EM Champion is the best tasting determinate I have grown, unfortunately it is also the least productive. I think most determinate tomatoes where developed for market growers among whom taste was not the primary consideration. The very best tasting tomatoes I have eaten all are indeterminates that require a long season to develop their great flavor. I get two growing seasons each year, both end abruptly at about 100 to 110 days due to freezing or extreme heat. An 85 day tomato that ripens a few fruit at a time yields me 15 to 25 days of production amounting to about a dozen tomatoes in a good year. Most determinates produce loads of tomatoes and are finished by 100 to 110 days but lack the great flavor of those late indeterminates. The best balance of flavor and productivity for me are semi determinate varieties such as Break O' Day. I keep looking for those great tasting determinate tomatoes but I believe they are yet to be developed and will require a lot of effort for what is probably a small market.
|