Category Archives: Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Seeking input: what are your top five heirloom tomatoes?

Leave a comment

Overwhelmed by heirlooms? We sell seeds for over 100 tomato varieties, and we feel that all those varieties have special value to be preserved. So we understand that choosing which to grow in your home garden can be daunting, especially if you’re limited to just a few plants.

Here’s my personal top five list. My experience growing and eating these tomatoes over the years is why they’re my favorites. We’d love to hear from you about your favorite tomato varieties, and why.

granny cantrell tomato1. Granny Cantrell’s

Granny Cantrell’s is my absolute favorite VERY LARGE heirloom. These red-pink beauties are similar in size to the Brandywines and Cherokee Purple, but I think the flavor of Granny Cantrell’s is even better. I also find the plants to be hardier and the fruits keep better off the vine, even when picked fully ripe.

Very large tomatoes like Granny Cantrell’s may not be the best choice for beginners: they need even moisture, a long frost-free season, and soil high in organic content.

dr. carolyn tomato2. Dr. Carolyn

Dr. Carolyn tastes sweet and complex, more like one of the larger heirlooms than a cherry tomato. This variety is a strain selected from the yellow-gold Siberian heirloom Galinas, but the two cannot be confused: Dr. Carolyn tomatoes are such a pale yellow, they’re almost translucent. Unique and very beautiful.

stupice tomato3. Stupice

As early as the most popular early hybrids, these classic orange-red globes blow me away every year: how can an early tomato taste so good? And by choosing an open-pollinated variety, you can save your own seed and select for your micro-climate.

black prince tomato4. Black Prince

I grew Black Prince the first year I had my own large garden, and their flavor was so fruity, they were unlike anything I’d ever tasted. A Siberian heirloom with a chocolatey-red appearance, Black Prince produces well for me even those years when I don’t give my plants optimal fertility or watering. Plus they’re early and tolerant of cool springs.

white wonder tomato5. White Wonder

Take care to mark the location of your White Wonder plants well, or you may have a few dropping off the vine over-ripe before you stop waiting for the fruits to turn red. White tomatoes are fun in the kitchen, for white tomato sauces or pale ketchup. But my favorite way to eat these is to bite into them like an apple, straight off the vine (perhaps it’s not surprising then that these would be derived from the heirloom White Apple!). (Ira Wallace comments that White Wonder’s flavor can be a less flavorful years when the weather is very wet — but this tomato still makes my top 5 list, I’ll keep growing it and hoping that the weather cooperates.)

Garden Advice, Tomatoes

Tomato Tasting Time: Planning a Fun Garden Party

Leave a comment

By Ira Wallace
A perfectly ripe heirloom tomato is one of the great joys of summer, eagerly anticipated by gardeners all over the Southeast. I really like introducing folks to the many varieties we shepherd here at Southern Exposure.

Every year we host big tastings with 50-100 varieties of tomatoes, plus dozens of peppers and melons at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, and the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs PA.

Heirloom tomato tasting fredericksburg southern exposure seed exchange organic
But a tomato tasting need not be such a large affair! A group of friends can get together in someone’s backyard or garden. Put up some tables, spread out everyone’s heirloom tomatoes and enjoy the taste. If this sounds like fun, here are some tips for organizing your own heirloom tomato party.

1. Pick a date when lots of tomatoes will be at their peak in your location. Here in central Virginia, that period starts around August 1 and ends on mid-September. If the organizer is a new gardener or new to the area, ask lots of experienced local gardeners.

2. Next you need tomatoes – lots of different tomatoes. You can either grow them all yourself or have group of your gardening friends each bring different varieties. If you host alone you can augment with different exciting varieties from your local farmers market, where you can depend on trusted local farmers to tell you exactly which tomato you are buying. Here are a few of the varieties that are perennial favorites for my friends and gardening neighbors: Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, Green Zebra, Garden Peach, Brandywine, Large Red, Amy’s Apricot, Matt’s Wild Cherry. Or you can see which varieties are favorites at the Monticello Tomato Tasting.

3. Make a plan and arrange the labeled tomatoes attractively. You will probably have a lot more than your guests can eat so only slice up one or two of each tomatoes of each variety.

Heirloom tomato tasting fredericksburg southern exposure seed exchange organic
4. Make sure you have enough of each variety for the crowd you expect. One very large tomato may do for a small tasting but your guests will love to see a whole beautiful intact example of the variety. So I try to have at least two fruits of large varieties, 3 or 4 of medium sized and a pint of pear or cherry tomatoes.

5. Make signs so everyone knows what they are trying. Labeling can be as simple as writing on white paper plates or index cards or, better yet, some recycled paper. I like to type up a little history and cultural info about each variety. You educate yourself and your gardening guests will love this bit of context as they taste.

