Best plum/paste varieties

[tam91]

Wow, what a wealth of information. Thank you everyone.

Camo, that sounds sounds absolutely delicious. Now you have me wanting pasta - and I'm still on my first cup of coffee! I'm going to have to try those Cowlicks next year.

Carolyn, your stories behind the varieties are wonderful. I think those stories should be your next book - even without pictures, the back stories are just lovely.

[camochef]

Tam91,
Cowlick's BW has been my #1 tomato for quite a few years now, but to be perfectly honest, 2010 season wasn't their best. Fortunately, a few others did quite well.
Brandywine-Glicks was quite impressive both in size and production as well as taste. Brandywine-Sudduth's was right on its heels. Still, the most impressive last year in that horrible heat and drought was:

Tarasenko6-Red
Barlow Jap-Pink
Liz Birt-Pink
Bear Creek-Dark (#1 in taste of dark tomatoes, and best all around)
Dana's Dusky Rose-Dark (right on the heels of Bear Creek)
Sandul Moldovan-Pink (always in the top 5 year after year)
Mrs Benson-Pink
Lillian Maciejewski's Poland Pink-Pink

All are great slicers, but also do well in the sauce pot. I've quit growing Cherokee Purple as I've replaced them with more consistant varieties, but the Cherokee Purple/Brandywine crosses, (Liz Birt, Bear Creek, Dora and Gary O'Sena), have done extremely well as replacements.
As far as pasta goes, try making your own. It's so much tastier than dried store bought pasta. Ravioli is my favorite, especially with a shredded pork/mozzerella/ricotta filling, but homemade lasagna noodles are so silky and thin you just need to try them. You can get a hand pasta machine for around $25.00 and it's money well spent.
Wishing the best, both in the gardens and the kitchen!
Camo

[tam91]

Thanks for those suggestions.

I have made homemade pasta, and have a machine, you're right fresh pasta is delicious! I'm not that ambitious all the time I'm afraid, but it is wonderful. Even the fresh in the stores isn't bad. Hmm.. I haven't made lasagne in a while, now you're making me hungry for that too!

But not this week, this week is French (for friends this weekend).

Thank you for all the advice.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by dice

Korney's excellent list:

BISIGNANO #2--70 DAYS--Large spreading Indet.
vine, to 14 oz. prolific, variable shape,(globe to
plum) on same plant. Great flavor, juicy and
seedy, a great all purpose tomato. Sturdy, rampant
vines, set out four different fruit shapes; oval,
globes, plums, and large heart shapes. All are
thick walled and meaty, deep orange-red with full,
rich tomato flavor. One of the best processing
types you'll ever find. From Italy at least 30
years ago, via Mr. Bisignano (finalist in Victory
Garden TV contest of 1984) for whom the tomato
named.

"BLOCKY" MARZANO---70-80 DAYS--INDET. San Marzano
type plants, seeds originally from El Salvador.
Most fruits are red, lobed or ribbed like a bell
pepper, but still a plum shape like the original
San Marzano, about 3 inches long by up to 2 inches
wide/square, in clusters of 4 to 8 or so.

BUTTER AND BULL HEART*--75-80 DAYS--Nice, 3-4"
pink, heart-shaped fruits, almost coming to a
rounded point on the bottom on many; very good
flavor; a good tomato for canning or slicing.
Originally from Jenny Virsnieks, a Latvian
immigrant now living in ★★★★★★★★ City, WI.

ERNIE'S PLUMP--75-80 DAYS--Cooks down to the the
reddest, richest, flavorful sauce ever! 8 -12oz.
fruits are a most unique shape: "plump" double
pears with a tiny blossom scar, almost a wide
bell-shaped. Rich beyond words. Extreme producer.

HEIDI--75 DAYS--Medium sized INDET. plant that
bears thick walled paste type fruits with tender
skin. Originated in Cameroon. 2.5" pear shape, red
paste fruit, rich tomato flavor, high yields.

HERMAN'S YELLOW--75-80 DAYS--Droopy foliage type
INDET. Golden to pale orange heart shaped, with
intense but balanced flavor, with slight hints of
citrus; 12-16oz or more.

HORVATH--75-80 DAYS--Perhaps my biggest surprise
in cooking-type tomatoes. The plant was grown in a
4 gallon bucket (maybe 3/4ths full) with drip
irrigation and put out huge, blocky, pointy plums,
some 6 inches long by 3 inches wide. Very few
seeds inside. Very meaty and solid. Great for
sauce or canning. Family heirloom of the Horvath
Family, Edison, NJ, original seed from an area in
Italy on the Adriatic Sea.

JOE'S PLUM--75-85 DAYS--Indet. Huge red 8-12oz.
plums with solid flesh, not many seeds and sweet
rich flavor. Plants produce high yields. Big (up
to 4x5"), blocky, red, very meaty fruits; great
for canning but I loved them fresh. Originally
from Charles Daidone, NJ, who got seeds from a
gardener named Joe who got seeds from Italy.

