Best tasting raw tomato in your opinion?

[Gardener123]

I'm about to order seeds... for my money, I like the Cherokee Purple. How about you?

I will likely add one that somebody mentions.

[tomc]

Olena's Ukrainian, Ferris Wheel. Nice beefsteaks.

[imafan26]

I gotta go with brandywine. It doesn't keep well but it has real old fashioned tomato flavor. It is an heirloom so it does need some babying and it is a very large plant.

[applestar]

What kind of tomato flavor do you like best? I prefer tomatoes that start out with front-end nice sweetness then a mouthwatering middle flavor/umami, then finish with lingering tomato-ey tang.

Current favorite as in BEST TASTING is Terhune. But it's a stingy producer and doesn't ripen until well into the season though earlier than Brandywine Sudduth's. Earl's Faux was neck and neck with Terhune this year and seemed a bit earlier. They will be closely compared next season. They are both "pink" as in clear skin with red flesh.

Stump of the World is another pink, earlier, somewhat smaller, more productive.

Fishlake Oxheart is a large pink heart. Delicious and very productive.

Lucky Cross is a productive large yellow with red bicolor that was fantastic this year.

If you must have red, then large oxheart-shaped Wes is our standing favorite, and med to large beefsteak Believe It or Not was added to our permanent returning fave list this year.

Tiny fruited Matt's Wild Cherry and Coyote-Champagne Cherry-Petite Pomme Blanche (three varieties that were very similar when grown side by side this year) are our favorite cherries, though I have several to trial some more before I can make a definitive list.

There are others but these stand out in particular. Last year, I had a thread going I think called "Compare and Share" in which I -and other members- posted flavor comparisons.

[digitS']

If Cherokee Purple is a favorite, you should like Gary O Sena.

I may have long-term envy problems. Long-term as in a long season of good tomato weather and the opportunities which that offers. Kellogg's Breakfast may be the best flavored beefsteak I've had. But, I didn't have ripe tomatoes from the plants until about the last week of my growing season, the two years it was in my garden.

Pantano Romanesco has what I think of as a true, tomato flavor. Once again, it was almost too late in its two seasons for any more than a few that were vine-ripened.

What I especially appreciate about Gary O Sena is that it comes a little early for a nice, big, productive beefsteak ... as well as it has a wonderful flavor! Consistent performance in my garden ...

Steve

[HoneyBerry]

Brandywine

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes are good, if you have the time to pickle them. I wish they could be picked that way. I can just imagine pickled cherry tomatoes picked fresh from the vine. That would be something to talk about.

[PaulF]

There are traditional favorites for me like Cherokee Purple, Carbon, Kellogg's Breakfast or KBX, Wes or Brandywine Sudduth strain, or Fish Lake Oxheart (well, almost any heart) and Black Cherry.

Every year one or more varieties become the favorite of that year. This year three stood out from the rest: Cherokee Purple, Butter and Bull Heart and Kolb.

[imafan26]

If cherries are included then sunsugar and sungold cherries. Sungold is tart until it ripens, then it is very sweet. It does have a tendency toward cracking when it is ripe.

Black cherry was good but it was a large plant and not a good producer.

I have a long season, but for me the choices have to include good resistance to fusarium, nematodes and they have to be heat resistant to produce in summer. Cherries tolerate more heat than large tomatoes and medium sized tomatoes have the best combination of disease resistance, production, and taste. I would stay away from tomatoes that are red round and pretty. The better tasting tomatoes are the other colors and they usually are lobed or have green shoulders.
I am still experimenting on finding the best tomato. I don't grow hundreds at a time so it may take me awhile, but the trend is that the red and round don't have a lot of flavor and really good disease resistance usually means not a lot of flavor and very tough skins.

[TareqPhoto]

Honestly, tomatoe isn't a favorite vegetable I like to eat raw, never, also I am not into trying different types or varieties, for that I decided I will go with only 2 or 3 typical known types and forget about everything else, and for that I chose 3 types to plant if I can:

1. Campbell33

2. S. Marzano 2

3. Tomato from the market that is similar or look like that Campbell type but maybe different type

I would like to find those small sizes tomatoes to plant, in all cases we use tomatoes only in cooking, we didn't try to make sauces yet or drinks out of it, that is why I try to focus on those for cooking only and I really don't need to have too many varieties anyway, but I will be very happy if I can at least have one tomato plant grows fine.

[SarahTheMascara]

I had never heard of a Cherokee purple! It looks delicious. Where did you get that variety?
Gold nugget is my favourite, followed by Black Pearl and Green Grape. For larger tomatoes I like Beef Steak although I tend to mainly put that on burgers rather than eating it plain like I do the smaller varieties.

[Gardener123]

I had never heard of a Cherokee purple! It looks delicious. Where did you get that variety?
Gold nugget is my favourite, followed by Black Pearl and Green Grape. For larger tomatoes I like Beef Steak although I tend to mainly put that on burgers rather than eating it plain like I do the smaller varieties.

I think Rareseeds.com but really they are everywhere on the internet.

