2016 Midwest Tomato Trials

[Scooty]

Sweet Adelaide
7.5 Brix
4.30 PH

Unnamed cross (Golden Jubilee x Sungold x Sun Sugar)
This is an unintentional cross made over several years by growing too close. As far as I recall, it should be Golden Jubilee, Sungold and Sun Sugar all mixed up. I have no idea if it's just two or all three, or which two are in the background (one being GJ for size reasons).
9.9 Brix
4.52 PH
It's quite sweet. The fruit is bigger than golfball size, around 40g, can be larger sometimes. The fruit gets sour if picked too early (the one on the left was picked early) or if fert is poor, though. Color should be a deep orange.

[Gardeneer]

Scooty,
Before reading your post, just by looking at the picture I thought they are Golden Jubilee. The obvious reason being that yesterday I bought some GJ from farmers market ,to same seeds from.
GJ is more orange than yellow and that is why I like it. The ones I got are about 5 oz each but there were bigger one on the stand. I tasted one. It has a full flavor, balanced acidity and sweetness, meaty yet juicy.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Scooty,
Before reading your post, just by looking at the picture I thought they are Golden Jubilee. The obvious reason being that yesterday I bought some GJ from farmers market ,to same seeds from.
GJ is more orange than yellow and that is why I like it. The ones I got are about 5 oz each but there were bigger one on the stand. I tasted one. It has a full flavor, balanced acidity and sweetness, meaty yet juicy.

Don't know how it would grow elsewhere, but ours turns up with very little acidity. The PH is higher than anything else I've bothered trying to measure this year. That said, I was pretty sure it was a cross because there were years we were getting yellow, pale orange, deep orange. It was also sweeter like the Sun Sugars or Sun Golds than the original GJs. When we started selecting for sweetness for whatever reason, we also ended up with more consistently orange. I should also add, this thing isn't stable. Occasionally, we still get the off color, I think I red turned up last year.

[Scooty]

Esmeralda Golosina
5.2 Brix
4.10 PH

Jade Beauty
5.2 Brix
4.15 PH

These two tasted almost exactly the same to me, JB was slightly less tart and is on average a bigger fruit (almost 2x as heavy). Both are sweet GWR with very little tart. Even though the Kangaroo Paw Yellow came in at higher Brix, I regard these GWRs as sweeter with less tart. There's something in the flavonoids that doesn't get picked up in Brix or PH.

Noire de Crimee
4.4 Brix
4.52 PH
I'm not sure what's going on with this one. It tastes nothing like the blacks I'm assumed it would taste like. It was rather bland and not bold like the Black Krims, Carbons, Wild Freds. It's juicy but not savory. This may just be one of those first fruit issues though. Have to wait a bit longer for more fruit to ripen to find out.

[Lindalana]

This year darks are not quite good. They are super picky about weather, because it was so hot I was feeling obligated watering mine often taste is bland on many. Darks seems to react more though...

[Gardeneer]

I would like to know what combination of pH and Brix can/might be considered "tasty ", relatively speaking.
Just a thought.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

I would like to know what combination of pH and Brix can/might be considered "tasty ", relatively speaking.
Just a thought.

Well, everyone has a different definition of a good tasting tomato. It'd be like asking who makes the best burger; best fries; best pizza, etc.. etc.. Some people refer more meaty to juicy. Some like really tart; others very sugary. Some like sweet and sour. List goes on and on.

It's all complicated by the fact that we all perceive taste at different intensities too. Cole_Robbie once described Dr's Frosted and Esmerelda to me as candy sweet. The first fruit from those two came out, and to me, I now understand why he described it that way. I think they are better described as candy-esque more in type than in intensity. It's a light type of sweetness of the more pure sugar kind than fruity.

Russian Swirl
5.8 Brix
4.58 PH

The Russian Swirl is lightly sweet without almost any noticeable tartness. It's also seems quite resistant to cracking, and retains its juice very well when cut. A family member ended up preferring this one over Summer Sunrise, which is the one I prefer; a lot of sweetness and just a bit tart.

Gail X Everett's Rusty Oxheart F5- delicious PL GWR (2016 Marsha's offer)
4.9 Brx
4.29 PH

I'm not sure if I'm picking too early, but the two fruits I picked were not as tasty to me as Esmerelda or Jade Beauty. Possibly taste preference. The Gail x Everett's RO seems to be more tart than sweet.

The bottom half of the first ripe GGWT was spoiled by bugs (which makes it hard to do consistent testing since I usually sample a lateral slice), but it tastes great. Brix around 5.7, 4.67 PH. Assuming this is a preview of the rest, it should be a fairly tasty, savory tomato with very little tartness.

[Captain Neon]

Everybody knows that Lombardi's in Manhattan makes the best pizza. Everyone else is just picking up the slack.

Best barbecue is Gate's in KC. Everybody knows that one too.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Captain Neon

Everybody knows that Lombardi's in Manhattan makes the best pizza. Everyone else is just picking up the slack.

Best barbecue is Gate's in KC. Everybody knows that one too.

Heretic!

Kangaroo Paw Green
4.3 Brix
4.37 PH

This one tastes more tart than Gail x Everett's and much less sweet. However, there's a slight savoriness that i get not present in GxE, Jade, and Esmeralda.

Banskia Queen
5.8 Brix
4.47 PH

Tastes like a slightly more tart version of Russian Swirl. Still prefer Summer Sunrise much more.

