These are Eleanor, my Sungold selection. They are F5 - the first ripe F4 can be seen on an earlier post at the beginning of June. This one is growing outdoors in a pot so isn't ripe yet. They are heavy croppers and give sweet orange fruits just a touch larger than Sungold. I love them!
This is Ice and Fire, a cross I made 3 years ago between Sungold and Tiger Tom. You can see where the name comes from. Instead of green toms turning red, these start white and then go red. This characteristic has remained true over the last 2 years so it's definitely part of the variety. Again, in my opinion they have a great flavour, being a balance of sweet and sharp. They are both best when fully ripe. You don't get the best flavour from an under-ripe tomato which is probably why supermarket toms are often a disappointment.
This one is new to me this year. It was saved from a French market black tomato by a member of The Grapevine (see link at the right) and has been passed around through the Seed Saving Circle there. It's known there as French Black. I look forward to tasting this one.
Here we have Bloody Butcher, again from the seed Saving Circle. I've heard lots about this - the name sticks in the mind! I tried my first one today - I didn't find it remarkable but probably, as usual, I couldn't wait long enough to try the first. It might improve when matured more on the plant.
13 comments:
They all look really tasty, Flum - especially the Eleanor! I bet you are as pleased as punch that your tommie crosses have been so successful.
Quite agree with what you say about supermarket tomatoes being underripe & the taste no developing. Also, I think that we tend to serve them too cold in salads - slightly warm brings out the flavour!
Oh yes - warm is better - sun-warmed is best!
They look great.
I particularly like your 'fire and ice' variety.
The tomatoes in the first picture are a really nice shape too.
Martin
Thanks Martin and Amy. They're my 'babies'!
You are ahead of me up there! No signs of ripening anything down here. I just can't wait for the first taste of a home grown tomato, there's nothing like it.
I started them very early Matron - end of January. This entailed taking them out to the greenhouse in the day for extra light and bringing them indoors at night, right up till mid May when I chanced them out all night. The still green ones at the top had the same treatment but went outside permanently a month ago.
There's some great names for tomatoes, Bloody Butcher is one which sticks in my mind too, though I've never tried them. Glad that Eleanor is a tasty one, it's my daughter's name.
They all look fabulous and you are now being rewarded for your "in and out of the greenhouse' antics earlier in the year.
re: cold tomatoes - an enzyme in tomatoes, lycopene, is partly responsible for flavour and is destroyed by chilling, therefore as soon as you put tomatoes in the fridge you degrade the flavour, even if you let them come back to room temperature before eating.
Full report here, definitely one for Flummery & Rebsie! Sorry the link is so long, too tired to remember how to embed it
http://lib3.dss.go.th/fulltext/Journal/Journal%20of%20food%20science/2000%20v.65/no.7/jfsv65n7p1228-1237ms19990912%5B1%5D.pdf
Thanks Bilbo. Science - I've not done that for a few years!
Jo - maybe I could send you a few seeds in autumn?
That would be lovely, thank you.
The Tom's are looking good!
Did you manually pollinate the flowers? Were the anthers(?) protruding for you to do this, or did you open the flower up + then bag it?
You need a scalpel or sharp tweezers Chris, It's necessary to remove the anther cone completely from the one you want to pollinate. You can do this earlier in the day or the day before. Then you peel off the anthers from the one donating the pollen (these jobs have to be done when the flower is in bud or you're too late and it's already happened) and gently wipe it onto the sticky-out bit - can't remember the name off-hand. I'm that sort of plant breeder!
I tried with about a dozen before I got a cross. You don't know till days later when it starts to swell into a fruit.
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