2007 CHOPTAG Tomato Taste Fest results
 

2007 CHOPTAG Tomato Taste Fest Observations

First let me say I have permission from the President to make this first post [he’s busy at some dinner or some such function and didn’t have to go home and juice 3 gallons of tomatoes collected from CHOPTAG tables which will be canned tomorrow and shared as CHOPTAGer Juice at this coming Plant Share Meet.] :-)

Pictures will come later after the commentary. Let me say that CHOPTAGers [and tomato growers in general] are the greatest people to be with!!!! There’s a few exceptions as always, but tomato growers are a breed apart. I don’t know why, I just except it as fact.

I had a wonderful time as did Kathy and Walt [Kathy’s dad].

I wondered if David was going to show up [a few private smiles as to why], but he did. By Golly he took the place by storm. Had the best looking table of tomatoes [for which he didn’t get an award] but he took Best Looking and Best Tasting! Plus he’s a real gentleman. Jerry tried to shovel off the CHOPTAG presidency onto David but he declined the honor. :-) Jerry refuses to admit he been elected for life, sort of like a King saddled with the responsibility of taking care of a bunch of waifs. :-)

I got to meet a lot of new CHOPTAGers, and I won’t call their names because I can’t remember all of them. LOL! Terry won the Largest Award and Ken won the Ugliest Award. I hope everyone who attended will post something about the event which they enjoyed. And please, if you took pictures please post them.

Looking forward to pics and taste reports Earl! Bring 'em on folks :D

PP

You couldn't have said it better Earl. Everyones tables looked great.

Can't wait to see what the "CHOPTAG" juice looks like:shock: Can you take some of it and put a little yeast in it:lol:



David

LOL... You're a hoot David. Who knows, maybe it would be good. 8)

[SIZE=2]First let me say thanks to everyone who showed up yesterday. I can’t speak for anyone else but I had a great time. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]A couple of highlights, in no particular order:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Remy & hubby coming from New York. That’s dedication. And the dogs were great.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]David (Thomas) & wife – first timers – coming from Chillicothe OH. – brought more tomatoes than you could imagine – basket after basket full.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Of course VGary never misses an event. Thanks to Larry and Cathy for joining him. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]CHOPTAG dedicated this year’s event to a good friend of Gary’s and to the tomato/gardening community in general, Bert Searcy Jr - known here and at other gardening forums as Spider. Bert past away this past May.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]We had a few more first timers come from just over the river in Northern KY. Amy and Tony, who I met this spring when they were selling heirloom tomato plants in Covington, KY brought tomatoes and friends[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]One of those friends was Mark. Mark only brought one variety. But man is it something special IMHO. Working name – Cherokee Sausage – A beautiful & Tasty (IMHO) cross between Cherokee Purple and Sausage. – (Pic below)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]So, on to some of the Award Winners. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The winner of the prettiest tomato was Berkley Tye Dye brought by David. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The ugliest went to Ken, but I don’t think we ever found out what variety it was. He was to ashamed to tell us. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The largest and heaviest went to a Red Barn brought by Terry. Weight – 1lb 12 ¾ oz. – 16 ¾ inches in circumference.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Now for the TASTIEST. While we all love to kid the Southern Hemisphere folks I guess it’s time to acknowledge they produce some great tomatoes. This year’s winner of the CHOPTAG Tastiest tomato goes to none other than Grub’s Mystery Green. Congratulations Grub – David brought the winning tomato so he gets the certificate but you get the honor of knowing you shared a prize winning and tremendous tasting tomato with us.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I’ve attached a few pictures: Most of the gang, Cherokee Sausage, Tables – Mark, Dave, Remy, Earl, Lisa, Gary, Amy, David, Susan, Mine – (Terry came a little late – I apologize for missing her table.), Red Barn – Heaviest & Biggest, And the TASTIEST _ David wit Grub’s Mystery Green.[/SIZE]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Back Row – Left to Right:[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Steve (hubby of Miss Mudcat), Mark, Dave (Dave Z6), Skip, Steve, Ray (rsolinski), Deborah (wife of JerryL), David (Thomas), Kathy (wife of Earl), Earl, Walt (father of Kathy)[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Middle Row – Left to Right: [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Char (wife of Dave Z6), Gary (VGary), Lisa (Miss Mudcat), Carolyn, Remy, Susan (Toot-a-loo), Kim (wife of Thomas)[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Front Row – Left to Right:[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]Tony (hubby of Amy), Amy (wife of Tony), Jerry (JerryL)[/SIZE][/FONT]

Great report, Jerry - nice pics - glad that the day was a great success! Hey, what's up with green fleshed PL varieties taking best flavored awards? Now I KNOW I will have to get a place of distinction for Grub's Mystery Green next year.

