What exactly is "old time" tomato taste?

[Qweniden]

I hear this mentioned alot. What tomato best exemplifies this flavor?

[organichris]

I don't know for sure, but I would venture to say you have to be a senior citizen to make such a statement.

[ContainerTed]

Crimson Cushion, Brandywine, Red Tommy Toe Cherry, and Rutgers all have a bit of that old fashioned taste. Sweet, but tart. Acid, but smooth.

Generally (for me), a little bit of salt enhances the "zing". On a BLT, the flavor is as strong as the Bacon - kinda equal.

And it makes you smile.

Ted

[hill60]

To me old time tomato taste means the tomato actually has flavor. Four years ago when I tasted my first OP tomato that I'd grown my reaction was OK I get it now.

This led has led to a steady down hill slide into tomato growing addiction.

[TomNJ]

According to Rutgers University, the old time tomato taste came from a combination of high acid and high sugar. Here are some articles from Rutgers that discuss this:

http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/d...8-4-08_001.pdf
http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/p...season7-31.pdf
http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/p...eason-8-14.pdf

TomNJ

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by organichris

I don't know for sure, but I would venture to say you have to be a senior citizen to make such a statement.

And being said Senior citizen, and turning 72 this June, ahem, and having grown up on a farm where we grew acres and acres of tomatoes and I was helping out when I was five, I'll share with you what I think are varieties have that olde Tyme Taste.

To me it means a more agressive taste, not acidic, there is no such thing as acidic tomatoes with a couple of exceptions, so ASAP I think of some of the older commercial varieties such as:

Rutgers
Valiant
New Yorker
Manalucie
WI 55
Manitoba
Sandpoint

to name a few

And then :

Gold Ball, a Livingston variety
Silvery Fir Tree
Tigerella, the original Mr. Stripey, not the large bicolor

And then some more recent varieties such as:

Neves Azorean Red
Chapman
Red Penna
Druzba
Cuostralee
Zogola
Tangella
Wes
Herman's Special
Jean's Prize, this and the one above probably renamed and real tomatoey


.... well that's enough for now. I have to finish getting my tax stuff together.

So the above based on growing tomatoes in the area where I am and doing so the way I do, using the amendents I do and facroting in the human genetic component of taste.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

According to Rutgers University, the old time tomato taste came from a combination of high acid and high sugar. Here are some articles from Rutgers that discuss this:

http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/d...8-4-08_001.pdf
http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/p...season7-31.pdf
http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/p...eason-8-14.pdf

TomNJ

Tom, your post wasn't there when I started mine, and yes, I know of all of those links. But consider this.

Quite a bit of the verbiage is directed towards that tacit assumption that the "jersey" tomato was emblematic of that old fashioned taste.

And that was coupled with their verbiage about bringing back Ramapo F1 and Moreton Hybrid although I didn't read enough to see Moreton Hybrid there so that came later.

They say they grew 145 varieties for taste testing and then indicated the results of those tastings.

I've grown a couple of thousand varieties and have done a lot more tasting than that. And so have many others here at Tville who have grown lots of varieties.

And I could add Ramapo to my list, I suppose, and that reminds me that one of its parent is either a Campbell or Heinz variety, I think the former, and that adds a whole other category of old fashioned taste for me and there's a thread in the Legacy Forum here about Campbell and Heinz varieties that have been excessed by those two companies long ago and have been available to the public for several decades.

My four hybrids for taste would be Ramapo by Rutgers, then three Harris hybrids; jet Star, Supersonic and Moreton Hybrid, but I don't see Big Boy or Better Boy as having an old fashioned taste as they indicated b'c not all the earliest varieties bred did have an aggressive taste.

But those are three nice articles, thanks for linking to them and I think others will be interested as well.

Fiigures it would be someone from NJ who would link to Rutgers.

Ah well, and onward we go.

[mjc]

My vote goes to hill60...old time taste is when tomatoes you could buy anywhere actually had flavor.

[organichris]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Tigerella, the original Mr. Stripey, not the large bicolor

Carolyn, I don't know if you recall our exchange a few years back on a plant I bought grown by Chef Jeff that was supposedly Tigerella, but turned out to be Mr. Stripey - even though the tomato pictured was Tigerella.

