As far as the Yellow Brandywine goes, if it wasn't the Platfoot strain, get some seeds of that and try it again.
Like you, as a kid I didn't care for tomatoes at all. I still don't like catchup at all. I would eat the little yellow plum tomatoes tho when I first got married and Hubby had a big garden. But as I got into the gardening too, I eventually found Yellow Plum rather tasteless, especially compared with varieties like Sun Gold.I eventually found Seed Savers Exchange and did get varieties from their public catalog. Then I found Tomatoville and all the wonderful varieties here.
I first grew mostly un-named varieties of brandywines and wondered what all the fuss was about. Then a customer sent me several varieties he wanted me to start plants for him. As he only wanted 2 plants / variety and I got about a dozen started, I got the leftovers. I found the Sudduth and Platfoot to be so much better than the non-specific generic brandywines, both in production and taste.
Like you, over the years I also have grown to like more tomatoes. I still don't care for most reds. It's that after-bite that most reds have that I don't like. But I like Pinks and purple/brown/black types, and some of the greens. Love Green Doctors, hate Green Zebra. I still eat mostly small varieties as those are what we take to farmers markets and use as nibbles during long days there. But I've found so many great tasting small tomatoes thanks to TVille.
The first year we had a field day at our farm, it was a cool "no summer" type year. We had a hard time getting ripe varieties for the Sunday before Labor Day. But we had some few Platfoots ripe and the taste knocked our socks off. Unexpectedly strong for a yellow / orange and a bit zingy. Unfortunately it's still not as productive as I would like in a variety, but better than most un-named brandywines around here.
Carol
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