I never tire of ranking tomatoes

[bully]

Or of reading how others rank them.

Taste only no productivity, disease resistance, appearance or size to be factored in.

Just flavor.
Please use the same ranking system if you can

Tomatoes you have grown and feel comfortable ranking


10...Brandywine (sudduth)

9.5....Sun Gold, Aunt Gerties Gold

9..... Earl's Faux, Stump of the World, Lillians Yellow, Dr. Lyle, Marianna's peace, Kellogg's Breakfast

8.5....Black from Tula, Little Lucky, Omars Lebanese, Yellow Brandywine, Aunt Rubies German Green, Andrew Rahartt's Jumbo Red

8.... Black krim, Wes, Lucky Cross, Cherokee Purple, Anna Russian,

7.5...Silvery Fir tree, Mayo's Delight, Prue, Momotaro, Depp's Pink Firefly, Polish, Regina's Yellow, Coustralee, OTV Brandywine, Sandul Moldovan, Snow White, Green Zebra, Akers West Virginia, Opalka, Russian 117,Tidwell German, Franks Large Red, Zogola, Mortgage Lifter

7...Azoychka, Nepal, Earl of Edgecomb, Red Bonnywein, Matina, Galina's, Hillbilly, Big Zac, Pink Ping Pong

Less than 7 (too many to name them all)
Druzba, Carbon, Anna's Noir, Giant Belgium, Costoluto Genevese, Stick, Every Cherry I ever grew other than the few above,Copia, Stupice, Noir de Crimme, Orange Strawberry, Rutgers, Big beef, Celebrity.Black Brandywine

Tomatoes you have grown but have not made your mind up on, for one reason or another
Red Barn, Rinaldo, Prudens Purple, Eva Purple Ball,Gregori's Altai, Ernesto, Burrackers Favorite, Goose Creek


Tomatoes You have not tried but are looking forward to.

Green Giant, Mule Team, Grub's Mystery Green, Traveler, Granny Cantrells, Grandfather Ashlock, Box car Willie, Break o Day, Bulgarian #7, Cherokee Green, Ethel Watkins Best, Hugh's, Marizol Purple, Missouri Pink Love Apple, Summer Cider, Turkey Chomp, Wins All, Tennesee Britches, Russian Appletree, Kimberly, Sioux.......the list goes on and on...

I hope I get some more that can break through the 7.5 barrier

[coronabarb]

I grow 'em, eat 'em AND rank 'em. That way, I know what to grow the FOLLOWING year. 8)

[Grub]

Nor do I, Bully. Nor Do I...

You got to know when to rank 'em
Know when thank 'em
Know when to walk away and know when they're done
You never count your maters
Till they're sliced and on the table
There'll be plenty time for countin'
When the tasting's done.

(I'm surprised you haven't ranked Ernesto and Rinaldo yet. Ernesto's an 8 on your scale. Though your scale differs to mine between the 8.5s to 7.5s

[Mantis]

Only the minority around here would tire of ranking tomatoes. Its the done thing. But my rankings are only:

Will be back every year:

Brandywine, Zogola, Soldacki, Anna Russian, Cherokee Green, Kellogs Breakfast, Polish Dwarf, Mortgage Lifter,
My crosses.

Will try once more:

Citron Compact, Arkansas Travellor, Russian Red, Sioux, Faux Box Car Willie, Gregoris Altai, Earls Faux, Cherokee Purple (cant get it to produce more than one truss of fruit),Prudens Purple, Polish C, Nepal, others I cant think of.

Ho hum, others to try

Carbon (to many split fruit), Goia Della Mensa, Paul Robeson, Aunt Rubys German Green (no fruit), Striped Turkish Monestry, Eckert Polish, Father Tom, Wes, Marianas Peace, and others.