KALMAN'S HUNGARIAN PINK*--77-82 DAYS--INDET.
Hungarian heirloom imported by Kalman Lajvort of
Edison, N.J. 8-10oz for me using drip fertigation.
Outstanding flavor & production; somewhat barrel
or plum shaped pinks.

KHIRHIV--75 DAYS--Indet. A large elongated plum
shaped red with great flavor. Can be used fresh,
for sauce, or canned.

KORNEY'S CROSS F6-T--65-70 DAYS--An intentional
cross between a determinate rugose leaf red
beefsteak pollinated by Black Plum; F5 seed
produced 2 different versions, this one is a
2-2.5"+ brown/mahogany slightly plum-shaped fruit.
This version is slightly taller than it is wide,
more plum shaped, and slightly more solid than
KORNEY'S CROSS F6-W. Thick walls, tangy acidic
flavor, great for salsa or whole canning. Stays on
plant well, keeps on counter for a while.

MARTINO'S ROMA--75-80 DAYS--DET. Rugose leaf.
Great flavored heavy yielder of 2-3 oz Red
plum/pear type fruit, possibly the highest
yielding of all the Roma types. 3 in. long. These
paste-type fruit are meaty with few seeds and
almost no juice, perfect for cooking, salsa, etc.
Compact determinate plants.

ORANGE BANANA*--85 DAYS--Indet. Orange Banana was
the clear winner of an autumn paste taste at the
Shipmans in Maine. Sweet flavor of Sungold but
with more depth, makes a great sauce by itself, or
adds a fruity complexity to other sauces. Orange
fruits 3-4" long avg 4-5 oz.

POWER'S HEIRLOOM--80 DAYS--INDET. Clear yellow
large paste type plum tomato, 4-7 oz. usually 3"
long with a slight point on the blossom end. Very
productive and pretty. Sweet, juicy. Heavy set of
light yellow fruits with pale yellow almost white
flesh.

PRUE--80-85 DAYS--INDET. Wispy almost floppy
leaved plant. The tomato of Mr. Henry Prue, an old
timer born at the turn of the century who started
gardening back in the 1920s-30s. Somewhere between
plum and heart shaped, very meaty, can vary in
size from 3" wide at the top and 4" long with a
nipple, to being 4" wide and 5" long. About 5-12oz
though some bigger, occasionally hitting a pound
or more. Prue starts turning a pinkish/red in a
variegated pattern and parts are green while other
parts are getting red--at first uneven ripening at
early stages, though it ends up solid red.
Sometimes thought to resemble a "Charley Brown
Christmas tree" with scrawny sparse leaves that
often look twisted or flopping over! It's taste is
very good, quite different from many other reds, a
somewhat earthy taste, not all that sweet, the
essence of what tomatoey would be, all sorts of
tastes linger on the tongue after you've taken a
mouthful.

RIO GRANDE--75 DAYS--Determinate. Rugose-leaved,
compact growth. Seems very disease resistant - A
super canner, out produces anything I have seen.
Fruit larger & twice as much as Roma. Giant plum
shaped to globe shaped. Expect 4 quarts of sauce
per plant. NOTE: MINE CONTINUOUSLY TOPPLE THE
CHEAP 3-RING HARDWARE STORE CAGES.

ROSALIE'S PASTE*--80 DAYS--INDET. A large bright
red heart shaped paste. Meaty with nice flavor.
Heavy production. 3 x 4-inch, pointed. A great
sauce tomato. Good concentrated flavors. Juicy
enough to make a good slicer too.

RUSSIAN 117--80-85 DAYS--Large red heart-shaped
fruit is often doubled like side-by-side hearts,
up to 1 lb. or more. Great taste, solid dense meat
and not many seeds. More productive than the
typical oxheart types.

SLANKARD'S*--75-85 DAYS--Large pink blocky hearts,
many 1lb or more, quite productive, mild, meaty.
Large (4-5"), very few seeds; great flavor;
excellent canner. Family heirloom Michael Byrne of
MI.

SOJOURNER SOUTH AMERICAN*--80-55 DAYS--INDET.
regular leaf. Large to very large blocky plum
shaped fruit. Extremely heavy for its size! Bright
red with excellent, wonderfully sweet flavor. Said
to keep setting fruit in 100 weather and drought.
Sometimes a bit slow to fully ripen but you WILL
be rewarded. NOTE: THIS WAS A GREAT SURPRISE,
SWEET & MEATY, PLUS STILL A LITTLE JUICY, MOST
3-4" X 2-3"W. EARLIER THAN CLAIMED.

SPECKLED ROMAN--75 DAYS--Up to 5"x3" tapered red
fruits with stunning wavy golden orange stripes;
fruits meaty and with excellent flavor; very
productive.

