Pickles and I were discussing the need to find a good paste tomato, one that has good flavor as most of the ones grown in the past were rather "meh". I have read that a lot of the flavor of tomatoes resides in the gel. It dawned on me that unlike the others, paste tomatoes have a lot less gel so maybe that's why they aren't as tasty. Is that somewhat in the ball park?

Regardless, I'd love some suggestions from any of you who have found a tasty paste tomato I can grow for sauce and canning.

I find Marzano Fire quite delicious even raw. It’s very sweet.

I use tasty varieties for canning. I just don't see the point in growing paste tomatoes which are prone to BER and are not as tasty raw.

Sam Marzano.
Speckled Roman.
I've grown both to satisfaction with a big bag of ironite spread out on the soil.
In my thinking it helps to mimic the volcanic soil were San Marzano is grown in Italy.
I wouldn't be wasting my money on the cento canned tomatoes from that area of I didn't think they were good.
The cans with the white enamel inside from Italy.
You can seriously change the flavor of tomatoes with a little thinking and research.

I assoiciate plum with paste tomatoes so take it as you wish. Sochulak is a very sweet yet delicious, for me a plum, but they say plum to heart shaped tomato. It was productive too. It was good enough that I used most of them before they made it into the sauce pan.

I love Cow's Tit, especially for pico de gallo, bruschetta, Caprese salad, etc. Plus they are BIG fruits on big indeterminate plants which I love.

I love Inciardi Paste. I use it for sandwiches as well as sauce.

UNCLE STEVE ITALIAN PLUM.

i can send you some if you like.


keith

rxkeith wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 8:36 pm UNCLE STEVE ITALIAN PLUM.

i can send you some if you like.


keith

Nepotism!! Unabashed, even!



Have you tried either Amish Paste or Costoluto Genovese? Those are the two I'm growing again this year, the only two I would consider to be paste tomatoes.

Never had a fresh grown paiste tomato yet .. good question..

second vote for Speckled Roman ..... makes a great roasted tomato sauce

Speckled Roman in salads or BLT

Does it have to be red? Golden Fang is great. Sioux Empire Paste (a pink) is also tasty raw. I could send you some seeds of both.

The Scary Larry tomato tastes pretty good.

I don't know that I would recommend them for paste since they're very soft tomatoes, but Polish Linguisa and Sheboygan taste pretty good fresh (it's a delicate mild flavor, though). I haven't tried Polish Linguisa as a storage tomato as far as I remember, but Sheboygan tastes better fresh from the garden. Polish Linguisa is red and Sheboygan is pink (they both taste the same in my garden, however).

Orange pastes are supposed to be pretty tasty.

If you consider it a paste, I like the taste of Juliet F1.

Oxhearts are generally regarded as tasty, and as great for paste tomatoes.

If you're just stewing your tomatoes, you don't need paste tomatoes, though.

Sweet Ozark Orange would probably work well for a paste tomato, even though it's not that shape. It has a lot of meat. I would have grown a number of plants this year, but I was kind of overwhelmed.

Roma VF has variable taste (quite variable), but sometimes it tastes really good. It's very, very, very firm (without being crunchy). It might take more effort to make it into sauce (if you don't blend it up in a blender). Regular Roma is just a little bit firm. Roma VF is a different variety with somewhat later maturity and more disease-resistance.

I see a lot of recommendations for Speckled Roman, and I believe Marzano Fire is a SR cross. Makes me curious to try the parent!

Cranraspberry wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2024 5:37 am I see a lot of recommendations for Speckled Roman, and I believe Marzano Fire is a SR cross. Makes me curious to try the parent!

Well worth the effort.

Shule wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2024 9:57 pm The Scary Larry tomato tastes pretty good.

I forgot Scary Larry, it's certainly got good flavor. The shape variability is something of an issue for me, though. One of these years I'm going to start a project attempting to stabilize the shape in my strain of it.

Shule wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2024 9:57 pm
If you consider it a paste, I like the taste of Juliet F1.

I have a bunch or Juliets ready right now. They're so prolific! We've canned them before and will be doing this batch tomorrow. Easy peasy; just peel and can whole.

Shule wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2024 9:57 pm Roma VF has variable taste (quite variable), but sometimes it tastes really good. It's very, very, very firm (without being crunchy). It might take more effort to make it into sauce (if you don't blend it up in a blender). Regular Roma is just a little bit firm. Roma VF is a different variety with somewhat later maturity and more disease-resistance.

I can't remember which Roma I used to grow. It was a long time ago and it was dropped from the lineup due to not having much taste.

We love Russian purple and Opalka this year. Russian purple is very tomato-y and opalka is very sweet and more traditional paste tomato.

@BurgundySnail That's a lovely presentation.