My favorite tomato is...

Sweet 100. Love those candy sweet little cherries. My outdoor garden candy when they are ripe.
Martha

When I lived in England Auntie Madge's; but I can't grow them here because the growing season is too short. Sungold are lovely; but also need a longish growing season. The potato leaved varieties are generally quick growing. I grow Stupice nowadays. They're quite quick; but even so I have to finish ripening most of them in a drawer.
My least favourite is Moneymaker. They ought to put up a statue of the breeder so that we can pelt it with the balls of wet cottonwool his creation resembles so much

Sungold. These reliably ripen for me and are quite sweet. I have also had luck with little red cherries, likely Sweet 100, but don't recall for certain. For the past couple years I have bought different tomatoes, trying to match up the perfect fit for my microclimate. So far, I am mostly just ruling out those that don't work so well. What I'm after are five different indeterminate open pollinated cultivars so I can save seed from the best producers. Long range project.

My favorites are the grape tomatoes such as Julia. Second to that I like Roma tomatoes. I don't care much for the pulp or seeds of the tomato, so at a young age I learned that Roma tomatoes were perfect for me as they have little pulp. When the wonderfully sweet grape tomatoes came on the market, they supplanted Romas as my favorites. In addition to planting Romas and grape tomatoes, I usually plant one Big Boy for those who like a larger tomato.

Campbell's 1327.

I love a good sweet, low acid tomato. I love Atkinson, Celebrity, Roma, and cherry types. I like to can Rutgers. I prefer tomatoes which do not have to be staked.

I like any tomatoes with hardly any seeds like Beefsteak

flowAjen,

I don't like a lot of seeds in my tomatoes either. Have you tried Roma tomatoes? They are used more for tomato sauce and paste because they have almost no seeds. I like them for the firm flesh and very little pulp or seeds. They aren't very large, however, and probably wouldn't make a great tomato sandwich.

Yep, grew one of the Roma varieties 2 years, but hubby doesn't like them so now I just get them from my neighbor ☺

Juliet, Big Beef, and Sungold.

Georgia Streak. Grew it last year for the first time. Beautiful and tasty.

I am really interested in what all of you have to say about the various tomatoes as I am a newbie at growing tomatoes. I especially want to know why a particular one is your favorite. That helps me to choose. Like those of you who said you like Romas because of their low seed, low pulp. If any of you were blindfolded and in front of you were placed, purple, yellow, red or orange tomatoes, could you tell which was which color just from the taste? Im curious about how tomatoes' tastes vary. Could someone list a really acid one and a really sweet one so I could try to taste the difference? Right now Im trying out kellogs breakfast, 4th of July, big red cherry, Black Krim and beefsteak. Dont know what to expect. Thanks for all your input.

Cam,

I'm not a tomato aficionado. You will find others here w/much more knowledge on the subject. I find grape tomatoes, the red ones in particular, to be exceedingly sweet. That's what I like about them. As for Romas, as a child growing up I was extremely turned off by the gooey stuff inside a tomato, the seeds and pulp which to me at that age seemed quite gross. For that reason, I avoided eating any raw tomatoes, even though my father grew them in his garden each year. It wasn't until I tasted/saw my 1st Roma that I said, "now this is the tomato for me" because it lacked the gooey stuff. With age I've largely gotten over my aversion to tomato seeds and pulp and can now eat any variety; however, Roma and grape varieties remain my favs.

I grew the yellow plum tomatoes one year and found them to be a bit too mild in flavor for my taste. I also grew Black Krim one year. The plants didn't bare well, so I only got to taste a few. They were not my favorites, not sweet enough I think. I think probably the best way to begin to find the right tomatoes for you is to try a few different types, and note what you do and don't like. As you begin to learn which qualities you prefer, it will then become easier to choose others with those qualities. Another thing to consider if you are new at this...while heirloom varieties probably boast more flavor, I found them to be more difficult to grow because they lack the pathogen resistance bred into newer varieties. In my garden the heirloom varieties were hit hard by pests and disease as compared to the newer ones.

'Sungold': Incredibly sweet with subtle complex flavors. I eat most of the ripe ones before I go back inside the house, but there are still plenty to share.

For reliability, I'd pick 'Celebrity' as the best "traditional" tomato.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 5:05 PM

Cam, you might try your county agent to see what tomatoes are considered high acid. My stomach won't tolerate much acid. You might be able to google up the info. I like the Atkinson because it was bred for this area. I already knew that but Farmerdill gave me more info on the Atkinson. I like the roma because it tasts like a tomato. I've not tried the heirlooms, and I can't forsee doing so. We have a large enough garden for an old lady to manage. LOL {;^) Let us know what you find out. Luciee

My answer would be any tomato that is home grown and ripe, YUM!

