worst tomato you have ever grown

[Christa B.]

Yellow Pear, German Lunchbox, and Yellow Pygmy.

Yellow pear was by far the worst, and a spitter to boot.

German Lunchbox is edible but very bland. I dunno though, it does have good reviews on Baker Creek's website....maybe it was just a bad year for them in my area. The plant did well but the tomatoes were just blah.

Yellow Pygmy. The skin was thick and the tomatoes were really dry/not juicy. The flavor was alright but it doesn't make up for thick skin and lack of juice.

I really wanted to like Yellow Pygmy, it was a pretty little plant with nice Rugose leaves.

[pmcgrady]

I crossed a yellow pear, with a yellow pear... and they still sucked.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by StephenCoote

Nan... what method do you use to dry your tomatoes? Do you cut the Yellow Pear fruit in half? Do you season the fruit or do anything else to it before dehydrating? Thanks in advance....

I cut them in half longwise, place them on a dehydrator rack with a fine screen on it (they're small & can fall thru the slots on a normal dehydrator rack once they're dry), and put them on the Fruit drying temperature (135 F, I think) for about 36 hours, until they're just crispy.

Some varieties of tomato taste better dried, others worse. We had a pink-fruited mystery tomato grow from a pack of Black Krim seeds. It was bland, unexciting. But I dehydrated some and it's a hit. OTOH, I liked Gregory's Altai a lot, but it made a bad dehydrated tomato.

Nan

[AlittleSalt]

Numbers 2 and 3 on my list are Big Beef and Black Cherry. Both start out very slow and don't grow or produce any tomatoes.

[StephenCoote]

Thanks Nan. I haven't grown a Yellow Pear yet because of their reputation for blandness. However they seem to be a healthy, productive plant in our area, and that appeals to me. So now that there is a possibility the fruit will be good when dried, I have a reason to grow Yellow Pear .... just to try it.

I really like the flavour of Black Cherry. When I've planted them the vines have grown vigorously, but, like you said AlittleSalt, sometimes the fruit is relatively sparse given the size of the plant.

So the quest continues for a consistently reliable, healthy, productive and tasty small tomato........ preferably an early-fruiting one.

[Nan_PA_6b]

So many people are claiming Yellow Pear is not only bland, but a spitter- actively bad-tasting. It makes me wonder if there are a couple of different YP out there. Glad I have saved seeds from the mild sweet one!
Nan

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

So many people are claiming Yellow Pear is not only bland, but a spitter- actively bad-tasting. It makes me wonder if there are a couple of different YP out there. Glad I have saved seeds from the mild sweet one!
Nan

And it makes me think that the same variety in different years CAN taste differently in different years depending on many variables.

It also makes me think that since there are some human genes that are also involved in taste, and not all have those same genes, that not everyone tastes everything the same,not just year to year,but when ever they taste anything,but here we're talking about tomatoes, and it also applies.

Carolyn

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

It also makes me think that since there are some human genes that are also involved in taste, and not all have those same genes, that not everyone tastes everything the same,not just year to year,but when ever they taste anything,but here we're talking about tomatoes, and it also applies.
Carolyn

I know for certain I can't taste some tomato flavors. I shared a slice of tomato with my mother, who said it was flavorful and I could barely taste a thing. But every year, DH declares Yellow Pear to be good.
Nan

[AlittleSalt]

Yellow Pear is actually a very popular variety. Every place I visit selling transplants have Yellow Pear. It is one of the first to sell out.

I do wonder if that is what people now expect a tomato to taste like? Most don't grow gardens - they buy tasteless grocery store tomatoes and grew up eating them. That is what they expect from a tomato. Now, think of a Yellow Pear - it isn't red or what the public thinks of as tomato shaped. Thinking that way, YP looks interesting, is yellow, and has no taste - exactly what the populous thinks it's supposed to taste like - with a new shape and color.

We as elders/and younger people, need to remind our youth that tomatoes can taste very good, and they come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, and we have been working on this for hundreds of years.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Numbers 2 and 3 on my list are Big Beef and Black Cherry. Both start out very slow and don't grow or produce any tomatoes.

Robert, those are among the top favorite varieties.
Big Beef (F1) is one of the top hybrid red slicer with good taste.
I have not grow Black Cherry in the past but growing this year.

Well, I understand people have different taste and preference.

[Fritz77]

I've never liked Roma. Last year I grew (actually tried to gro) Gilbertie. It was affected by all kinds of blights, included BER. In the end I managed to eat two ripe fruits which were absolutely tasteless.
I guess I have problem with paste tomatoes (but I do love the true San Marzano). Next season I'm going to try with Opalka.
Overall I have to agree with Worth though. The worst tomatoes ever are the ones you buy at grocery store, especially around this time of the year. They are expensive and if there was a blind test, I couldn't really tell the difference between them, raw potatoes and unripe plums.

[jpop]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Robert, those are among the top favorite varieties.
Big Beef (F1) is one of the top hybrid red slicer with good taste.
I have not grow Black Cherry in the past but growing this year.

Well, I understand people have different taste and preference.

I too was not overly impressed with Big Beef F1. The tomatoes themselves were beautiful and the plants were very prolific w/ great fruit set. However, the fruits themselves, although not spitters by any means, had so so texture (skin a little thicker than I like and a little mealy) they were also on the bland side. Now I must confess that they were placed next to some very flavorful varieties each time we ate them, so this alone could skew the flavor aspect, but they did not make the cut this year. In fact we only ended up eating them in a caprese salad w/ drizzle of balsamic, due to their lack of flavor.