The Never Ending Heart Tomato Question - Page 3

Redbaron · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenO

Never met a heart tomato I didn't like.

Welcome to Tomatoville and I vote for Mayo's delight and Fish Lake Oxheart from your list
Karen O

Agreed. I never met a heart tomato I didn't heart

But the best in my garden was Fish Lake Oxheart. I also love orange minsk heart

Tormato · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatureRevering_TreeHugger

Hi Everybody,

First, please accept my apology for the late reply. My daughter was/is in the Philippines when the cyclone hit and no one had heard from her or her boyfriend so I was a nervous wreck for a couple days. They are fine but I needed some decompression time and got lost in binge comedy watching and forgot to check my messages so again I am sorry. <3

Wow, thank you for all the responses! Haven't had a chance to read them all but from what I can tell so far it seems like there are no bad hearts and even more varieties that are must haves. Never going to be able to narrow down a seed list with reading your tasty experiences. You gardener enablers, you. lol Enable away, there are worse addictions to have than seed hoarding.

Again thank you and wish for you all to have a Blessed New Year and a bountiful 2015 gardening season.

~Hugs and Smooches~

You have no idea what a true enabler is.

Sun City Linda · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tormato

You have no idea what a true enabler is.

So many of us know from personal experience how true this is, TORMATO!

NatureRevering_TreeHugger · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tormato

You have no idea what a true enabler is.

You have no idea how little it takes for me to see all of the recommendations as validation that it is ok to buy more than I could possibly ever grow in my small garden.

Langley Ranch · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatureRevering_TreeHugger

You have no idea how little it takes for me to see all of the recommendations as validation that it is ok to buy more than I could possibly ever grow in my small garden.

Ha ha! That post made my day! I love that folks here are the same kind of crazy as me.

Glad your daughter and her bf are ok, BTW.

Bluesman · January 2, 2015

Cuor di bue on the right....left....right....
I love this variety. Taste is ok and it doesn´t break up so easily when getting size like some other sorts do.
The heart belonged to an young elk. Sorry if this picture causes bad feelings.

NatureRevering_TreeHugger · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Langley Ranch

Ha ha! That post made my day! I love that folks here are the same kind of crazy as me.

Glad your daughter and her bf are ok, BTW.

Thank you Langley Ranch. They have to take an AirAsia flight back to Korea tomorrow. Sheesh, think she is trying to push me into an early grave? lol

Oh and never crazy, just eccentric, don't want a visit from the men in white coats.

(Sorry I'm just really tickled by this little guys eyebrows. Man I really need to get out more, hurry up Spring).

Langley Ranch · January 2, 2015

Nice looking hearts, Bluesman!

Labradors2 · January 2, 2015

Yum! My dogs would polish off that plate in a heartbeat!

Linda

b54red · January 3, 2015

Of the tomatoes on your list that I have tried I would recommend Fish Lake Oxheart for its flavor and Kosovo for its dependability along with decent flavor. Another that can pump out the fruit with decent flavor is Anna Russian. I hate to be a Grinch especially this time of the year but unlike many on this forum I have found plenty of hearts I don't love because they are too bland or too dry. I like a full rich tasting tomato with plenty of kick and a decent amount of juice. The best heart meeting those characteristics that I have found is Donskoi. The fruit are usually well over a pound with a few around 2 pounds and the flavor and juiciness compares with the better beefsteaks.

Bill

NatureRevering_TreeHugger · January 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

I hate to be a Grinch especially this time of the year but unlike many on this forum I have found plenty of hearts I don't love because they are too bland or too dry. Bill

No worries here Bill, I love the Grinch, he and Max (dog) are some of my favorite Christmas time characters.

Seriously though, I find it is just as important to know varieties that are not good, whether because of flavor, production, disease, etc. as it is to know the ones that are great, you know what I mean? So please feel free to share ones that you do not like too.

Hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend.

~Hugs and Smooches~

Irv Wiseguy · January 3, 2015

I grew Golden Dwarf Champion last year and about 1/3 of the fruit were heart shape. I don't know if that was a freak thing or the nature of the variety. I didn't think about saving seeds from the heart shape ones to see what would come of them, but I should have because I like this variety and will grow it again.

The only other heart I've grown is Brad's Black Heart, which was also a good producer that I liked.

Irv

b54red · January 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatureRevering_TreeHugger

No worries here Bill, I love the Grinch, he and Max (dog) are some of my favorite Christmas time characters.

Seriously though, I find it is just as important to know varieties that are not good, whether because of flavor, production, disease, etc. as it is to know the ones that are great, you know what I mean? So please feel free to share ones that you do not like too.

Hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend.

~Hugs and Smooches~

My list of don't likes is far longer than my list of like but here goes:

First are to ones I like enough to grow again:

Donskoi- far and away my favorite heart and also one of my all time favorites
Fish Lake Oxheart- very early, very tasty, med to large, fairly productive moderate vine
Anna Russian- very productive with good flavor med sized plant spindly vine
Kosovo- productive and dependable, large fruit, good flavor
Oleyars German- productive, med to large, good flavor

These mostly ended up in the sauce pot but if you like mild or sweet:

Wes: very productive, large fruit & vine, somewhat mealy and dry, decent but bland
Gildo Pietrobono- huge fruit, productive, very bland and very meaty
German Red Strawberry- very productive, decent flavor, med to small fruit
Mazarini: a little too sweet for me but pretty good, med
Hungarian Heart- very bland but very large and productive
Linnies Oxheart- bland, large and very productive especially in the fall for me
Brad's Black Heart- didn't do well for me either planting seemed disease prone

I had others that I grew over the years but none stood out enough for me to recall. I really like some of the blander hearts with huge fruit and production when making sauce but I grow for flavor nearly exclusively now. Those big meaty hearts with less juice and seed sure make putting up sauce so much easier. Just a few can fill up a large pot and they require little cooking down because they have so little juice.

