2016 Midwest Tomato Trials

[Scooty]

We have more ripe Sweet Sue and the Brix is going up. This is a bit closer to what I imagined. It's still not the super sickly sweet that I was expecting like the Summer Sunrise turned out to be.

Sweet Sue
7.2-7.4 Brix

Wherokowhai
6.7 Brix
4.3 PH

Blazing Beauty
6.4 Brix
4.12 PH

I didn't like Wherokohai as much as I liked its parent Russian Swirl. For us at least, Wherokowhai is on average half the size, more tart, and lacks the same crunch texture as Russian Swirl. Russian Swirl comes in as a very mild sweet with almost no tartness. Wherokowhai is sweet but tart at the same time.

Blazing Beauty tastes better to me than London Lass, but I prefer Coastal Pride Orange more then either. It's more mellow but also less tart.

Again these are first batch or cluster of fruits, so its possible that the flavor changes a bit as the season goes on. We're hitting towards the end of some of the dwarfs and a few have gotten a tad sweeter. London Lass was previously 5.3 Brix and 4.09 PH. It's up to 5.5-5.6 Brix now.

[Scooty]

Retested Kangaroo Paw Green and Gail x Everett, no change.

Garden Peach
5.1 Brix
4.43 PH

Sunrise Bumblebee
6.4-6.5 Brix
4.24 PH

JBT
5.8 Brix
4.57 PH

Black Cherry
7.2 Brix
4.23 PH

Garden peach tastes really bland, to me at least. It might be the excess rain. I need to test Wapsipinicon because it tasted much better. More flavorful.

I still like Carbon Copy more than Black Cherry. Austin's Black Cherry tastes the same as BC to me. I need to get around to test that one as well.

[Scooty]

Sweet Ozark Orange
4.8 Brix
4.40 PH

Chef's Choice Orange F1
4.9 Brix
4.44 PH

Sweet Ozark Orange comes out as kind of a somewhat pale/creamy orange color. (Presumingly, I'm not picking too early.) I've left SOO on the vine for quite sometime and it doesn't seem to be deeping its shade of orange. Chef's Choice Orange F1 doesn't have that creamy look. It's just a straight bright orange. They taste almost identical to me though - a mildly sweet orange. The only difference is the texture. SOO is more juicy and somewhat soft. It's like comparing a Brandywine (SOO) to a Big Beef (CCO F1).

White Furry Boar
5.1 Brix
3.86 PH

Wow is this one tart. It's mildly sweet, but it's not that noticeable with all the acidity. It's quite striking up close though. It has a very creamy iridescent appearance with its streaks of yellow and vanilla. I haven't seen too many ripe pictures, so I have no idea if I'm picking this one too early.

Noire De Crimee
5.8 Brix
4.64 PH

This one reminds me of Kumato. It's not intensely flavored like Black Krim. It's a milder sweet black. Savory with almost no tartness. I'm not sure if it's suppose to be like this, given our abundance of rain. Black Krim, Sleeping Lady, Wild Fred, and other were all grown in the same patch and they didn't come out mild (save for Dana's Dusky Rose), so I'm figuring NDC is suppose to be like this or its more sensitive to weather.

[Lindalana]

Thank you very much for such detailed description and pics! Makes my day looking and them and checking for next year plans!

[NarnianGarden]

Thanks for the pics and reviews!
NdC isn't supposed to be milder than BK, at least mine was exactly as good - but that was last year, when it wasn't so rainy.. This year, most varieties seem to be more bland than they should - except some that have been quite delicious.
My BKX for example has a wonderful deep black flavor, it has survived extreme weather conditions and manages to taste great.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

Thanks for the pics and reviews!
NdC isn't supposed to be milder than BK, at least mine was exactly as good - but that was last year, when it wasn't so rainy.. This year, most varieties seem to be more bland than they should - except some that have been quite delicious.
My BKX for example has a wonderful deep black flavor, it has survived extreme weather conditions and manages to taste great.

Interesting. Craig was telling me that Black Krims are also hit or miss, depending on source and season. I wonder if this is as much weather as different strains. Given its ubiquitous nature, I'm surprised there aren't multiple named lines like Brandywine.

It's possible my NdC is too mild, or maybe my BK is too intense. It's too bad you can't email taste. We'd be able to sort this out quickly.

[Scooty]

Grightmire's Pride
5.1 Brix
4.23 PH

Ah the first Grightmire's Pride bursted right as it was finishing vine ripening. No choice but to pick it. It still had a bit of slightly pale pink shoulders. Hoping the later ones come out a bit more flavorful. This one was kind of a mildly sweet/mildly tart tomato. Very meaty. Small locular cavities. Fairly big seeds.

White Furry Boar
5.3 -6.5 Brix
3.9 PH

I've only had a handful of ripe fruits come out, it's kind of hard to tell what the average is suppose to be. They are all very tart. Below 4.0 PH. It's not quite lemon tart, but it's definitely more acidic compared to every other tomato we've planted out this year. Some fruits turn up with a bit of a faint pink rosy blush on the bottom. Others don't. The spectrum seems to goes from a mildly sweet/very tart to just plain sweet/very tart.

Esmeralda Golosina
5.7 Brix

Some of the fruits are a little sweeter now. I emailed Lee @ J and L, and he's getting ~9.0 Brix. I'm not sure what the cause of this is. Too much rain? Too little fert? Bad strain? Lee mentioned he's practicing water restriction to increase sugar concentration. I wonder if that's the huge difference for mine.

Sleeping Lady
6.6 Brix
4.46 PH

Most of the early Sleeping Lady fruits weren't very good. They were more acidic, less sweet. (The first sample came up at 5.6 Brix and 4.20 PH.) It still tastes a bit like a watered down Wild Fred to me. Basically, a less intense Black Krim; a slightly subdued Black from Tula. Sleeping Lady is still savory as well as sweet, and would make amazing sauce, no question. I like the fact that it's a short plant too.

I'm not sure how much of this has to do with rain. Black Krim and Wild Fred got drenched this season, and they turned up really intensely sweet and savory for the most part. Craig told me he considers Sleeping Lady to be on the mild side, so maybe this is just how it's suppose to be.