In search of that "old timey" tasting tomato

[4grandbabies]

We have grown the Abe Lincolns for years..They do it for us. We always share our abundance, and most people rave about them. A friend gave us a few of the black tomatoes mentioned above, and DH thought they were great. I also could not go thru the year without the Goliath..original..indeterminate.

 

[digitS']

Gotta jump back in and agree with a couple things said here: Taste is entirely subjective, foremost.

I gave seed to a gardening friend for one tomato I grow every year over the last 20. She runs sprinklers every single day of the growing year! I hardly recognized that tomato in her garden - and, it had very little flavor.

Ridgerunner mentions 2 black tomatoes (Krim & Japanese Black Trifele, I believe). In the pigments, there seems to be a lot of flavor differences. Ridgerunner, I finally found 2 yellow pears (sort of) that don't split for me: Ildi and Yellow Submarines. (Now, I've just gotta figure out which is which. )

Goliath is another that I've had for years and got back to in 'o9, 4Grandbabies. It's great in my garden! Recently, I learned that there is, apparently, an old open-pollinated version but I still can't confirm that. I go for the "original" hybrid. Some of the hybrids are 60 years old and older. At 100, does a hybrid reach heirloom status?
Of course, the heritage of all plants is either from mutants or hybrids at some point in time.

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

hybrids are never a heirloom variety. Hybrids have to be made every year. They do not breed true.

Tell me about goliath or the black tomato's.

 

[4grandbabies]

Digits, I should have been clearer, you are right, I am using the "original Hybrid" . I was unaware of any older original, but would be interested in comparing if I could find it.

 

[digitS']

I cannot say if it is the "original" Goliath . . . but I'm beginning to think it is simply "dehybridized" since Solana Seed in Quebec has it new this year.

Dehybridizing is likely to mean simply allowing a hybrid to self-pollinate each year until a sufficient number of generations have passed and the offspring are considered "stabilized." Variation may continue to occur as they may well occur with any strain of organisms.

Here is where I found reference to them originally: Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I have never ordered from Swallowtail but admired their online catalog for some time .

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

I cannot say if it is the "original" Goliath . . . but I'm beginning to think it is simply "dehybridized" since Solana Seed in Quebec has it new this year.

Dehybridizing is likely to mean simply allowing a hybrid to self-pollinate each year until a sufficient number of generations have passed and the offspring are considered "stabilized." Variation may continue to occur as they may well occur with any strain of organisms.

Here is where I found reference to them originally: Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I have never ordered from Swallowtail but admired their online catalog for some time .

Steve

First someone linked a great place for peppers, now tomato's..........dang I hate you all. It's killing my budget and making my garden grow larger...........

Have any of you grown the oxheart varieties? Are they more like a plum or better boy type in texture?

 

[4grandbabies]

I cannot say if it is the "original" Goliath . . . but I'm beginning to think it is simply "dehybridized" since Solana Seed in Quebec has it new this year.

Dehybridizing is likely to mean simply allowing a hybrid to self-pollinate each year until a sufficient number of generations have passed and the offspring are considered "stabilized." Variation may continue to occur as they may well occur with any strain of organisms.

Here is where I found reference to them originally: Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I have never ordered from Swallowtail but admired their online catalog for some time .

Steve

I went into the swallowtail garden seeds site, and I was interested to see they described them as dark pink, I never thought of the ones I grew as anything but red. hummmm, wonder if I should check these out.

 

[Lavender2]

Swallowtail Garden seeds is awesome! I have not bought many vegetable seeds from them, but MANY flower seeds that are hard to find! I highly recommend trying them!
I believe they still have a flat shipping charge of $3.95.

Check this out ... I believe there is an heirloom Goliath...
Seeds of Diversity

...or maybe it's one of those heirlooms that might not be a true heirloom ...

Heirloom Tomato

A number of Soviet tomato varieties have been incorrectly referred to as heirlooms in North America. When U.S. and Canadian seed collectors traveled to the USSR (now CIS) during the 1980s and 1990's, some of them originally thought that the tomato strains they collected were heirlooms, developed and preserved by the common people over many decades or centuries. It has since been learned that most of these varieties were actually developed by USSR plant breeding laboratories after the Second World War, and are not true heirlooms.

Complicated but interesting! ... And the more I read the more I think I must try that one!
Thanks! My list continues to grow...

 

[digitS']

Aren't tomatoes wonderful ?!!

Grandbabies, that Seeds of Diversity site does describe them as a "pink" also.

GOLIATH: Indeterminate. 1 - 3 lb. giant pink fruit has very good flavour. Some are round, some round to flattish to irregular shapes. Quite productive. Variety dates back to the 1880's. 85 days to maturity.

And, I never noticed any pinkness to the variety I grow . Quite happy with the "original" . . . uh, hybrid.

Lavender, I've read the same thing from a guy who collected tomato seed out of Belarus - they were, mostly, commercial varieties whether open-pollinated or not.

Seedcorn, I've never grown the oxhearts but my impression from reading about them is that they are of a "meaty" nature. That's why I suggested a choice from that group to HiD a month or so ago for a "grilling" tomato, if'n I remember right.

I don't grow paste tomatoes either . . . maybe I should, I just don't .

Steve

edited: grilling tomato, not grilling onion

 

[Ridgerunner]

Tell me about goliath or the black tomato's.

I am not familiar with the Goliaths. I've seen them advertised but never grew them.

I grew the Japanese Black two years ago and took some up to my brother in Tennessee. He took one bite and decided to save the seeds. I remember Hattie saying they had won a taste test. They are kinda small to medium sized and pear shaped. The lower half is very dark, I'd call it a real dark reddish brown more than a black. The top stays green. It is fairly soft and quite sweet. To me, it is the best tasting tomatoes I've tried.

The Black Krim is a large beefsteak-type tomato colored similar to the Japanese Black. It can grow very big and has a lot of raised lobes. Again, to me the taste is very good. Because of the way this one grows, I think it is a little more susseptible to problems on the blossom end, at least it was for me last year. It was a strange wet year for me so I am going to try it again, but the blossom end sometimes actually had a hole in it that insects could enter. Many of mine rotted at the blossom end, but I don't think it was blossom end rot. I really don't know what was going on.

Anyway, I'll always have one or two Black Tomatoes in my mix just for the fresh eating pleasure.