Italian Heirloom - a heart tomato?

I grew Italian Heirloom and Dester for the first time last year. In 2011, Dester was selected by SSE as the best tomato. In 2012, Italian Heirloom was voted best tomato by SSE tasters.

In my garden, last year; Dester was fantastic in production and taste. Italian Heirloom was mediocre in production and taste. It was a normal oblate shape and I saw no tendency to produce a heart shaped tomato. I am germinating some IH seed to plant in my fall garden. I always try tomatoes at least twice before eliminating them from my future grow list.

Ted

(sorry about the double post. I suppose I simply liked Dester so much it was worth saying twice)

I grew Italian Heirloom and Dester for the first time last year. In 2011, Dester was selected by SSE as the best tomato. In 2012, Italian Heirloom was voted best tomato by SSE tasters.

In my garden, last year; Dester was fantastic in production and taste. Italian Heirloom was mediocre in production and taste. It was a normal oblate shape and I saw no tendency to produce a heart shaped tomato. I am germinating some IH seed to plant in my fall garden. I always try tomatoes at least twice before eliminating them from my future grow list.

Ted

[carolyn137]

Craig ( nctomatoman) has presided over a couple of taste testings at SSE and he told me that it depends on which specific varieties are available for the taste testing each year, and in his opinion it often comes down to what tastes the best in any year, while if some others might have been there that year the selection for best tasting could be quite different.

And of course the weather in any given year is also a factor in terms of tomato taste as well.

Carolyn

[SharonRossy]

Makes sense. Dester is on my next years grow list. Hah! I haven't gotten thru this year yet!

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Craig ( nctomatoman) has presided over a couple of taste testings at SSE and he told me that it depends on which specific varieties are available for the taste testing each year, and in his opinion it often comes down to what tastes the best in any year, while if some others might have been there that year the selection for best tasting could be quite different.



And of course the weather in any given year is also a factor in terms of tomato taste as well.



Carolyn

And then there's the tastebud factor. While I'm sure there are some who never miss the annual event, a different crowd with different tastes from year to year has to play a role as well.

[SharonRossy]

True enough! As long as I can make sauce wwith it, that's fine. Can't eat all those tomatoes anyways. Orange Strawberry really was not to my liking eaten fresh, but it made the most delicious sauce. So there you go!

I jumped the gun on SSE last year by growing Cherry Roma for the first time. I'm always looking for a really good cherry tomato. Someone told me to try Cherry Roma because he or she really liked it. I found it to be tiny which I don't like. It also split on the vine easily if left on the vine five minutes past ripe. My vine looked like I was growing dried raisins. The taste was no better and no worse than many cherry tomatoes on my "do not grow again" list.

The same year I formed a low opinion of Cherry Roma, SSE declared it the best of 2013. It really does depend on personal taste preference, location, weather and a few other things. It also proved the point that I am only an expert on what I like. My opinion on what other folks may like is usually wrong.

Ted

[Delerium]

This was our Italian Heirloom from Last year - seeds from SSE. I cloned the same plant several times last year because we really liked them.

[SharonRossy]

Beautiful! Well here's hoping! I still have a long way to go before planting anything....

[Aubergine]

I am glad to read here about Italian Heirloom
I also grew it last year, it was not beefsteak and not heartshaped, you call it elongated beefsteak - yes I think that's it
In my garden it was quite early, good production and good taste, a really good tomato and for me much better than Dester

[SharonRossy]

Glad to hear that. So far the leaves look a bit like the heart varieties, a bit on the wimpy side. Were the tomatoes a good size?

[Aubergine]

Yes, good size, the biggest one was 500g

[jonathanpassey]

I am growing IH this year and I was happy to see this thread as I have a distinctly heart shaped tomato sizing up. We'll see what the others looks like later this year.

It seems to be a very vigorous plant so far and has lots of blossoms and tiny fruit. I am hoping it can be dual purpose slicer and sauce.

I purchased my seed from SSE.

-JP

[SharonRossy]

Much to my chagrin, I ended up giving away my IH seedlings. I meant to keep one but somehow I didn't keep one for myself. My son is growing it so I'm anxious to see how it does. I'll be interested in your results as well.

[Delerium]

Hey IH lovers! Just wanted to share a possible cross of IH with Big Rainbow. Tomatoes from this plant average about 1 lb.