Paste Tomato

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks, I'll look for that Black Label Zinc. What's interesting to me is that it is only the paste that are this bad. The others are not a problem.
Come to think about it, the yellow pears I grew a few years back were also terrible about BER.

 

[seedcorn]

I'd tell you to buy it from up here but the shipping would probably be more than product. If you can find an Agrium owned fertilizer plant (CPS up here) a gallon is around $12, I think?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i've always like the Roma VFN, but this year i finally got the San Marzano. i tend to want to stick with determinant tomatoes for their ease and since i have the bad habit of not staking my cherries in time, they save me from worrying about them. most of my cherry tomatoes go to my chickens anyways. they love them as treats.

 

[journey11]

I have been growing the San Marzanos for paste and roasting and really like them too, but the best paste tomato I've tasted is Costoluto Genovese. It has a very rich, sweet flavor and the loveliest dark red color when cooked down. It doesn't take long to cook into a paste either. It is not a plum shaped tomato, but a very curious fluted tomato...pretty. I've had a bit of disease trouble with them in my garden though, very susceptible to Anthracnose, I think it is. Round dark spots on the fruit that get fuzzy and pink after while, a fungus. WV summers are so humid, I don't know what I would have to do to get this variety through it, but I'm going to try a few things this summer and try them one more time because I like them so much. The San Marzanos did better for me though. Amish Paste is the regular around here. I don't care for them though as far as flavor goes.

I like Delicious and Oxhearts for canning. Delicious are very flavorful and have a nice acidity and deep red color. The Oxhearts are very meaty and sweet with very little seed pulp. I don't grow any hybrid tomatoes in my garden anymore, although some of those seem to be the standard for uniform canning tomatoes.

 

[Mickey328]

We hit the local nursery yesterday; they have a good supply of organic and heirloom stuff, so we picked up the rest of the seeds for the season. Not to say we won't add stuff, of course! I went with San Marzano and a couple others for slicing and eating. It was senior day so I got a 10% discount, plus I had some points from previous purchases so overall I saved about $20. Pretty good score! Now, to get some potting soil mixed up and get 'em started. It might be a tad early since we usually plant about Memorial Day but if they're a bit bigger and hardier, I'm thinking it should be just fine.

 

[catjac1975]

I no longer cook them down. I bring them to a boil, put them through the food processor, then strain out the excess water. I freeze them in zipper bags and usually cook them straight out of the freezer. If I let them thaw first, more water separates out and can be discarded leaving a thick sauce.

Great info! Keep it coming!

I like all kinds for slicing and salads, but with just 2 of us, there's only so many we can eat, LOL. While I love V8 type juice, I'm not too crazy about plain tomato juice, though Dave likes it. For the most part, I can tomatoes for adding to chile and soups, and lots and lots of sauce for spaghetti and such. So my main thrust this year is going to be paste type tomatoes with less juice and more meat...so I don't have to cook them down for such a long time. We got a Roma mill last year and it's amazing how many you can process in a short time with none of the hot/cold dunk and skinning stuff.

 

[journey11]

Has anyone here tried the roasting method? I've been meaning to. They say it really brings out a whole other dimension in flavor. Carmelizes the sugars in the tomato, I would guess.

 

[catjac1975]

Burpee has a new variety of paste tomato. It is earlier and larger than the rest. I am trying it this year. I find paste tomatoes to be the most disease resistant.
http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/to...hybrid-prod003154.html?catId=cat800002&trail=

 

[bj taylor]

hi all;
i'm curious journey 11, why don't you grow hybrids anymore? i would like to not grow hybrids, but they seem to be the only ones i can grow. i'm shocked at the number of plants some of y'all are growing. last year i grew sweet 100s (two plants) celebrity (four plants), and san marzano (two plants). i had so many tomatoes it didn't bother me a bit for the chickens to get in there. i'm not a fan of the cherry tomatoes, but hubby likes them. the bad thing about hybrids is i can't save the seeds.
i'm hoping for a repeat of last years success. unfortunately, i had a great source of old horse manure last year but not this year.

 

[journey11]

Nothing wrong with hybrids other than I like to save seeds. They definitely have their perks...high production, disease resistance, etc. But you can't save the seeds (well, you could technically...but who knows what you'd get from them.) I value old fashioned tomato flavor and the variety found in heirlooms too.