That Cherokee Sausage looks like a great tomato - something that I would love to try some day!

GMG?? Ok I need to also give it a better spot next year. I love the greens. I am guessing the pretty lady with the baby is Miss Mudcat? Pretty baby!:lol: :lol: :lol:

[SIZE=2]Well I know Grub is going to get a big head over this, :lol: :lol: but maybe he deserves it. It is a great tasting tomato. :mrgreen: Way to go Grub!!!!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]As far as the Cherokee Sausage is concerned I’m not sure Mark plans to do with it. All I know is it’s a great tasting paste. To me it has that typical black tomato taste – smoky. He’s getting various size fruit off the same plant. The one in the picture is a small one. He had some twice that big. I’ll let him weigh in with the rest of the details.[/SIZE]

It looks quite different from the other purple paste type - Purple Russian - more slender, green shoulders (looks like a purple version of Opalka). Would fill a nice niche!

You guys know how to have fun...
I have a Grubs Mystery green that is loaded as we speak...I guess I will have to baby that plant a little more as it is going to be nip and tuck getting vine ripes off it...
Any other taste notes from anyone would be super....

Jeanne

I thought the Cherokee Sausage had a taste close to Cherokee Purple..but looked almost identical to my Purple Russian sliced.

Suze gets a shout out from me for sending the BTD seeds to my garden. I have gotten more comments from that mater than any other. (Way to go Brad!)

I hope that all the GMG pieces and left over maters that I gave away at the end give those CHOPTAGers something to share with their friends and family next year;)
I had followed alot of Spiders threads here on T-ville..it was great to learn about him on a more personal note from a true friend of his. I knew then and there that I was surrounded by good folks:!:

We also learned more about the [B]Appalachian Heirloom Seed[/B] [B]Conservancy.. [/B]if you don't know of it..you should;)

The tastiest thing I brought was not my tomatoes..it was the jally halves (Earl, did you eat the rest yet?):lol:

David

Can somebody name who's who in the group pic? (I already recognize Gary & Earl...)

About Red Barn.

Several years back we had a wet summer here and I had two varieties that gave me fruits that were close to 3#. One was Red Barn and the other one was Tidwell German. So I'm not surprised that Red Barn won the heaviest and biggest.

But what about the taste? I thiunk it's pretty darn good. It's in that same group of tomatoes that Joe Bratka's father bred which includes Box Car Wille, Great Divide, Pasture ( forget about that one,:lol:) and Mule Team.

Oh how I wish I could grow more varieties than I can now. In retrospect I now realize how blessed I was to be able to grow upwards of several hundred plants each year with 100 to 200 different varieties.

I read about so many new varieties that I want to grow and just can't do it now that I'm confined to just 14 plants a year that someone else has to take care of. Oh well, it could be worse and was this year with my total take off 14 plants being 2 Bloody Butchers, 5 Black Cherries, 2 Sherrill's and 2 Danko's and 1 Tsar of Bells. And I won't be getting anything from the other 9 plants, each a different variety. But there's always next year.:)

Congratulations to champion grower David, the astute judgse, thanks for the great report Jerry, and for everyone's efforts.

Tables look awesome and I see lots of friendly tomato faces. Thanks for sharing what looks like a great day.

I think GMG has a real complexity to it and am thrilled that it's made its way into some NH gardens and now, just maybe, a few more.

A great result, indeed! I am way over the moon.

Good growing, Grub.





Geat looking tables and tomato faces.

Grub, I tasted David's GMG and it was superb. Matter of fact, I stole one of them (with his permission) to save the seed from the winning tomato. :mrgreen:

Also, Carolyn is correct in the taste of Red Barn. It is not only a lovely looking tomato, the taste is very good. Mild but juicy.

I loved Remy's Carbon. I actually asked her if she put something on it because it tasted so sweet. Excellent taste.

Lisa's Kimberly cross cherry tomato was so good!!
Probably one of the sweetest cherries I've ever tasted.

