nctomatoman's tasting thread - Major tasting with Lee July 20 - updated

[nctomatoman]

Tomatoes are piling up, so I decided that Sue and I would have a mini tasting. We tasted:

Indeterminate and other non-dwarf project varieties:

Isis, Shazka, Brandywine, Not Indian Stripe, Cherokee Chocolate, Vzryv, Kimbery and Russian Queen

Dwarf Project varieties: Sweet Adelaide, Rosella Crimson 08-50, Tasmanian Chocolate 2582, Coorong Pink, Sarandipity, Dwarf Kelly Green 10-77, Dwarf Blazing Beauty 2850.

So, a total of 15 varieties.

I tasted them twice, and Sue and I tasted them together - I could then see how consistent my impressions were, as well as how they compared to Sue's.

Winner of the tasting - Brandywine - we both loved it (it was from 1995 seed and can be traced back to the Sudduth origin that Ben Quisenberry brought into the SSE collection) - I rated it an 8 the first time, 8.5 on the retaste.

But - very close and nearly indistinguishable were Rosella Crimson 08-50 and Sweet Adelaide and Coorong Pink. I ranked them all 8 the first time around. They are simply delicious tomatoes - and grow on these puny little 3 foot tall plants....!!

Close in flavor - excellent but maybe more of a 7.5-8 in flavor ranking - Tasmanian Chocolate and Dwarf Kellly Green and Cherokee Chocolate - the first two of which are also from the Dwarf project. And the first of the Blazing Beauty fruit, not quite what we are looking for in size or color, was just delicious (only 3 ounces, we are aiming for 6-8, and a deep yellow or pale orange, where we are aiming for a deep orange).

Kimberly (only one fruit and only I tasted it) was quite good - a solid 7, and to me tasted better than Fruhe Liebe. I also liked Isis (the bicolor cherry), which was on the tart side - I haven't tried one in many years!

The dwarf Sarandipity was good, as I expected - just a nice balanced tomato flavor, but got lost in this set of tomatoes - came out in the 6.5 range.

The medium round early varieties Shazka and Vzryv, Not Indian Stripe, and Russian Queen were all average tasting - maybe 5.5 to 6, and not distinguished in this tasting.

I will attach some pictures. The pics are labeled with 12 o'clock first, going clockwise, for each set.