Bill

drew51 · January 3, 2015

Thanks Bill, I'm mostly interested in sauce, so it helps. But bland even in sauce is not what I'm looking for. I can say though cooking changes flavor. Ever cook a Sungold? I served cherry tomatoes over green beans, both sautéed, and the taste of the Sungold's change, they have a bolder stronger flavor, very strange. So unless cooked and tasted, bland tomatoes might be actually superior. Sungold is not bland though, cooking it, it becomes bold, and less sweet.
I have to start trying various tomatoes cooked! I would just like to have a few to make sauce, and cut down on experimenting. But it is fun discovering gems. Not just tomatoes, but melons, beans, raspberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, they all vary as much, no probably even more than tomatoes.

Douglas14 · January 3, 2015

I seem to agree with Bill(b54red), in that I find many of the hearts I've grown to be too mild, bland, or one-dimentionally sweet for my tastes.

When I grew Mayo's Delight a few years ago, it was an overall bad tomato season for me here. I grew only one plant of it. The plant was small with very little healthy foliage.....which I blame on environmental and cultural factors.....too much rain, and not enough weed control. The plants of my other varieties were in pretty much the same condition, overall. Anyway, I ate two ripe fruits Mayo's Delight that season. The first one was a nice looking, plump heart-shaped fruit of around 1 lb. This is likely the best tasting heart tomato I've ever eaten. It was meaty and juicy, with an excellent balanced flavor. As good as the finest tasting beefsteak varieties I've tried, maybe better. The interior was a deep red, which I prefer. The second fruit I tasted, was about half the size of the first, and nothing special for flavor IMO.
This year I plan on giving Mayo's Delight a better trial, and grow 3 plants of it. If I can consistantly get fruit of similar quality/taste as the first one I ate of it, it will be a winner IMO.

Based on Bill's comments, I may give Donskoi a try as well.

January 2, 2015	#39
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,896	Yum! My dogs would polish off that plate in a heartbeat! Linda Last edited by Labradors2; January 3, 2015 at 12:45 PM. Reason: rong spilling

January 3, 2015	#45
Douglas14 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Minnesota Posts: 602	I seem to agree with Bill(b54red), in that I find many of the hearts I've grown to be too mild, bland, or one-dimentionally sweet for my tastes. When I grew Mayo's Delight a few years ago, it was an overall bad tomato season for me here. I grew only one plant of it. The plant was small with very little healthy foliage.....which I blame on environmental and cultural factors.....too much rain, and not enough weed control. The plants of my other varieties were in pretty much the same condition, overall. Anyway, I ate two ripe fruits Mayo's Delight that season. The first one was a nice looking, plump heart-shaped fruit of around 1 lb. This is likely the best tasting heart tomato I've ever eaten. It was meaty and juicy, with an excellent balanced flavor. As good as the finest tasting beefsteak varieties I've tried, maybe better. The interior was a deep red, which I prefer. The second fruit I tasted, was about half the size of the first, and nothing special for flavor IMO. This year I plan on giving Mayo's Delight a better trial, and grow 3 plants of it. If I can consistantly get fruit of similar quality/taste as the first one I ate of it, it will be a winner IMO. Based on Bill's comments, I may give Donskoi a try as well. Last edited by Douglas14; January 3, 2015 at 10:10 PM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

January 2, 2015	#36
Bluesman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Finland Posts: 47	Cuor di bue on the right....left....right.... I love this variety. Taste is ok and it doesn´t break up so easily when getting size like some other sorts do. The heart belonged to an young elk. Sorry if this picture causes bad feelings.

January 2, 2015	#38
Langley Ranch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Z8a TX Hill Country Posts: 99	Nice looking hearts, Bluesman!

January 3, 2015	#40
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Of the tomatoes on your list that I have tried I would recommend Fish Lake Oxheart for its flavor and Kosovo for its dependability along with decent flavor. Another that can pump out the fruit with decent flavor is Anna Russian. I hate to be a Grinch especially this time of the year but unlike many on this forum I have found plenty of hearts I don't love because they are too bland or too dry. I like a full rich tasting tomato with plenty of kick and a decent amount of juice. The best heart meeting those characteristics that I have found is Donskoi. The fruit are usually well over a pound with a few around 2 pounds and the flavor and juiciness compares with the better beefsteaks. Bill

January 3, 2015	#42
Irv Wiseguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 281	I grew Golden Dwarf Champion last year and about 1/3 of the fruit were heart shape. I don't know if that was a freak thing or the nature of the variety. I didn't think about saving seeds from the heart shape ones to see what would come of them, but I should have because I like this variety and will grow it again. The only other heart I've grown is Brad's Black Heart, which was also a good producer that I liked. Irv

January 3, 2015	#44
drew51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b Posts: 1,302	Thanks Bill, I'm mostly interested in sauce, so it helps. But bland even in sauce is not what I'm looking for. I can say though cooking changes flavor. Ever cook a Sungold? I served cherry tomatoes over green beans, both sautéed, and the taste of the Sungold's change, they have a bolder stronger flavor, very strange. So unless cooked and tasted, bland tomatoes might be actually superior. Sungold is not bland though, cooking it, it becomes bold, and less sweet. I have to start trying various tomatoes cooked! I would just like to have a few to make sauce, and cut down on experimenting. But it is fun discovering gems. Not just tomatoes, but melons, beans, raspberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, they all vary as much, no probably even more than tomatoes.