GWR (Green When Ripe) tomato varieties -- show and tell

[applestar]

I just tasted a Grubb's Mystery Green tomato.
It's a GWR variety and looks like this:

The one I cut up was a small double fruit that I was first to ripen. Among the others, the big one is getting amber colored but is still firm, but the small one to the side and the wrinkled one are feeling soft-ish to the touch though not as soft as the one I ate.

Even though the inside looks honeydew green, it was very sweet with a tangy finish. To me, it doesn't taste anything like a tomato, but my DD who doesn't like fresh tomatoes told me it tastes even MORE like a tomato.

I have Green Zebra, Cherokee Green, and Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Box) with not yet "blushing" fruits growing. I've been harvesting Earl's Green Cherry and will post about that soon. A couple of other GWR varieties I started from seeeds failed so I'll have to try again next year.

Anyone else growing GWR varieties?

[RogueRose]

Not this year! But I want to do them next year. Next year I am gonna try mostly non-red varieties. Glad you had a positive experience with them!

[jemsister]

I only have one tomato plant--a sun gold--but next year I want to try green zebra. I'm not sure if I can grow it successfully here in Washington, but the idea of a green-when-ripe tomato really intrigues me, as well as the ones that are dark purple/black.

ETA: I am cracking up right now. Green Zebra was developed in Everett, WA. I live a stone's throw from Everett. I guess I could probably grow it here then!

[jemsister]

Hey, BTW, are the green variety tomatoes what they use to make Salsa Verde?

[n8young]

Hey, BTW, are the green variety tomatoes what they use to make Salsa Verde?

I think those are usually tomatillos

[jemsister]

Tomatillos! Duh. I'm such a dork. Haha!

[TheWaterbug]

I grew Green Zebra last year, and they were _very_ prolific. I had more than we could eat. They definitely took on a yellowish tinge when they were fully ripe, and they broke off the stem very easily.

I like the flavor, but not as much as some of my other tomatoes, so I didn't grow any this year.

Or maybe I just forgot too, because I'm looking at my 9 different varieties and I have yellow, orange, and red varieties, but no green

[PaulF]

Over the years, even before the green when ripe craze grew legs and became the latest tomato fad, I grew at least six other GWR varieties than what you named and didn't like any of them. Cherokee Green was the closest to palatable. About five years ago I gathered all my GWR seed and gave it to a guy who proclaimed he loved them. Good riddance.

At tomato tastings I will still try a chunk of a greenie just to see if either they or I have changed. So far not.

[TZ -OH6]

I just want to put in a little cautionary statement here (unrelated to PaulF's post -- I don't necessarily like bicolors all that much, so to each his own).

Three of Tom Wagner's creations; Green Zebra, Lime Green Salad, and Green Sausage are very different to my taste from the various green beefsteaks, so if you don't like any of the three don't hold it against the others.

[applestar]

Thanks TZ, now I'm really curious to taste the Green Zebra. I think they are at color break stage: