What exactly is "old time" tomato taste?

[Qweniden]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Has anyone checked if "meaty" tomatoes have measurably higher amounts of Umami than other varieties?

You can quantify Umami?

[mecktom]

Marglobe and Rutgers grown in Southern Virginia soil and climate will result in what you are talking about.....but i am sure others will say the same about their area. We all love tomatoes!!

[organichris]

Umami, as I understand it, has to do with glutamate content. Sorta like MSG flavor.

[dice]

Just posted this in another thread where someone was asking
about the illusive "smoky, earthy taste" in black tomatoes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutami...lavor_enhancer

I do not think that is what people who say "old time tomato
flavor" mean, though. I would guess that the flavor of canned
Contadina pizza sauce is fairly close to what they mean.

[stormymater]

Chesapeake, Del Mar & Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red all got the old timey flavor going on right up there with Rutgers...

[Qweniden]

Im curious to try Rutgers now

[feldon30]

Yeah umami is largely a function of glutamate content. When I make hamburgers I add a few drops of soy sauce, a few drops of worchestershire, and some fresh grated Parmesan. All add a beefy flavor and the parm helps the burgers stick together.

Tomatoes can be rich in umami compounds, but I agree acid and sweetness are very important flavors too.

[Qweniden]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Yeah umami is largely a function of glutamate content. When I make hamburgers I add a few drops of soy sauce, a few drops of worchestershire, and some fresh grated Parmesan

Goodness, and a texan too

[BigdaddyJ]

Here's another vote for hill60's post...old time taste is when tomatoes you could buy anywhere actually had flavor.

[PaulF]

Whenever the discussion goes to "old time taste", it brings back memories of the tomatoes my father used to grow; they were so tart all the kids in the family put sugar on their tomatoes so we could eat them.

That's not the real old time flavor we are talking about or what we grow now, but that is the first thought in my head.

[attilla1000]

Deep earthy sweet with the perfect amount of acid and that green tastes like a tomato plant smells kinda flavor. That's how I would describe it.

[jeffinjonestown]

I'm going to claim to be too young to know, but my memories of talking to folks who were older than I back in the 70s are exactly what I think Camo is saying. They had more than the bite of a Rutgers with a little of the sweet tint of a brandy, and unlike Rutgers, they were definitely large beefsteaks.

Makes me want to drive to the shore now, just thinking about it.

[jeffinjonestown]

@Qweniden,
Speaking of Rutgers, I have what I am pretty sure is the older indet version that just popped their heads out of the soil yesterday, along with ramapo f6 and glicks brandy and a Heinz variety, in case you want seeds to try the Rutgers. Looking at my first batch of seedlings, no regional bias here.

[b54red]

That 'old time tomato taste' is like porn. You can't really define it but you know it when you run across it.

[cottonpicker]

I've been reading this thread and have concluded that I have no simple answer to this burning question, BUT..... I definitely have a distinct impression in my brain of what I describe as "that old time tomato flavor". For me, it's far too complex to simply describe or quantify, but includes a sense of lushiousness...full and well-balanced flavors of less tart AND more sweet on the tongue while the lushioness of sun-warmed & ripened tomato aroma wafts into the nostrils. I remember experiencing it only a few times in my lifetime of over 70 years and I started eating tomatoes in my grandparent's garden at a very early age...maybe 65-66 years ago. The most recent encounter with that FULL flavored rich, old-time taste was about 4 years ago from a tomato that was grown by a friend of ours. I savored that tomato and was soooo impressed with the experience that I gave her a call to find out which variety it was and she told me: Super Beefsteak and she had bought the plant at a local nursery. I never grew that variety and don't know if it would be identical to the one she grew since sooo many factors are involved. I have grown many, many different tomato varieties over the years and none of them in the past 30 years really came up to or equalled that one. STILL LOOKING......
LarryD