Now it would have been interesting if I'd entered GMG into the best tasting contest and GMG won first and second places, LOL. We'd never be able to live with Grub after that!!! :-) Be calling His Majesty, Sir Grub! :-)

Earl, we oughta overnight a GMG to Grub, just to see if our Hemisphere has changed the taste any:D

By the way..the wife wanted me to let everyone at T-ville know that Earl has the finest piece of tastefest equipment.. a battery operated pepper mill...gosh what a hoot that was to see Earl pull it from his shirt pocket and grind some fresh pepper on his tomatoes 8)

[SIZE=2]Thanks for the nice words Jerry and Earl. Yep, we are addicted to CHOPTAG, and now thanks to Jerry's prodding, Tomatoville, too. THe event was a BLAST![/SIZE]


[SIZE=2]"As far as the Cherokee Sausage ...The one in the picture is a small one. He had some twice that big. I’ll let him weigh in with the rest of the details."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]We'll have to work on Markus to get registered and weigh in himself, but we have some bragging rights, since Cherokee Sausage is our grand child...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]We got Cherokee Purple from various sources over the years, Totally Tomatoes, Seed Savers, Seeds of change, etc. but Sausage, we got in about '93 from a prize winning display at the KY state Fair. Ruth Last name ? from Louisville) was cleaning out her display on the last day and graciously gave us some tomatoes. We have always selected for largest in our seed saving tomatoes, and it seems they have gotten bigger over the years. THe first years they were 4-5" X 1.5-2", but in a good non-drought year, they produce 6-7" X 3-4" fruits. Our friends Steve and Caroline think they deserve a new name, but the jury is still out on that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Mark has grown our plants for years, and has this one pretty stabilized after three years. THe biggest ones he brought show the blocky characteristics of our giant Sausage at its best. This was the first time we saw it, and it was like a prodigal grandchild had come home and done Good![/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]So Exciting! I hope it stays stable, because it it tasty like the Cherokee Purple, but big and meaty like our Sausage.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]So great to be welcomed by youse guys. I told a friend today we probably have 20 or so new varieties of the best of the best, since choptaggers wouldn't bring anything they didn't like. Cant wait til MArch.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]By the way, some day soon I'll post some harsh lessons we learned about seedsaving from newly aquired varieties without proper pre-planting sterilization and careful greenhouse observation. This spring we destroyed about 6000 plants rather than sell them with bacterial spot. I wrote an article and local papers and extension newsletters with help from the head plant pathologist at UK, Kenny Seebold, who helped guide us through the nightmare. Where would be the bestv place for that?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Thanks again for the wartm welcome and all the COOL varieties!!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The Atwoodites ( Tony and Amy Powell)[/SIZE]

I have noticed over the years normally one spouse of the household is the "grower with the knowledge". Not Tony and Amy..they both are hardcore materheads8) So my question is...will you both get memberships here:lol: or just put your name at the bottom of your threads..

Great to have you two here!

David

AmyLou will have to answer that herself!

That sausage or black snag looks like a real banger to me. Bring it on. Looks terrific.

Earl and Dave,
You don't know how much I wish I was there. Those tables made even Summer drool.

Hey Tony, Amy

Is Cherokee Sausage a cross between Sausage and Cherokee Purple or Cherokee Chocolate? I thought Mark said Chocolate but I was under the influence of 'maters at the time so I can't be held resposible. If it's purple I'll change my post above.

I actually had plane tickets to go up there and see my family and go to CHOPTAG, sadly I missed it, due to DH starting a better job the week before. Iit will be definate next year as my family wont let me get away with cancelling another visit.

Bizz, we were looking forward to you being there. Well..considering that you gave me a boat load of seeds..it was kinda like you were there:D it is kinda like we shared a table8)

Grub that Sausage is a banger! I would say that Tony and Amy better get a name for it soon..or we will have to name it ourselves:lol: incredible taste for a paste/?.

I still say Earl's battery powered pepper grinder was the best!

[quote=JerryL;70883]Hey Tony, Amy

Is Cherokee Sausage a cross between Sausage and Cherokee Purple or Cherokee Chocolate? [/quote]
Hey Jerry_ TP here, MArk grew our sausage and Ch. Purple, and I can't remember which was the Mom. I have him talked into joining the tomatovillians after he returns from his Clemson Fruit explorers conference. He is a real botanyhead. He goes to PASA in PA conferences as oft as he can.

