mulling over pastes

[rxkeith]

ok, i have my tgs, and seeds from italy catalog, and i'm deciding what to grow along with my uncle steve italian plum.
the ones i'm looking at are opalka, rocky, and san marzano redorta.
all are good for cooking, saucing or eating fresh which is what i'm looking for.
i know lots of people like opalka. how about the other two?
is one much better than the other?
feel free to pipe in with other favorites.
i grew polish linguisa before, and wasn't impressed with fresh flavor.
uncle steve is my tried and true.


keith

[fortyonenorth]

I grew SM Redorta in 2009 and wasn't very impressed. That said, 2009 was a poor year hear in NW Indiana.

[Red Dirt Farmer]

I grew Super Marzanos last year. They were BER free, loaded with fruit and very meaty. If you are going to make paste then this is the one you want; good luck.
Ken

[OneoftheEarls]

More paste talk here

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=16483

Earl

[habitat_gardener]

Opalka was one of my favorites the years I grew it. This year I grew George O'Brien, which looked similar, produced well, and was one of my favorites this year. I ate almost all of them fresh.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by OneoftheEarls

More paste talk here

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=16483

Earl

Earl, you beat me to it giving that link. So thanks, as I just posted about paste varieties in genenal in that thread as well as making comments about BER and Early Blight with pastes. As well as pointing out that many folks prefer to use non-pastes for sauce. As well as naming a few of my faves.

I've grown San Marzanos, I've grown all the Italian Costolutos and I've never been very impressed by any of them.

So I'll just list here the ones I mentioned and a few more:

Heidi
Mama Leone
Sarnowski Polish Plum
Martino's Roma
Wuhib
Opalka

But please do read my comments in that other thread.

[rxkeith]

thanks for the comments all,

whenever we use tomatoes for cooking, or canning its always a combination. i never have enough of a single variety for a specific purpose. same thing when it comes to fresh eating. i want to be able to eat whatever is ripe and enjoy it. so if i'm going to grow a paste type tomato, it needs to be duo purpose.

about blossom end rot, i have rarely had a problem with my uncle steves tomato, even when growing it in da U.P. for 10 years. it always seemed to do as well as any other tomato. i have been fortunate not to have had to deal with early blight.

merry christmas


keith

[amideutch]

I would go with Ludmilla's Red plum. An excellent producer that fits the bill for saucing, cooking and fresh eating. Christopher Columbus is another but not commercially available yet. Ami

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by amideutch

I would go with Ludmilla's Red plum. An excellent producer that fits the bill for saucing, cooking and fresh eating. Christopher Columbus is another but not commercially available yet. Ami

ami, this is what I posted in the other paste thread this AM:

(Grow Ludmilla's Red Plum and it's nowheres near a paste and actually amongst the best tasting fresh eating tomatoes I've grown to date. Same with Gianinni and several others.)

So you aren't the only one who loves Ludmilla's Red Plum, but I think you already knew that. And I feel almost as strongly about Gianinni.

[Tania]

I grew Martino's Roma for the first time this year, and I was quite impressed. Fruits picked green lasted into November, and were very good tasting despite the fact that they ripened on the counter.

Tania

[remy]

Keith,
My favorite paste to date for dual purpose is Rinaldo. I like it better than Opalka. I don't think many people have grown it so I'm not sure you'll get many comments on it. When I grew it in 2008, it got many votes for sweetest and/or best tasting at the Buffalo-Niagara Tomato party. It lost to Sungold and Stump of the World. (I didn't have any ripe at the party this year.) I originally got it from Bully who used to post here and is part of the DATE group. He got from an old Italian immigrant neighbor. If you want a few seeds, let me know.
Remy

[Tania]

I agree with Remy re Rinaldo - it is another very good one.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Rinaldo