[Scooty]

Bleh, been eating a lot of yellows today. Tasting for nuances gets more fickle when things taste so similar.

Golden Gypsy
4.30 PH
5.9 Brix

Mr. Snow
4.19 PH
6.4 Brix

Summertime Gold
5.8 Brix
4.30 PH

We tried these alongside Banskia, Summer Sunrise, Russian Swirl, and a more mature Kangaroo Paw Yellow.

Kangaroo Paw Yellow is still a bit more tart the the rest, so its easier to pick out, but we left it to mature a bit more than last time, so it was also a bit more yellow than the pucker sour. The nuances between Banskia, Summertime Gold, Mr. Snow, and Golden Gypsy are very slight. They are all very mellow flavored varieties, not sour, but also not really sweet enough to be called sweet (relative comparison).

Banskia is a tad more savory than the other 3, but it's still rather light, mellow, or bland, depending on how your taste preferences go. Summer Sunrise and Russian Swirl are the clear standouts for us simply because they have much more pronounced flavors. RS is sweet without almost any tartness, and it's unusual as far as textures go. Even when ripe, it's flesh near the skin has a crunch similar to cherry tomatoes. Summer Sunrise is even sweeter than RS, probably the sweetest out of these seven, but has a hint of tartness unlike the RS. The only issue is that Summer Sunrise overflows with juice, probably more so than any of the other yellows this year for me. It bursts when ripe on the vine.

[Scooty]

Uluru Ochre
5.8 Brix
4.45 PH

First time I've grown a orange/black tomato; an extremely unique look. This is probably one of the most mild tasting orange tomatoes we've had this year as far as acidity goes. It's also probably one of the sweetest large orange tomatoes for us, sweeter than the London Lass. Though, the Sweet Ozark Orange, 117, nor Chef's Choice Orange have yet to ripen.

I find it a bit hard to compare this against other oranges or yellows. In fact, I'd want to say it has a hint of that black tomato savoriness or depth like a Black from Tula in it. It's not like the bright flavor we got from some of the yellows or light oranges: London Lass, Summer Sunrise, Mr. Snow, Banskia, etc...

When ripe, the flesh on the Uluru doesn't hold very well though compared to the London Lass, despite both being ill-suited for long-term storage. Of all the dwarfs to come out this year for us, Uluru seems to be one of the easiest to bruise along with one of the juiciest for its size. All the fruit we're getting are 300g+.

[Scooty]

Sweet Sue
6.8 Brix
4.17 PH

Coastal Pride Orange
5.0 Brix
4.45 PH

Dana's Dusky Rose
4.9 Brix
4.33 PH

My expectations were perhaps too high for Sweet Sue. Everyone told me that it was sweet; one of their sweetest they've ever grown, but it's definitely not the sweetest for us [at least this year].

We have Wild Freds and Black Krims that come out with a higher Brix. Summer Sunrise is probably the sweetest large yellow and that hits consistently above 8.0 Brix.

That said, Sweet Sue is a very tasty tomato and one that seems a bit unique. Whereas other tomatoes are either cotton candy or fruity sweet, Sweet Sue has more of a savory sweet, like if it were a low acid Sweet Scarlet at a higher Brix. I like it a lot.

CPO is a fairly average orange imo. It's not bad, but it's also not standout enough to be memorable. I enjoy the fact that it's a very diminutive plant that pumps out 8oz fruit.

I'm going to have to take another sample of Dana's Dusky Rose. Our first ripe specimen is an ugly catfaced fused fruit, and so its difficult to extract a lateral cross section that is a good representation of taste as a whole. There's a bit super ripe, while the smaller fused portion seems less ripe. That said of the ripe side we tasted, it was enough to make an good impression. It's savory, slightly sour, but not sweet, whereas our Wild Fred, Black Krim, Carbon, Carbon Copy come out savory and sweet.

Sweet Scarlet
6.3 Brix
4.23 PH

I forgot to post our Sweet Scarlet results from last week. This one was enough to be very memorable. It was truly fire engine red, and tasted great. Hands down the best of the red/pink dwarfs. I suspect this one has a pretty high glutamate level, cause its very savory. Brix is not high or as sweet as Wild Fred, but it has a bit of a tart edge to it that is lacking in most purples/blacks. Even though Sweet Adelaide has a higher Brix, Sweet Scarlet is far better imo. It has a very savory characteristic absent in most of the other red/pink dwarfs.

[nancyruhl]

Esmeralda Golosina
5.2 Brix
4.10 PH
Interesting. J and L Gardens, who released it, says it is one of the highest brix that can be grown.

[nancyruhl]

I should says I grew it this year and thought it was very sweet, yet with that GWR tang. Nice plant that is still producing.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

Esmeralda Golosina
5.2 Brix
4.10 PH
Interesting. J and L Gardens, who released it, says it is one of the highest brix that can be grown.

It was quite sweet to me. Maybe there's more malic than citric in GWR that makes TA lower; not sure but this would contribute to it being perceptively sweeter or at least less tart. I should take some pictures of our EG fruit next batch around. I should say, it's still my favorite GWR indeterminate of the 5-6 GWRs we're trialing. Jade Beauty is probably my favorite of the GWR dwarfs.

It's also a possibility that I'm picking a bit early. They come out about the size of a racquet ball. The photo shows a cluster of three, the one of the left is about the stage that I'm picking them.

I sent an email to JandL asking what they get for Brix. Hopefully I can compare notes, as I'm fairly new to GWRs.