I had a great tomato year, although most seemed to take forever to ripen and everything had thick skin
.
I grew Costoluto Genovese the other year, and most of the 'maters were hit with rot which seemed even worse than just ordinary BER which goes away after the first few infections
. Fortunately, it was so productive that I still had tons to process for (very tasty) sauce :).
Indian Stripe Potato Leaf, supposedly an improved version of Cherokee Purple, was disappointing again this season. The taste was fabulous, but it was badly hit by disease, and stingy with tomatoes. A friend in Montreal had great success with hers again this season and is sending me seeds to try next year.
My standout for flavor this year was Maglia Rosa, a compact, beautiful pink-and-green 2" bullet-shaped variety that I grew in a 3 gallon pot. Usually, I prefer the taste of other varieties as the summer wears on, but this year it was tasty all season.
A new-to-me variety that I LOVED was Orange Strawberry, a large orange heart which just happens to be very high in lycopene, even when raw!
I grew two other orange varieties, also high in lycopene when eaten raw (as well as cooked). Persimmon, a large one, and Moonglow, a compact, medium-sized variety that really pumps them out. I found bother rather tart, and hubby isn't keen on orange tomatoes. So much for my efforts to increase Lycopene which is good for the prostate!!!!
My usual favourite, Little Lucky tasted rather watery this year. I may try growing Captain Lucky next season.
Blush, another favourite, was good, but not better than Maglia Rosa. I'll still grow it again next year though.
A friend, who really knows her tomatoes, said that my Sungold was "wrong". They did taste rather tart, and perhaps that is why Abbey (the pooch) went and sat beside the Napa Chardonnay plant in the hopes of getting some of THOSE. She was in luck because I found them sweet, but boring so she got them all :).
Anyone looking for a good red cherry should try Sweet Aperitif. I thought it tasted better than Sweet 100 the year that I grew it. Garnet, a bronze cherry, also bred by Gourmet Genetics in the UK, is another great-tasting cherry, and BTW both varieties are Open Pollinated :).