Spitouts

Stupice, Tuscany, Earl Wonder, Hawaiian Tropic, and othes that I have tried to forget and have :-)

[Plantersville]

One that I am trying this year is Black Russian. Anyone have any experience or comments on this mater?
Chuck B

[montanamato]

I like reading other peoples ratings as I always enjoy seeing one persons spitter being another persons favorite.
I will probably never rank my tomatoes as unfortunately I like almost all tomatoes, and production is therefore all important to me. Living in marginal gardening territory I only occassionally get a good yield on many of the top favorites.
I enjoy reading the rankings of eyolf and others who have similiar challenges and grow lots of determinates.
I guess over the years I have grown to savor any fruitful plant, no matter how seedy, bland, mushy, mealy or otherwise.....
Of course I always have high hopes for the new ones each season.
Looking forward this year to : Tocan, Simpson's Summer Palace, White Bush, Arcadia, Dansk Export, Kootenai, Early Rouge, Ellis Island, Russian Persimmon, Dar, Auriga, Gajo de melon, Citron Compact, Moira and Mustang....and many others.

Jeanne

[cottonpicker]

I really enjoy reading the notes & rankings for tomatoes. It helps me to gather a long list which gets trimmed as time goes on & additional data comes in.
No doubt my local conditions & individual taste play a big role in my ultimate satisfsction but, at least, it gives me a starting point!! GREAT thread.... c'mon... more reviews!! THANKS, all!!!

[Emaewest]

I will probably never rank my tomatoes as unfortunately I like almost all tomatoes

That doesn't seem too unfortunate to me.

I enjoy reading everyone's rankings, and look forward to the day when I have something to contribute. :wink:

[jwr6404]

Chuck
I grew Black Russian last year. It did well here in the PNW,much better than Black Krim.The wife and her friends loved them,not sure I gt to taste one. Did like the Black Krim but it wasn't so productive. Mrs says we have to grow Blacks. This year the Blacks I'm growing are Black Prince,Black Cherry and Paul Robeson. if I can find any room I'll add a Black Russian. Because of my limited space I want to try something different each year.

[greggf]

I'll second just about all of Jeanne's/montanamato's comments!

I love lists, but don't find them very useful because my climate isn't "your" climate, my soil isn't "your" soil, and because . . .

I, like Jeanne, like any tomato. I even prefer mild or "bland" ones.

By the way, why have the "lots of taste" folks hijacked the tomato world in such an arbitrary fashion?

After all, is excess good or bad? Is fat better than thin? Are two wives or two husbands (at once!) better than one? Is a McMansion better than a modest split-level? Is a V8 better than a V6? Is an SUV better than a minivan or a station wagon? Is an unfiltered cigarette better than a filtered one? Which is better, a mild case of the flu, or a strong one? Is it better to shoot two hunting partners rather than one? Is it better to have two interns rather than one?

I think good taste in tomatoes is shown by the ability to detect and enjoy subtle variations in subtle varieties. As social critic Christopher Lasch said, are we really so depressed as a nation and a people that we need to be "beaten back to life" by more and more excess stimulation - fatter tummies, bigger cars, bigger houses, more jerky camerawork on HGTV, louder elevator music, racier movies, gaudier half-time shows, more ads (my wife said that the paper sheet on her doctor's examining table now has drug ads on it!!!), etc.?

Here's my list of greatest-tasting tomatoes:

ULTRA-SWEET

a 62 day hybrid, a Stokes exclusive.

I most enjoyed tomato-growing back when I started in 1988, when I grew Sweet 100 and Early Girl. It's been downhill ever since.

Well, except for perhaps finding the UltraSweet .

Gregg

[barkeater]

10 - Ramapo

09 - Brandywine, Aunt Gerties Gold

08 - Break O' Day, Campbells 1327

07 - Black Cherry, Big Zac, Wisconsin 55, Rutgers

06 - Many others

05 - Most of the rest

01 - Mountain Pride

[Mantis]

So, Barkeater, Mountain Pride would be a spitter then

[TomatoDon]

I've never ranked them before, because I only grew a very few varieties, maybe 2-4 hybrids. Now...you raters...how do you do it? Just on personal taste, literally? I think it would be hard to rate them in total, factoring in everything from growing habits, cracking, size, disease, taste, etc. But I like your ideas of rating them. I will do it this season.

Don

[Mantis]

Don , I really don't rate them on taste alone. Carbon for example tastes great and sets fruit in our hot summer, but nearly everyone cracked badly so that knocks it down the scale a lot. I might try to cross it with something HMMMMM.

[barkeater]

My ranking here is on taste only. And yes, mantis, Mountain Pride - and all its relatives are spitters, unless you like crunchy, flavorless tomatoes.

Note: Mtn. Princess isn't related.