Tomatoes for 2023

[flowerbug]

i was hoping we could get all the tomatoes done this morning and afternoon but as it turns out a bucket that was sitting there that i thought was green tomatoes was really some reject ones that Mom picked thinking we could get something from them. so when i thought i was done Mom said but you have another bucket out there? so... tomorrow i'll look at them and decide if i want to bury them or process them. since i did 26 more quarts today i'm likely to just vote for burying them with the rest of the tomato scraps and call it done. they're small, they're mostly off the ground and it will be a lot of work to get a few quarts out of them. yes, i may just talk myself into burying them tomorrow...

 

[heirloomgal]

I grew and harvested Indigo Purple, but nobody really cared for them.

As a rule, tomatoes with antho purple coloring are not super tasty. There are a few exceptions (Cosmic Eclipse, Dark Galaxy) They tend to be a bit firm and lacking sweetness. That said, they do generally have a pretty good shelf life for a tomato.

 

[ducks4you]

Yea, tough skins. It was worth a try.

 

[ducks4you]

Pruned up tomatoes and the LONE pumpkin vine(s), which have produce 3 big fruits. I couldn't Get to the tomatoes on the outside south fencing, and tomatoes WERE the main crop here.
I spent a few minutes in my seed cabinet to put away my most recent seed packages that I bought from SeedsNSuch, a nice and small seed company I discovered a few years back.
I noticed that I never planted my two packages of Amish Paste that I bought from High Mowing 2 years ago, maybe 3 years ago, can't remember now...
Anyway, when I gave DD (doesn't live close) a primer in hot water bath canning, since her DH's aunt gave her a dozen really large Amish Paste, I thought I should plant them in 2024.
As I have witnessed, old tomato seeds, stored correctly, Will sprout.

 

[Branching Out]

As a rule, tomatoes with antho purple coloring are not super tasty. There are a few exceptions (Cosmic Eclipse, Dark Galaxy) They tend to be a bit firm and lacking sweetness. That said, they do generally have a pretty good shelf life for a tomato.

A friend gave me a Black Krim seedling, and the purple tomatoes that we harvested this week had incredible tomato flavour so keep that one in mind too.

Today I decided that I like tomatoes that have entire bracts that ripen at the same time, because it makes harvesting very easy. Annarita is like that.

 

[heirloomgal]

A friend gave me a Black Krim seedling, and the purple tomatoes that we harvested this week had incredible tomato flavour so keep that one in mind too.

Today I decided that I like tomatoes that have entire bracts that ripen at the same time, because it makes harvesting very easy. Annarita is like that.

Yes, Black Krim is a good one isn't it? The purple I'm referring to here is the ones with the antho gene, not so much the tomatoes that usually fall under the purple category. The antho tomatoes are probably more of a blue designation, like Blueberries or Blue Boar Berries and Black Beauty.

 

[SPedigrees]

I turned my exploding harvest of miniature tomatoes into spaghetti sauce last night. This was only part of the tomato excess; I added another bowlful that had been ripening.

These little fruits have rather tough skins, so while I seldom peel any fruits of veggies, in this case it was warranted. Unfortunately this proved impossible, so I fed them through a colander which allowed juice and seeds thru while trapping the skins. This took some time. Then I simmered the sauce for an hour or two, adding olive oil, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, about 1/3 cup sugar, sliced garlic cloves, while stirring (listening to stand-up comedy on youtube to pass the time).

The finished product (after refrigerating overnight) is very tasty. Would I do this again? Unlikely considering the amount of work that went into this small amount of sauce, despite the fact that spaghetti is my favourite food of all time. (I'll most likely combine this sauce with a larger amount of spicier meat sauce in the freezer that I made earlier in the summer.) Would I grow these prolific tiny tomatoes again? Also not likely, although if volunteers sprout next summer, I'd be inclined to allow a *single* plant to grow (strictly for eating) alongside the sub-arctic plenty tomatoes that would undoubtedly be easier to peel, should they also undergo a population explosion.

 

[heirloomgal]

I turned my exploding harvest of miniature tomatoes into spaghetti sauce last night. This was only part of the tomato excess; I added another bowlful that had been ripening.
View attachment 60600
These little fruits have rather tough skins, so while I seldom peel any fruits of veggies, in this case it was warranted. Unfortunately this proved impossible, so I fed them through a colander which allowed juice and seeds thru while trapping the skins. This took some time. Then I simmered the sauce for an hour or two, adding olive oil, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, about 1/3 cup sugar, sliced garlic cloves, while stirring (listening to stand-up comedy on youtube to pass the time).
View attachment 60601

View attachment 60602
The finished product (after refrigerating overnight) is very tasty. Would I do this again? Unlikely considering the amount of work that went into this small amount of sauce, despite the fact that spaghetti is my favourite food of all time. (I'll most likely combine this sauce with a larger amount of spicier meat sauce in the freezer that I made earlier in the summer.) Would I grow these prolific tiny tomatoes again? Also not likely, although if volunteers sprout next summer, I'd be inclined to allow a *single* plant to grow (strictly for eating) alongside the sub-arctic plenty tomatoes that would undoubtedly be easier to peel, should they also undergo a population explosion.

A blender might come in handy to get rid of the skins too. I don't often peel my fresh tomatoes for spaghetti sauce, I just throw most of it into the blender.

 

[SPedigrees]

A blender might come in handy to get rid of the skins too. I don't often peel my fresh tomatoes for spaghetti sauce, I just throw most of it into the blender.

I'd thought about it. I have both a blender and a food processor, but I wasn't sure that all those skins would taste right. On the other hand, it could be that the canned tomato products I buy contain micronized skins, and I never realized it.

 

[Branching Out]

We tried drying a couple of pounds of Fiaschetto di Manduria, with half in the oven and half in a dehydrator. It is certainly not an exact science! Some are way too crispy, and others still seem too moist. We are not sure what the goal is. Perhaps the final product should be like fruit leather?