Big Boy was my vote but I also like Creole.

I voted for Beefmaster but Martha's post corrected my thinking. It's definitely Sweet 100's, then Beefmaster, Celebrity and Big Boy. A few years ago we got an errant seedling of one of the Heirloom varieties and we adored it. Would Brandywine be close to Beefmaster in looks? That could be the one.

Hard to narrow it down. I voted for Cherokee Purple, but Kellog's Breakfast would be a close runner up. Black Cherry is my favorite cherry of all time. Really complex, rich flavors on all of them! Aunt Ruby's German Green is a good one, too. Tomatoes are like the Lay's potato chip ad: You can't pick just one!

Jaune Flammee. Tasty, early, and very reliable.

Favorite tomato? Giant Belgium, but really like Burpee's roma "Big Mama", their seedless tomato, and Early Girl. We just don't have room to plant them all.

Here in West Tennessee

I prefer a taste that's a bit on the sharp side rather than very sweet. Really can't narrow down to just one. Marglobe and Bonny Best are on my list but there are several others.

Granny Cantrell.

Sweet 100 and Early Girl....reliable beat the heat producers here.

This has been a most interesting poll and one which seems to show why there are so very many varieties of tomatoes on the market. Apparently, the humble tomato offers tremendous variety and many subtle variations, and for every such minor variation there is at least one person out there for whom it's the best tomato ever.

Other. I don't know 'which' one I like the most. I like sweet/tart, less seeds if possible, that will make a good sandwich, can, and freeze. Are there one or two that I can get this from? I ==LOVE, LOVE, LOVE== tomatoes.

I also like the grape/tommy-toe tomato that's sweet that I can eat while I'm outside fooling around.

Yuska, I think I may prefer less sweetness as well. The tomatoes I remember from my father's garden were not so sweet but had a strong tomato taste. Roma tomatoes taste too dry for my taste. I like juicy tomatoes.

I voted Cherokee Purple, but I love them all. It really depends on what I'm doing with them.

Kitchen Sink Tomato Sandwich

1) A tomato big enough for a slice to cover a piece of bread.
2) A good firm-textured bread, like a multigrain.
3) Homemade mayo
4) Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Slather the bread with a thick coating of mayo...salt lightly and pepper heavily.
Add a one inch slice of tomato that completely covers the bread.
Top with another mayo-slathered piece of bread and eat standing over the kitchen sink to catch the juice drips.

Also, everyone thank steadycam3 for the Voting Booth topic....it was a fantastic idea. If anyone has a suggestion for future polls, let me know!

My favorite are the tomatoes that my dad used to grow. I can't find them that good anymore. I don't know if I have changed or if tomatoes have changed or if it is my climate. Like steadycam3, I like juicy and strong but not sweet flavor.

I have grown all types of tomatoes. Home grown ones are the best as it is like tasting sunshine when you eat a fresh picked one. I like to go to farmer's markets in the summer and buy all sorts of heirloom ones. I love these because they are beautiful sliced up on a plate to serve with dinner. Oh, the colors and patterns. I buy a lot this way because I don't have a lot of room to grow many varieties in my garden. I'm from NJ and always found their crops to be the best. I'm a Jersey Tomato,
Martha

Is there a tomato that has purple flesh? What is Black about tomatoes with Black in their name?

Here are a few black varieties with pictures.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/black.htm

Celebrity

jen, me too on the meaty tomatos, and I did love the Cherokee Purples I had last year.

Black-Black cherry, black Krim-love those sweet black tomatoes
Yellow/gold-Kelloggs Breakfast, so sweet and juicy and pretty
Red/pink-Granny Cantrell but there are so many wonderful ones I wouldn't be without.
Green-Green Zebra-love the zing
Bicolor-Copia-great combo of beauty and flavor, kinda late though
Hope I didn't offend all the other wonderful tomatoes I wouldn't be without every season.
Jetstar is a good tomato, too, and I always grow it, but it doesn't qualifiy in my top 10.

Sweet 100 and Black Krim

Other-roma too dry, little yellow tomatoes are less acid, but I love tomatoes, juicy, meaty, slicing tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, v8 in a pinch....

peacevine cherry.
It goes well after first frost.

I like black russians