Heirloom tomato tasting fredericksburg southern exposure seed exchange organic
6. Provide small plates, forks, napkins, and some plain crackers and water to “refresh the palate”.

7. You can make your tasting more of a meal with a fresh tomato salad with herbs, or by providing the fixings for fresh southern-style tomato sandwiches. If you are ambitious or have some friends helping, pull out the grill. And get someone to bring dessert.

8. To make your tasting all the more interesting, add some peppers or melons for people to taste. Or even some types of cucumbers. You don’t need a lot to make your party more fun. (These extras are especially helpful if some of the tomatoes you planned on aren’t available.)

9. Tomato Tastings are a great place to start seed saving with a new open pollinated variety you really liked. I usually use a wet seed fermentation technique when I’m saving tomato seeds (for higher germination rates). However, if you’re just getting started, you can just scoop out a few seeds onto a paper towel or into a small ziplock plastic bag. Don’t forget to label! As soon as you get home, spread out your seeds on a plate or screen to dry (skipping the fermentation step).

10. Other add-ons can enrich the event. Give tomato growing info if you and your guests are gardeners. Have guest share about seed saving techniques, if they have knowledge on the topic. (Saving your own seeds is an exciting part of growing heirlooms.) Where did you get your seeds? Which are your favorite catalogs? What was easy, or hard, about growing this or that variety this year?

Heirloom tomato tasting fredericksburg southern exposure seed exchange organic
If you have never been to a Tomato Tasting, stop by our booth at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs this year to say hi and taste some perfectly vine ripened tomatoes, peppers and melons. Or check our calendar for an event near you. Who knows, you may get inspired to host your own!

Garden Advice, Tomatoes

Tomato Varieties: Finding the Right Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Leave a comment
A tomato rainbow- cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, brandywine tomatoes, paste tomatoes.

Tomatoes are a great place to start when it comes to planning your garden.  Since there are so many great varieties of tomatoes it can be hard to figure out where to start.  You might be tempted to plant tomato seeds for each of them!  But, if you are limited by garden space, time, and tummies for them all to go, then it is probably a good idea to think about what you want to use them for and which flavors suit you best.

Heirloom tomatoes have gained some popularity in the past few years.  It seems like: once you go heirloom you never go back.  For the most part this is true – most varieties developed before 1940 were bred for great flavor.  Some heirloom tomatoes were also developed for growing conditions – such as short summers or resistance to plant diseases like the dreaded late blight.  So, it is important to note, that just because a tomato variety is an heirloom doesn’t guarantee that it will be delicious (although it’s a good indication).

Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato- sometimes called a black tomato

Cherokee Purple is a beefsteak, heirloom tomato variety.  These tomatoes hold a rare distinction of actually having a purple color.  Most ‘purple’ tomatoes are more pink than purple.  The Cherokee Purple tomato also has a distinctive interior.  The flesh has a rich dark color while the  locule (the cavity where the tomatoes’ seeds are contained) filling has a deep  green color.  The tomato’s flavor is rich and juicy.

Heirloom -Yellow Brandywine Tomatoes

The Yellow Brandywine tomato has all the delicious flavor of a traditional Red Brandywine tomato.  The fruits are a rich yellow orange color,and have a smooth texture.  Yellow Brandywine fruits often have some ribbing and generally weigh 1-2lbs, definitely a beefsteak tomato. If the tomato plants experiences drastic shifts in temperature fruit shapes can become irregular.

Eva Purple Ball Heirloom Tomato

The Eva Purple Ball heirloom tomato plants take about 78 days before harvest.  Fruits are great all around tomatoes they can be sliced and  for sandwiches, cooked down into tomato sauce, and even dehydrated.  Eva Purple Balls produce uniform sized fruits that are resistant to cracking and rarely have blemishes.

Green Zebra - tomato

The Green Zebra tomato retains its green color after it ripens. It has a good earthy flavor and is popular with tomato aficionados.  Although this tomato was developed in 1985, it can certainly hold its own in a garden with heirloom tomatoes.

Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato

This cherry tomato wins taste test after taste test with its sweet flavor.  The tomato plants produce high yields of tiny currant sized fruits.  If you are going to plant this tomato in your garden you will certainly need to either place a cage around it or steak it.  Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato plant tends to sprawl.

Roma VFN Paste Tomato

The Roma VFN tomato is a great example  of a tomato that has not only been selected for flavor but for disease resistance as well. While no plant can ever be 100% safe in the garden the growing tomatoes should not suffer from Veritcillium Wilt, Alternaria stem cranker, or Fusarium wilt- race 1.  This open pollinated tomato variety is widely adapted to grow in a wide range of climates and growing conditions.