Tomato texture -- smooth, creamy, silky, melting etc.?

[Seven Bends]

What do people mean when they refer to a tomato variety's texture as smooth, creamy, silky, buttery, or melting? I've seen that said about Brandywine and related varieties, but I've never grown Brandywine so I don't have a frame of reference for it. I grew Brandy Boy in 2023 and didn't like it because of its texture -- when ripe, I could squish it in my mouth without chewing and it just kind of dissolved, like you can do with a pear but not a peach.

Is that what a smooth/creamy/silky tomato texture means? Or does it mean not pasty/grainy, not fibrous, not crunchy? Or something else?

Is smooth/creamy/silky the normal, default texture for tomatoes, or is it unusual? Would you call Kellogg's Breakfast, Oaxacan Jewel, Pineapple, Rebel Yell or Polish smooth/creamy? They seem like standard (non-paste) tomato texture to me.

I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out whether, for me, smooth/creamy/silky in a tomato description is a good thing or a thing to be avoided. Needless to say, I'm still working on my 2024 list.

[karstopography]

I think of it as how the tomato feels on the tongue and how the tomato responds to normal chewing and eating, this being with sort of normal horizontal slices at room temperature of a large tomato with a beefsteak type of internal structure.

If I take six different varieties of beefsteak type of tomatoes and slice them more or less the same way at about the same level of ripeness they will very likely all have at least a slightly different mouthfeel and level of firmness, textural type.

A meaty Pink perfectly ripe tomato like Hoy has a firmer texture, with a particular resistance to being chewed. It isn’t a flaw, in a salad tossed with fresh cucumbers, that meaty firmness is a plus.

Take another pink tomato like Pruden’s purple, same sized slice and perfect ripeness, and that tomato will sort of melt away on the tongue and coat it with this delicious creaminess.

[karstopography]

Pineapple, there’s nothing creamy about a Pineapple tomato’s mouthfeel. I love Pineapple, and it isn’t an especially firm tomato and it has an overall pleasant mouthfeel and eating experience, but there’s no butteriness or creaminess or silkiness that comes along and coats the tongue.

The Bella Rosa tomatoes I grew this fall had a gritty, mealiness, flour like consistency, that texture was off putting.

Some tomatoes I’ve had are so firm as to be a flaw. Top Gun, a hybrid red determinant, was like this. The exact opposite of creamy or melting.

[GoDawgs]

Squishy, firm or mealy. How's that for mouthfeel?

That seems to describe the three basic textures I experience. All the rest are probably ad blather designed to pull money from my pocket.

[karstopography]

Gosh, texture is a big part of the enjoyment of eating a fresh tomato or a beefsteak type anyway. Probably why I don’t tend to enjoy tomatoes with a lot of gel.

[bower]

There's definitely 'mealy' or coarse on one extreme, and silky or melting on the other. With most tomatoes falling in the middle and far enough from 'mealy' that there's no hint of it. Tomatoes that have a dense structure with lots of meat can still go to either extreme of texture, and even the same tomato var can be mealy under bad growing conditions (first of season in the cold, usually) and silky when optimally grown and ripened.

[worth1]

Mealy tomato good for nothing because they rarely have any flavor.
Firm tomato non gell type AKA paste good for putting on a pizza or cooking.
Also good for salsa.
Beef steak types with firm but creaminess good for hamburgers and sandwiches.
Over soft watery tomatoes not good for much of anything.
Probably a soup maybe just so you can say you used them.
Extra hard tomatoes are good for cooking and that's about it.

Look at what Mexicans buy for tomatoes and look at what they use them for.
Not stereotyping but the roma is the number one choice for Latinos in Texas.
Is it price ignorance of other varieties custom or choice?
I buy them because they are cheaper and the other ones don't taste like anything anyway.

The rest is just advertising hype.

[karstopography]

I’ve never ever had a store bought tomato with a delicious melting, creamy, silky or buttery texture or mouthfeel. I’ve grown and enjoyed plenty of heirloom beefsteak type tomatoes that do have those qualities.

I don’t know what accounts for the difference in texture between store bought commodity or greenhouse type tomatoes and homegrown heirloom beefsteak tomatoes, but there is in my experience a vast gulf between the two, not only on flavor but also texture.

[worth1]

I’ve never ever had a store bought tomato with a delicious melting, creamy, silky or buttery texture or mouthfeel. I’ve grown and enjoyed plenty of heirloom beefsteak type tomatoes that do have those qualities.

I don’t know what accounts for the difference in texture between store bought commodity or greenhouse type tomatoes and homegrown heirloom beefsteak tomatoes, but there is in my experience a vast gulf between the two, not only on flavor but also texture.

Only if they sell so called heirloom tomatoes.
HEB tried it and failed for the most part they sat there and rotted.
Nobody wanted to buy mushy over ripe tomatoes at a price per pound higher than a chunk roast.
Including me.
Plus is was a hodgepodge of varieties that you didn't know the name of.
And they didn't look like tomatoes to the regular person.

Next no regular cook or chef on YouTube or other media promotes them or even knows about them.
Many really popular ones actually know very little about the food they are cooking.
More examples of monomaths.

[worth1]

As for the tomato in the store they are specifically bred and grown for looks color ability to harvest and self life.
This has resulted with any lack of flavor and a rock hard inner core.

[Tormato]

To me, I've only trialed one single tomato that I consider smooth, creamy, silky, buttery, or melting... Seek-No-Further Love Apple.

