Tomatoes 04 - Tigerella

There is confusion between Tigerella and Mr. Stripey. I bought and planted Tigerella seed, and this is what we got. Image searches of either tomato will get you many images that are the same. Maybe they are actually the same tomato, known by two names. Who knows? 'Tis the nature of heirloom tomatoes.

Tigerella is a small tomato about 1½" in diameter. We use it sliced as wedges in salads, and that probably is its best use. It's texture is similar to cherry tomatoes -firm skin, with a juicy interior.

Update: This is Tigerella. Mr. Stripey is a large red tomato with yellow stripes, and it actually isn't very stripey!

Tomatoes 03 - Green Zebra

Is this not the most eye-catching tomato you've ever seen? This beauty is ripe when it is yellow with green stripes. The flesh inside is green (like Aunt Ruby's), and tastes just like a yummy red tomato.  This tomato is not too sweet, which really lets the pure tomato flavours dance on your tongue, and put a smile on your face.

"Green Zebra" is a modern heirloom (Tom Wagner "created" it in 1985). It's is famous for being served at Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' revolutionary restaurant in Berkley, CA.

Try this tomato,  you'll enjoy it for years to come!

Heirloom Tomatoes

It's been a long wait, but our most anticipated crop for 2009, our heirloom tomatoes, are all ripe! After a busy weekend, we went out to the tomato patch yesterday (Sunday, after we closed) to check how they were doing, and even the late varieties had a couple of ripe fruit waiting to be picked. Needless to say, we had a yummy dinner of bread and cheese and tomatoes (along with a glass of red wine), sampling all the different heirlooms. They all have different flavours and textures, but to sum up, they all are great tomatoes, and it was impossible to choose a favourite.

I'll do a detailed entry on each variety in the days ahead, but here is a quick summary of the varieties in the photo. I took the picture (before we started eating) on our kitchen counter, and the colours are quite accurate (Brandywine Pink is pinker than pictured). There are two of each variety, one stem side up, the other stem side down. Starting at the upper right, Aunt Ruby's German Green is ripe, and tastes just like a red tomato. Green spaghetti anyone? Amana Orange looks almost the same as Brandywine Yellow, hard to tell them apart without knowing where in the field they were picked. Brandywine Pink is the classic heirloom tomato, and it's flavour lived up to its reputation. Cherokee Purple is a dark purple tomato with a solid, yet soft, texture. Brandywine Red and Brandywine Pink came from two different seed companies, each labeled simply as "Brandywine". I had a sneaking suspicion they might be different, and you can see that I was right (yes, it does happen). The three smaller tomatos are all striped, we especially liked the Green Zebra. Carbon is similar to Cherokee Purple, it's slightly oranger, and less "beefsteak" in shape.