Well it's over for this year.
I don't think we had quite as many people as last year and I know not as many people picked tomatoes as last year. But last year there was hardly any tomatoes available in this area at this time. This year there is plenty. Also some of the varieties we had up for tasting were picked out right away so people found out they could come back again for PYO after this holiday weekend.
We had at least 2 other Tomatovillians visit. I was able to talk with Farmette and her hubby for a while as it had quieted down at that time. I'm afraid I don't remember the name of the other member as I was very busy when he came thru.
I had the camera out there but of course when things got going I was too busy to think about pics. Fortunately a friend from the Madison market who is a photographer came and hopefully will send me some pics. I did get a few late when we had a late flush of people come. When I have some time to edit the pics i'll post them.
About the tasting. We had 5 tables set up so I sorted the varieties the crew picked into color. Unfortunately I didn't give good directions as to what I wanted picked so there were way too many "reds" and many of them old standards like better boy and big beef. Some of my best bi-colors and rare tomatoes never made it to the tables.
The following are comments i heard.
On the red table, San Marzano Redorta got great reviews for a really "sweet" taste. Much more than for the regular San Marzano. German was liked for a really strong (asertive) "tomato" flavor.
On the Black Purple table, someone that has a friend that's been touting Cherokee Purple looked for that variety. Fortunately I had it there and when she tasted it she said "wow, her friend was right. Amaizing flavor". i also had some Bruno Russo F-2 there on that table and tasted it myself. Frankly it was the most tasteless on that table. Maybe in grocery stores in the winter it's OK, but for homegrown, there are plenty that are better.
On the pink table, several commented on Marianna's Peace. Roza Vetrov got a good comment too.
Trying to remember some others but sometimes too much was happening all at the same time. More when I have some time.
During a break I went to the back of the field to see if any of the Dwarf project plants were producing anything. Unfortunately what I found is disappointing for the varieties I have. The few fruit I found didn't match the descriptions, like Taz Chocolate was red. KPG was green tho and tasted OK but not great, tho I need another green to compare it with later.
Carol
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