taste test downunder

[tessa]

hi all.
while you are all shivering in your beautiful winter wonderland...
the tomatoes are rolling in perth.

we had a bit of a taste test last night...with several varieties of tomatoes all ripening at the same time.
i thought i'd let you know how we went...to give you some 'food for thought' during your 'list revision' season.

last night, we tasted:

mortgage lifter
big beef
black krim
perth pride F8 (just a bit of it now...since we're in seed-saving mode)
sarandipity F4
guernsey pink blush
'tessie's treat'...an unexpected hybrid that showed up in my garden a few years back.

setting the lone cherry aside (guernsey pink blush, which was delicious, btw, and a staple in my garden) because the other taster will ALWAYS pick the cherry as best in show...

we did have a very clear winner.
with a unanimous vote of 2...but on percentage miles ahead of the pack...
was sarandipty F4!!!!
this was a surprise to us both because last year, sarandipity F3 was merely average. this year...the taste improvement was off the scale. i'm really at a loss to describe this improvement in meaningful terms.

a few notes about sarandipity:
this is not a stingy plant. just take a look:



we've had about a dozen off of this plant already...and i count a dozen more in that picture.
there is a plant that is producing larger fruits...and i've been saving the seeds from the larger one.

one interesting note about sarandipity is that it has shelf life!
oh yes. i had a small bowl of them sitting on the counter for, embarrassed to say, a few weeks now. i have enough seeds, and they seem too pretty to eat. so i wasn't sure what to do with them, so i just marvelled. but they lasted and lasted and lasted. last night...we tested the two week old tomatoes next to the one picked moments earlier...and there was no difference!!!!!
so now i'm thinking i should save seeds from the plant with the smaller tomatoes?....because it was this plant that produced the lasting tomatoes.

now...as far as the other's went:

the clear second place was black krim.
it has the right tang and acid/sugar ratio for us.
perth pride came next.
then tessie's treat, big beef...and mortgage lifter the clear loser.