Anyway, I'm happy to say I got the real deal this time thanks to Remy. And my seedlings are faring nicely. And glad to hear you included it in the old tymey flavor category.

[nctomatoman]

Hard to describe, but very easy to identify! My grandfather used to grow really good tomatoes (medium large, red) - and there were farmstands near our house that provided some great ones as well.

When I first started gardening, I thought that Better Boy and Whopper had it - and when I moved from hybrids to OPs primarily, Nepal was the first one that had it for me.

[KLorentz]

Originally Posted by organichris

I don't know for sure, but I would venture to say you have to be a senior citizen to make such a statement.

Not really LOL. When growing up in Los Angeles and Atascadero California I loved maters without question even coming out of the store.They had a good taste.But the ones you grow yourself or out of the produce stands where even better.No a days I cringe at the thought of buying store bought tomatoes except for maybe Capari as it has at some flavor where all the others taste like flavorless Styrofoam.The ones I have grown and found that great flavor are Thessaloníki,Brandywine,Cosmonaut Volkov,Stump of the World just to name a few. I will be growing several others this year And have found lots of good things said about them that tell me they could be the ones I want because they might just have that old fashioned taste I grew up with.Climate and weather will come into play too but I am sure I will have several that have the taste I love.

I know you will find even more varieties mentioned here so the rest will be up to you and find out what you like best.


Kevin

[organichris]

Originally Posted by KLorentz

Not really LOL. When growing up in Los Angeles and Atascadero California I loved maters without question even coming out of the store.They had a good taste.But the ones you grow yourself or out of the produce stands where even better.

Yeah, I see what you're saying, Kevin. But I just think identifying something as having old-timey flavor is more than distinguishing a good tomato from a bad tomato. For that distinction I defer to those whose breadth of reference dwarfs my own.

[John3]

Well around here that phrase is used for the mariglobe tomato– the original not the improved version– which was grown around early 1900s say around 1911 or 1912. Then I think it was in the 40s that Rutgers started getting that phrase used on it( not in the 40s but now). So around here it's the Mariglobe and Rutgers tomatoes that most people says it has an old-fashioned taste to it.

Brandywine seems to come close to it but a tad bit sweeter – to me.
I am planning on growing Mule team – Druzba– Souix –and a few others to see if I get that old-fashioned taste with them.

[camochef]

I've been growing tomatoes for more years than many have been on this planet. Yes I know there are some exceptions to that statement, but I'm not naming them.
I'm not sure that there are any tomatoes anymore that have that "old time" tomato taste. I grew up in New Jersey during the 50's (1950's), everybody grew tomatoes, those that didn't could buy them at local farm stands for less money/bushel than you pay now-a-days for one tomato at the supermarket.
Not sure what the varieties were, but from North Jersey, directly across the river from mid-town Manhatten to the Jersey Shore and everywhere in between, west to Pa. it was Beefsteaks. Large, oblate, red tomatoes, many weighing a good two or even three pounds. Just about everyone being more than a pound. Those red giants were really tasty. Eat a few and you would get those little fever-sore like blisters in your mouth and on your lips.
Then too, with all the jokes about people from Jersey glowing in the dark, maybe it wasn't the tomatoes themselves. As someone that's had a mouthfull of those little sores, (and occasionally turned off the lights just to check), the only tomato that comes to mind for the last 30 years or more for me is Dr Wyches Yellow. It had that same bite...and people keep telling me that yellow tomatoes are less acidic.
I'm a lover of Pink Brandywines, and other tomatoes like Barlow Jap, and my favorite red is Tarasenko6 but none of them have that old Jersey beefsteak bite to them. Still, they're all much better than anything you can buy in the supermarkets and most farmers markets in this area. So unless someone developes a time machine we have to enjoy those varieties that we find to be suitable replacements for a time long gone. I hope everyone finds their favorite's and has good luck growing them once again this year. Enjoy!
Camo

[feldon30]

Has anyone checked if "meaty" tomatoes have measurably higher amounts of Umami than other varieties?

Also I really ought to do some tests on different tomato varieties like Green Zebra, Brandywine, Sungold, etc. with pH strips.