[lakngulf]

Couple of years ago there was a free heirloom giveaway on this forum. I received four or five different varieties. We grow some good tasting tomatoes---better boy, fantastic, brandywine, Cherokee purple---but really have learned to appreciate Lush Queen and Amos Coli, which were in giveaway group. I have been saving seed since.

[dtizme]

Cherokee purple is a good 1. Have grown them the last few years. I found it's best to pick them a little early and let them ripen up inside or they will split and crack. Hoping to try black krim this year. Haven't heard anything about it on here yet.

[SarahTheMascara]

I think Rareseeds.com but really they are everywhere on the internet.

I had never thought of ordering online! Thanks for the suggestion. I ordered some Cherokee purple through incredibleseeds.ca along with some other interesting sounding varieties. Can't wait until they get to me!

[Duh_Vinci]

You actually have a great source of seeds in Canada I've been personally using for many years, great knowledge too, and not all about commerce but preservation and education: https://tatianastomatobase.com/seed-catalog/html/

As for raw tomatoes, most Oxharts are full meaty flash and usually sweet (Bull's Heart, Russian 117), GWR varieties are the most exciting to my taste buds because of sweet/tart/spicy in most (Grubbs Mystery Green, Moldovian Green, Cherokee Green), smoky/earthy/complex Black varieties, such as Black Tula, Cherokee Purple (or it's PL brother Spudakee), from pink slicers - Brandywine Sudduth - fabulous pink beefsteak! Orange - KBX or Orange Minsk, certainly can't go wrong with Orange Strawberry either...

Regards,
D

[SarahTheMascara]

Oh my goodness that site is amazing! My problem is I want to get one of everything. Haha

[Mr green]

I think the best ones are cherry tomatoes, the come packed with flavor, many bigger ones can be tasting like a rather diluted tomato.

My favorites are:
Gardeners Delight
Sungold
Florida Petit (awesome for year around indoor growing)
Romantica (A commercial cherry plum, very flavorfull, I havent found seeds online, but they seem stable so I just take seeds from storebhought tomato on this one.)

These are flavorfull tomatoes, they are like a big beef tomato concentrate and I love to throw them whole in my mouth and enjoy the explosion of flavours in my mouth. 98.99% of my tomatoes are eaten raw, the rest might become a salsa.

[PinkPetalPolygon]

I hope to have some new favorites after this year! ( this is my 3rd year & I'm Growing a lot of new promising types this year: 2016 w00t!!!)

That being said, when I read the question "What's your favorite [raw] tomato?"

For whatever it is worth, what popped into my little head was: Lemon Boy!

Last year's lemon boy tomatoes (they are bright yellow & even golden when overripe*) are the ones I miss the most!

*the first tomato patch I ever grew happened to be yellow pear tomatoes, so I cut on my teeth on them so to speak. Well, the following year my MIL grew the lemon boys and she couldn't tell at all when they were ripe... it was my job to harvest the lemon boy because I had the golden eye

That tomato plant was a monster that did not quit, after the lemon boy tomatoes turn lemony they go golden... it was actually weeks until I tasted a lemon boy tomato that wasn't overripe golden (every time I made it over there it had pumped out 6+ pounds more of HUGE golden tomatoes inside and out of its giant area, hah! )

I didn't even realize the *golden* ones were probably technically overripe because they tasted so wonderul and kept so well?

one day I touched one of the way smaller truly yellow tomatoes
And noticed that it absolutely felt *ripe* !

I picked it even though it was markedly smaller than the ones I had generally been picking... and I found that tomato to taste strikingly different! It tasted much more like lemons exactly and I was kind shocked.

(If only because I had eaten pounds and pounds of those tomatoes? But the overripeness and its extra sweetness or? Something scientific I would think, hah, had canceled out the lemon-tasting aspect of it as it became more and more ripe.)

All delicious, but I am definitely going to find the lemony line on the lemon boy tomato this year (Mother Nature/Etc Willing, hehe)

I have a Lemon Boy tomato plant of my own in a nice container already this year

[AnnaIkona]

I think Rareseeds.com but really they are everywhere on the internet.

I had never thought of ordering online! Thanks for the suggestion. I ordered some Cherokee purple through incredibleseeds.ca along with some other interesting sounding varieties. Can't wait until they get to me!

Have they arrived yet? (I'm very interested in ordering some transplants online but not sure if it is safe)

[Gary350]

40 years ago I use to plant 6 different type tomatoes every summer it took about 3 years to learn which tomato we like best. We like all the Beefsteak type tomatoes, Beef master, Big beef, Beef steak, Super Star, I think there are 2 more I just don't remember the names. Everyone can tell you what they like best but that does not mean you will like it too. Beefsteak are large producers, large diameter tomatoes, good flavor, great slicing tomato for sandwiches and hamburgers, great for, stew, soup, chili, salads, juice, sauces. We Can 140 lbs of tomatoes in mason jars every summer to last all winter.

You should plant several tomatoes to see for yourself which one you like.

Celebrity tomato is what is sold in the grocery store they have about as much flavor as cardboard.

Some tomatoes have good flavor but are low producers.

I tried many heirloom tomatoes some compare to beefsteak in flavor but they were low producers that produce about 60% less tomatoes than beefsteak.