I have one chance to impress. What variety to choose?

[Dukerdawg]

I'm not totally sold on the 'shock factor' deal. After all, these are only tomatoes we are talking about. I do know how some people cannot wrap their brains around a tomato that isn't red, many others are more open minded and when they get introduced to the world of heirloom tomatoes they never, ever go back to boring round red hybrids.

So it really depends on how open minded the person is.

Chicago is in my zone and if I get to throw a few into the ring that grow good here it would be:

Sioux (round and red, but oh the taste!)

Earls Faux (good production and fantastic flavor)

Brandywine Yellow (Platfoot) - really kicks out a lot of tomatoes and the flavor is knock your socks off!

Cherokee Purple - for reasons listed by others.

And not on your list,....but it was super early, very productive and downright great-tasting...Marlowe Charleston.


Duane

[carolyn137]

I'm not totally sold on the 'shock factor' deal

****

But I am Duane.

After hauling lots of different tomatoes to garden club talks and Master Gardener talks and talks to farmers looking for a new niche market and holding taste testings myself, I've found that most folks who have grown only red hybrids before are wary of that which is different.

Sure it depends on the mindset of a person but if we're being told that there's only ONE chance "to impress" then I'm still suggesting something akin to a red hybrid but an OP with better taste.

[Dukerdawg]

Hi Carolyn, I hope you are doing well. I'm not arguing your point. Not at all. It just depends on the person. As you may remember me saying my mom was blind and still only wanted a regular red tomato! Jeesh. Her last year here on earth I finally gave her an Aunt Gerties Gold and Yellow Brandywine and she said 'they were pretty darn good!'.

I think it is worth 'trying' to expand someones mind. If it doesn't work so be it. But I think most folks who have any type of open mind will be able to admit there is more to a tomato than just red.

But I respect your opinion immensely and just want to add my own FWIW!

Take care,

Duane

[carolyn137]

But I respect your opinion immensely and just want to add my own FWIW!

****

No problem at all Duane, we each have different opinions and I was just writing about the specific circumstances here where it was said only one or two plants would be given to the person who had grown only hybrids, I assume red, before.

Well I remember when I was doing most of my huge tomato growouts at the old farm and my mother was still living there in the farmhouse when she first spied some of the fruits I was growing.

She was open-minded, as is her daughter, , and tried everything. Since I was living elsewhere at the time she made sure that I left lots of picked fruits in baskets on the front porch and then would go in and call her friends and they'd convene on that porch where she'd distribute the fruits to them and they'd continue their gossip sessions.

As the season progressed I left all sorts of other veggies for them.

And what was mom's fave? Any gold/red bicolor that I had grown that summer and any green when ripe I was growing but she didn't go for any of the so called blacks that I grew. And in that respect I'm also her daughter since I'm not a huge fan of them either with a couple of exceptions.

Must be the family genes at work and it's known that an individual's genes do play a role in taste.

[feralcatfriend]

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

I have to send seeds to a friend that doesn't believe heirlooms can be better than the hybrid starts she gets at wal mart. Off of my list below, what 2 or 3 would you choose to send if you have 1 shot at an impression? Please keep in mind not only taste but yield and tomato size and appearance as well. They will be for the Chicago area, whatever zone that is.

Aunt Gertie's Gold
Kellogg's Breakfast
Black from Tula
Orange Russian 117
Cherokee Green
Brandywine Sudduth
Black Cherry

Above in the quote I've trimmed your list to my personal favorites from the ones I've grown that are on your list. If I were sending the seeds I would choose as follows:

Brandywine Sudduth's, which is prolific and reliable for me in Maryland and should do well in Chicago. This is my personal favorite for flavor and I would point out to my friend that it is used as a standard for excellent flavor in flavor descriptions more than any other tomato (in my observation). Tell your friend it's a great slicer for sandwiches, especially BLTs!

Orange Russian 117: Prolific and delicious, with huge WOW factor for its strawberry shape and yellow-red marbled color.

Black from Tula: Prolific and delicious, will look great sliced on a plate next to slices of BWS and OR 117.

If your friend is very conservative about tomato color, then I would substitute Aunt Gertie's Gold and Kellogg's Breakfast for choices 2 and 3. If she's a little more adventurous, then I'd switch Cherokee Green for Black from Tula.

I had a funny experience this year regarding a long-time hybrid tomato grower who just couldn't handle the idea of a tomato that wasn't pink or red. He owns a nursery and I've been giving one of his workers, who is a friend, plants for a few years and my friend grows them onsite. Last year my friend got over 12 pounds of tomatoes from his Galina's Yellow Cherry at one picking and everyone at the nursery loved them. This year I gave my friend another Galina's and a Berkeley Tie Dye--which is about as far from a normal-looking tomato as you can get. But, at last, the nursery owner tried the Galina's and the BTD--then pronounced the Berkeley Tie-Dye the best tomato he'd ever eaten! Now he wants to carry a lot more heirloom tomato plants!

So--persevere!

Cynthia

[newatthiskat]

This past year has been a real experience for me and all my friends. This is my first year at op's and heirlooms. I had not even eaten a heirloom before. Of course I jumped in first year with one of each color except greens. (I didn't think i had enough experience to determine ripeness.) First off the bat my brandywines died. I did not start them from seed. Two pink accordians never produced a single fruit. Amana Orange got 1 off of it because of BER issues. Tobolsk-the same had some BER issues but got a few off it before plant bit the dust with diseases. Great white had disease issues and got only a few tomatoes off 3 plants. Black Krim did great. Did not save seeds because everyone kept eating the fruit. One is still alive as we speak attemting to ripen last fruit. But the best plants in my garden this year were by far, Pineapple and Italian tree Tomato. The reason I say that is even with disease running rampent it never touched these plants. No BER at all. Hurricaine Ike hit and I had to remove the stakes. Winds whipped them around and main branches split and broke. Yet they are still laying there on the ground looking mostly healthy. Heat did hinder production so it doesn't mean i got tons of tomatoes just they were able to live with all my ineptitude and a hurricaine thrown in. (although for some reason they are now trying to give me tomatoes) So my suggestion would be to give them something almost bulletproof .

[maricybele]

Gerdies Gold is a great looking and tasting tomato
I love Black Sea Man for it's color and taste
Black from Tula is gorgeous