Consider it as somewhat like the texture of a pear or melon.

A few tomatoes are hard, much like an apple.

The vast majority of tomatoes are varying degrees of soft to very soft, something like a watermelon.

Just one person's opinion.

[karstopography]

Aussie, the big red heirloom, had a unique kind of warm butter mouthfeel last season. I seeded Aussie again for 2024, but my one seedling/start has been one of the weakest of the season. It will be in the compost pile soon.

[karstopography]

Maybe I’m a super taster as far as mouthfeel goes. Maybe that’s why I absolutely abhor the mouthfeel of oatmeal. Like who can eat that stuff? But, millions do.

[Tormato]

Maybe I’m a super taster as far as mouthfeel goes. Maybe that’s why I absolutely abhor the mouthfeel of oatmeal. Like who can eat that stuff? But, millions do.

First, I load up cooked oatmeal with nuts, raisins, cinnamon, cranberries, etc...then run it through my Vitamix blender until smooth. That's the texture that I like.

[Seven Bends]

I think of it as how the tomato feels on the tongue and how the tomato responds to normal chewing and eating, this being with sort of normal horizontal slices at room temperature of a large tomato with a beefsteak type of internal structure.

If I take six different varieties of beefsteak type of tomatoes and slice them more or less the same way at about the same level of ripeness they will very likely all have at least a slightly different mouthfeel and level of firmness, textural type.

A meaty Pink perfectly ripe tomato like Hoy has a firmer texture, with a particular resistance to being chewed. It isn’t a flaw, in a salad tossed with fresh cucumbers, that meaty firmness is a plus.

Take another pink tomato like Pruden’s purple, same sized slice and perfect ripeness, and that tomato will sort of melt away on the tongue and coat it with this delicious creaminess.

Thanks. This makes sense and is more or less how I was thinking about it, except I think possibly I'm not such a fan of the "melt away on the tongue/delicious creaminess" mouth feel. Pruden's Purple is one of the tomatoes I have on my possibilities list for this year, but I'm concerned about this texture thing.

I haven't grown Hoy. Would you say that's the common texture, sort of the default for beefsteaks?

[Seven Bends]

Pineapple, there’s nothing creamy about a Pineapple tomato’s mouthfeel. I love Pineapple, and it isn’t an especially firm tomato and it has an overall pleasant mouthfeel and eating experience, but there’s no butteriness or creaminess or silkiness that comes along and coats the tongue.

The Bella Rosa tomatoes I grew this fall had a gritty, mealiness, flour like consistency, that texture was off putting.

Some tomatoes I’ve had are so firm as to be a flaw. Top Gun, a hybrid red determinant, was like this. The exact opposite of creamy or melting.

Pineapple is a good example of exactly the texture I like. I think of Kellogg's Breakfast as having the same texture as Pineapple, but Tomato Growers Supply says KBX has "creamy delicate texture."

[Seven Bends]

There's definitely 'mealy' or coarse on one extreme, and silky or melting on the other. With most tomatoes falling in the middle and far enough from 'mealy' that there's no hint of it. Tomatoes that have a dense structure with lots of meat can still go to either extreme of texture, and even the same tomato var can be mealy under bad growing conditions (first of season in the cold, usually) and silky when optimally grown and ripened.

I think this is part of what I'm wondering about: whether silky/melting/creamy just means the opposite of grainy/mealy, or whether it has something to do with structural integrity -- how the tomato breaks down in your mouth when you eat it (dissolves vs. needing to be chewed). I don't want grainy/mealy, but I don't want my tomatoes to dissolve like chocolate in my mouth, either. To me, those things would be on two separate scales, not opposite ends of the same scale. But the way you're looking at it also makes sense.

I agree that growing conditions, etc. would affect the results.

[karstopography]

@Seven Bends Hoy, I’m going off almost 2 year old memory since I last grew Hoy, but Hoy is generally more firm than something like Dester, SOTW, Polish, and is my favorite Cucumber and tomato salad tomato as cubes of Hoy hold their own with the chunks of cucumber. There’s some chew there that doesn’t melt away at the first sign of pressure nor do the chunks of Hoy show any signs of disintegration when tossed with some sort of dressing and the cucumbers pieces.

As I recall, Pineapple and Kellogg’s Breakfast do have a similar texture, but I never thought of them as creamy, delicate yes.

[karstopography]

I’m going to try and really pay attention this season to whatever tomatoes I’m graced with and maybe takes some notes on texture and mouthfeel.

For me, though, these textural attributes and the overall mouthfeel is high up on the list of where a tomato might rank.

I loved Pruden’s Purple texturally, but likely am having trouble finding the right words.

[Seven Bends]

To me, I've only trialed one single tomato that I consider smooth, creamy, silky, buttery, or melting... Seek-No-Further Love Apple.

Consider it as somewhat like the texture of a pear or melon.

A few tomatoes are hard, much like an apple.

The vast majority of tomatoes are varying degrees of soft to very soft, something like a watermelon.

Just one person's opinion.

Thanks for the SNFLA example. Unfortunately, I haven't grown that one, but it helps to know. As for the fruits, I think of pears (fully ripe ones) as the kind of dissolving consistency I'm trying to avoid. Apples: too crunchy/crisp for tomato texture for me. I think of watermelon as simultaneously crisp, soft/dissolving, and grainy, all things I don't like in tomatoes but do like in watermelon. Peaches for me for tomato texture, please. Cantaloupe/honeydew okay also.