Kumato tomato

[feldon30]

Yep that's what mine looked like.

Except one of the fruits was rotten already.

I have eaten one so far, or should I say I tasted one and tossed it. Bland, watery, and chewy.

The other one is still sitting on the counter, consigned to an unknown fate.

[rsg2001]

Trader Joe's offers the Kumato in my area, shipped from Mexico. Frankly, it is so much better than just about any of what we get here in the Northeast in the winter, except for organic shipped from California and even those tend to be iffy and more expensive. I'm happy to have them; some batches taste better than others. While Kumato falls short of homeground and farmstand tomatoes, they're a breath of fresh air in the interim.

[DanishGardener]

Has anyone tried the Mini Kumato?
http://www.minikumato.com/en/index.html

It is a small plum shaped cherry, and apparently quite tasty from what I can read on a danish gardening forum.

[tam91]

There must be some kind of variability - mine are really pretty good. Now that they've sat around a while (and do seem to last forever) they softened just a bit, and I still like them. If I see them again, it'll be interesting to see if another box is good, or watery/chewey as others have said.

I don't think I'd try growing them though, I still prefer Black Krim etc. If I had tons of room I would though, just out of curiousity. Maybe I'll save a few seeds, just in case.

[Duh_Vinci]

As Ami showed, same packaged I bought from our local supermarket in late 2009. 3 out of 4 were over-ripe, and tasted watery and bland. One was a little firmer, and actually had somewhat pleasant taste (but then again, late December and snow on the ground - sure they tasted good for that time of the year), with balance of acid and sweetness.

I did save the seeds, in hopes that these would be much better tasting in the garden.

I grew 1 plant in 10gal container last year. Taste was indeed a huge improvement over the store variety, but: Size was entirely different. Original site shows two sizes, and what grew from the seeds of the larger version of this "Kumato" was the smaller, size of a large cherry, similar to size of Campari mentioned here.

Those fruits that stayed on the vine until the color was about the same as Ami shown in the photo - were too watery and really not memorable imo. However, when eaten earlier, I thought they had a nice crunch, with fairly good balance of acid and sweetness. This is the colors of the "good tasting" stage I observed:



Again, is it top 10 variety when it comes to taste - nope, not for me, but very good in salads with it's texture, and resisted to cracking...

Regards,
D

[gourmetgardener]

Last year I saved some seed from Kumatoes I bought at the store - planted 50 out in our tomato field - plants were somewhat whispy, and did not have the vigor of other of my mainstay commercial varieties. At first they were great, but as it got rainy in the latter part of the summer, they cracked like crazy. The color was quite variable within each plant. The fruits were definitely excellent - the flavor could still not match up to Black Prince.

[piegirl]

Just saw these in my neighborhood market this afternoon. Just like in the photo - 5 smallish per package - $4.99. Didn't have my glasses so I don't where they were grown. Too expensive for my budget. Anyone think the color was a little odd - maybe they aren't ripened, they looked rather artifical to me. Piegirl

[tam91]

They aren't pretty. I just got some more though, and they're really tasty, compared to anything else I get in the store.

[Qweniden]

I think they kind of have a nice color. And if you let them ripen they pretty tasty.

I wonder if they are OP or hyrdrids. gourmet gardner says "The color was quite variable within each plant" so maybe a hydrid.

[svalli]

Couple of years ago there was big hype in a Finnish gardening forum about Kumato. The black varieties have been quite rare here, so it was first time many saw such color in a tomato. People liked them, because they are much better tasting than the common greenhouse tomatoes in our stores. Some people saved the seed and grew plants out of them. There were many reports of variable colors. Some plants produced totally red tomatoes, so this must be a hybrid.

I found recently black grape tomatoes in a local store. There were few round ones and most were grape shaped with nipples. Skin was hard and taste was slightly sweet, but nothing worth saving seeds. A label said Chokomato, but I have not found any information about such variety. It must be an other black variety made for commercial growers.

Sari

[svalli]

The store, where I found the black grape tomatoes had now tomatoes looking just like the Kumato with the specialty cherry tomatoes. I mispelled the name earlier, the box said Chocmato, but there was no name for these bigger ones, which were packed on the same box. I found that the Chocmato is grown in La Palma and should be a dark cherry.

I bought some of the bigger ones and they taste better than the Finnish winter tomatoes grown in greenhouses with arftificial lights. The taste is lacking the deep intence flavor of the black ones I have grown my self.

Sari

[tam91]

According to wikipedia (and I believe another poster mentioned on the Zima thread) "The Kumato is a trade name given to the variety of tomato developed in Spain called "Olmeca", which went by experimental number SX 387."

[RonnyWil]

I bought a 2lb. pack at Sam's Club and it had 10 tomatoes. They were beautiful brown color and I thought they would be tasty. Wrong. They had the texture of a greenhouse tomato and no taste. The package said they were from a produce company in Canada and were grown in Mexico and I bought them halfway in-between in Memphis for $4.89.

[tam91]

Dunno if my taste buds are warped, or my tomatoes are different. But everyone that's had them here loves them. Interesting. And mine came from Sams.

[rsg2001]

Agree with Tam. They are variable, but for a tomato in the cold, cold Northeast in the winter, they are better than the other stuff you can buy. They will tide me over. I can't wait till around April 1 rolls by when I start my seeds for the summer crop.