TEN FINGERS of NAPLES ( Dix Doights De Naples
)*--Clusters of elongated plum tomatoes! Heavy
yields on tall vines produce plenty of fruits in
bunches of 4 to 8 or more, lots of elongate little
blocky bright red paste tomatoes. Firm meaty
tomatoes with little seeds, excellent tomato for
cooking, paste, puree, etc.

UKRAINIAN HEART--75-80 DAYS--A "Huge" surprise for
me! These were large to very large pinks, almost
triangular wedges, one of the best tasting
varieties I grew this past season. Large pink, 5",
round fruit, high shoulders, flat sides, sweet
flavor, to 1.5 lbs.

UNCLE STEVE'S*--70-80 DAYS--Italian plum of Steve
Messina, 6oz and up plum type tomato, nice and
meaty, great for cooking, and sauce, juicy enough
to eat fresh too. Mine were HUGE blocky plums,
some 5-6 inches long and over 3 inches wide when
grown in a 4 gallon bucket with drip irrigation!
Uncle Steve's, Horvath, and Yugoslavian were my
biggest "cooking tomato" surprises of the season.

WAGNER'S ITALIAN--70-80 DAYS--Indet. Deep pink
elongated/pointed plum shaped paste tomato. This
was beautifully aromatic, tasty and sweet, good
enough to eat fresh. Very rare for a plum/paste
type, since most are red and really dry--Wagner's
was juicy enough for fresh eating, or in salads,
and a beautiful deep pink color.

WES*--75-80 DAYS--INDET. Wispy oxheart type
foliage. Large heart shaped red fruits, often with
blunt bottoms (no points) and some almost huge
doubles. Great flavor; cut it open and smell the
intense aroma; not many seeds. A great tomato!

YUGOSLAVIAN--75-80 DAYS--A great yet unusual
tomato. Deep pink almost plum-shaped to
pear-shaped fruits, some doubles, produced all
season for me. Wonderful aroma when cut open, and
great taste too! A slight bit of hollowness on
some, but juicier than a paste type tomato. 4-6oz
fruits about 2 inches by 3 inches, the doubles
were up to 4 inches wide. Was great, my favorite
sliced on white pizza all season long.

Roughwood Golden Plum--Indet. Potato Leaf. Orange
fruits resemble 2 plum tomatoes grown together;
was a stable F9 cross of Yellow Brandywine x San
Marzano. up to 5oz.

Sarnowski Polish Plum--4-6 oz. mostly plum-shaped
red paste type tomatoes on sprawling vines. Good
flavor and yield. Family heirloom brought to NY
from Poland in 1890s. Indeterminate.

Wuhib--3" long 3-chambered dry, meaty paste tomato
on semi-determinate 3' vines; quite productive
and somewhat larger than San Marzano, but more
difficult to prepare for drying due to odd number
of chambers. NY MA C 96 From Tadessee Wuhib of
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Thanks for reminding me! I forgot some!

This year, from those plums & hearts I'm growing:

"BLOCKY" MARZANO
ERNIE'S PLUMP
HORVATH
JOE'S PLUM
PRUE
ROSALIE'S PASTE
SOJOURNER SOUTH AMERICAN
SPECKLED ROMAN
UKRAINIAN HEART
UNCLE STEVE'S
YUGOSLAVIAN

It seems every year since I've grown them they were so good that I now grow Joe's Plum, Ukrainian Heart and Speckled Roman ever year.

I needed to skip some of my favorites to grow some I needed to save seeds for, so Slankard's, Wes, and Herman's Yellow will have to wait for next year. Another good one I didn't see on the list is Kosovo, which I'm growing again this year--I haven't grown it in a few years. Butter and Bull Heart was very heavy producer last year. Bisignano #2 was on this year's list but I couldn't find my seeds! And Korney's Cross F6 I think is F8 or F9 now and has flip-flopped from brown to green.

There's a thread here somewhere on this forum with pics of most of the plums mentioned.

[attml]

Not to hijack the thread but does anyone have any opinion on Black Plum? I am growing that for the first time this year. Thanks!

Mark

[Wi-sunflower]

Black Plum is a variety I like very much and grow almost every year.

But it's another one that the name is a fooler.

Black Plum is really a "grape" type. A bit bigger than some of the small red grapes but smaller than Juliet or any roma type. It has a nice flavor and rarely splits so is a nice market variety.

Carol

[attml]

Thanks Carol! Looking forward to it!

[korney19]

BLACK PLUM.... Juliet sized, but brown.



(One of the parents of my first ever cross (Korney's Cross) which started out red and now in the 8th or 9th generation are GREEN!)

[Tracydr]

Carolyn, your Ethiopian student always reminds me of a wonderful book that I read called Cutting For Stone. It was set partly in Addas Abbaba, about a young man who goes to medical school. I think you would enjoy it, if you haven't already read it.