Thomas- the heat is on. I know, it is kind of boring, but Mark agrees with you. Ch Sausage is just its working name for now. It could very well be Grub influenced.

Grub, nice meeting you, GMG is fantastic. Exciting to hang out with Aussie Materheads who like to swap seeds. Ever been to Phillipines? Spent time there in the peace corps and met gobs of sloshed Aussies in Manila. Great folks, hard to understand when drunk. Met one old boy who communed with dolphins. Don't think alcohol was his intoxicant of choice.

TP

Lol TP.

Missed the call up for the Phillipines once they heard I had a new green-when-ripe that had some more growing out to do ;) Glad you liked it. Sloshed Aussie seems to be the norm' rather than the exception, something to so with our convict heritage.

Can't wait to hear what the final name is for Cherokee Sausage... I'm working on it.

Best. G.

Looks like another great CHOPTAG meeting was enjoyed by all. I really enjoyed the photos and reading about all the fun!

I am planning to attend in '08... if you all promise to not laugh at my Boston accent. :P

It's also nice to see some new faces among the familiar ones. Welcome to Tomatoville, Tony!

Hi All,
We just got back home a few hours ago! I don't know where to begin. EVERYONE was just so WONDERFUL!(Just so you know, not everyone in NY is loud like me:lol:) I never thought I could get so full eating mainly tomatoes. Some of the tables were just loaded and gorgeous. I have a Photobucket album I just made. Please take a look:
[url]http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/Remyo_2006/garden%202007/CHOPTAG/[/url]
I tried so many tomatoes and I know I still missed many. Plus there was other great food! Dave T's jalapenos were outstanding. The homemade ketchups Gary made for my Gary's hotdogs were absolutely wonderful. I haven't checked to see if Gary posted the recipes, but he must soon if he hasn't. Oh and he needs to post the recipes for the spreads he brought also. And on top of all that Gary also made coleslaw for my Gary's hotdogs!
I took the desserts with me as snacks for the rest of our vacation. They were all yummy. I told my Gary that a group of tomato lovers would of course make other food great. I wish I could of tried it all.
Earl had me taste a pepper that I don't remember what it was. It was very tasty. My Gary asked me to ask what it was. Earl also gave us garlic and walking onions to take home to plant.:D Earl's wife, Kathy,(as with all the women there) was a great lady. I can see why he always praises her.
I tried Grub's Mystery Green on Earl's table and really loved it. I did not try Dave T's version. (I couldn't try everything Dave had! check out the photo) Though it was obviously great being the winner.
I never did get to try Jerry's peppers. They were so beautiful; I wish I had. The same goes for Lisa's tomato salad. It was just gorgeous. Her children were all adorable and very sweet.
I'm glad I got to meet Dave M. and his wife, Char. Thank you for giving me plates and letting me use your knife!
I had a lot of fun talking to Ray and "Eric".:lol: They really made Gary and I feel at home when we first got there.
I'm glad of course that I finally got to meet Terry. I'm glad I was younger than she imagined.:lol: My Gary really liked her Monkey's A**. I guess I need seeds for that one too. I sure hope she comes to the party here.
Tony and Amy were such a great couple. They told us about a few things to do while staying in the area like going to the Union Terminal which we enjoyed.
I enjoyed talking to Susan about sweet tomatoes. She had the sweetest tomato I tried with a Russian sounding name that began with a G. The name escapes me at the moment. I think the trip is catching up to me! I'm getting tired.
I know I'm forgetting a few others and I don't mean too! You all were great.
I'm happy we decided to drive down for the trip. It was a very memorable day. Though Gary is not a "hardcore materhead":D like me, he had a wonderful time and now truly knows there are others out there worse than me.:lol:
Remy

Hey Remy!! so glad you got home okay. I hope you and Gary both had a nice time.
Meeting you was a definite highlight for me too. I kept thinking that we've been talking back and forth for a year now but it hasn't even been that long. I think just since Jan. I guess you just feel like a life long tomato friend to me. :mrgreen:
Hopefully at the N.Y. party we can talk more. Seemed like we just didn't get enough time. ;)

Remy,

Glad you two made it home OK.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Tell Gary the dogs were great. I’ll have to see if I can figure a way to get some shipped down here.:mrgreen: