year, though, since most of the varieties I've grown weren't brand new.

[Nico]

-Verde de las landas
-Rosao de ayerbe
-Rosa Melillero-

I'm thinking next year, unless I'm missing something, and those are widely available?

Of course Tormato, I would be happy to send you seeds

[Remy]

Erdie Family Oxheart. It is not new, but it is unknown to most. It was excellent this year, huge, and early and tasty too.

[Labradors]

For a new variety I liked "Taste" from Artisan Seeds. It's not available this year, but "Taste Patio" is (same thing, but more compact).


Linda

[Tormahto]

Eardie Family Oxheart - my seed inventory shows I have a pack dated 2007. It's good to know that someone is keeping it going.

[Paulf]

Sounds like I need to find Eardie for 2020.

[Shule]

[mention]Tormato[/mention] [mention]worth1[/mention]
Okay, the verdict is in. I've finally tasted Purple Calabash. I grew two plants, each from a different source. I tasted at least two fruits of each.

The first one to ripen was red; so, it was a cross (that explains the leaves being different). I tasted it a while ago. Here's my description of the cross first:

* It wasn't acidic. It was kind of bland, and tasted like dirt and mold. No sugar. I was not impressed, but it could be an acquired taste. Most of the off-putting taste came from the blossom scar. One of the fruits didn't have the moldy taste, but still tasted dirty. Edit: Future fruits tasted and looked much better; it produced very well, and I'll probably actually grow some F2s (perhaps in 2022). The fruits were a very nice deep red.

Here's my description of the other Purple Calabash, which was purple and probably was the real thing; I ate it not long before I started writing this post:

* At first, it just tasted like a decently good sour tomato, which astonished me. The blossom scar tasted earthy in a good way, actually. Later, the blossom scar had a bitter aftertaste, like mild Tylenol. I ate a second fruit: This one was sour kind of like the first, but it had a very acrid aftertaste, and there was some of the same dirt/mold flavor (in the blossom scar and similar tissues) that I had tasted in the cross-pollinated one.

My conclusion is that Purple Calabash might taste like a normal tomato if it were smooth and round, or if it were properly pollinated, without issues. Most of the strange flavor seems to come from the blossom scar. That acrid taste was pretty interesting; it could easily be an acquired taste, but I imagine many would find it unpleasant. I wouldn't describe it as lime-like, but it is sour. So, I liked the biggest fruit, except for the bitter aftertaste. I have mixed feelings about the acrid aftertaste of the second fruit, but I'm not a big fan of the dirty/moldy taste, currently.

Here are the two I ate today (the purple ones; I didn't eat the fully unripe portions of the smaller fruit):

IMG_20200729_033911.jpg

IMG_20200729_033926.jpg

IMG_20200729_034025.jpg

[wykvlvr]

Wry grin since I have not even had my first ripe tomato here it seems a bit early to start posting tomato of the year....

[Shule]

So far, here are my 2020 tomatoes of the year:

For taste, so far, my tomatoes of the year are Yellow Plum (fresh), and Bloody Butcher from my firmer, many-loculed fruit (for culinary purposes; it doesn't taste like the regular Bloody Butcher did last year, nor like the fruit I grew it from).

For production, so far, I'd say my Galapagos Island volunteers, and one of my Napoli crosses, as well as the aforementioned Bloody Butcher, etc.

For enormous amounts of flowers, I'd say my Jim Dandy offtype.

For 2019, it was my Tart Brandy Boy cross with Marion coming in second. Also, Galapagos Island.