Subjective too ones Taste..

murihikukid · April 21, 2016

Hi..I am down under and only been growing Tomatoes for two seasons ...I have tried to grow a wide variety hoping to find the garden taste of my deceased fathers tomatoes when I was young....Sadly I was not interested in gardening back then ..I know he grew Moneymaker and Popentate and perhaps Russian Red ..he used to get beautiful tasting fruit..Not all the Time but now and then and now I am trying to rediscover the fruit of yester year ....i have tried the varieties he grew but they have changed and so far nothing meets my expectations..
I was given a Tasty Tom from a plant a local garden center had on display which nearly/did pass my taste test..i am now trying to grow this variety from cuttings ....
It is the type of fruit I enjoy..juicy and not what I call mushy with a sweet beautiful taste ....
So could I ask if anybody who has tasted Tasty Toms could let me know of any comparible varieties too it....It would make my life easier instead of growing endless varieties till I depart..
Of course as I learn I realise my father possibly got the tomatoes to taste wonderful due to the amount of work and effort he put in which was never appreciated by myself at the time....Thank You Ron NZ..

zipcode · April 22, 2016

I think that if you can't seem to find a variety you like in your garden, it's the garden's fault (well, yours basically). Proper fertilizing goes a long way in making the tomatoes taste better. If your soil is not naturally good, taste can be underwhelming if no extra fertilizer is added, even if yields are decent. I found that K and Ca to be very important to taste. I grow organically in pots and I have to tell you taste varies wildly from month to month depending how I fertilized, and I'd say it seem mostly related to those 2 elements.

Gardeneer · April 22, 2016

Tomatoes are basically acidic fruits. Their pH range is 3.9 to 4.3 (maybe 80% of them).
The next content is brix (sugar). When the latter is low we taste the as tangy or sour and when te sugar content is high it wil mask/hide acidit but the acid will be there.
There are other flavore factors. Some are called complex, smokey, fruity..Those I consider mostly subjective. And yes, some are "bland", not sweet, not tangy ?? that is like most of the store bought tomatoes.

Gardeneer

April 21, 2016	#1
murihikukid Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Invercargill New Zealand Posts: 1,022	Subjective too ones Taste.. Hi..I am down under and only been growing Tomatoes for two seasons ...I have tried to grow a wide variety hoping to find the garden taste of my deceased fathers tomatoes when I was young....Sadly I was not interested in gardening back then ..I know he grew Moneymaker and Popentate and perhaps Russian Red ..he used to get beautiful tasting fruit..Not all the Time but now and then and now I am trying to rediscover the fruit of yester year ....i have tried the varieties he grew but they have changed and so far nothing meets my expectations.. I was given a Tasty Tom from a plant a local garden center had on display which nearly/did pass my taste test..i am now trying to grow this variety from cuttings .... It is the type of fruit I enjoy..juicy and not what I call mushy with a sweet beautiful taste .... So could I ask if anybody who has tasted Tasty Toms could let me know of any comparible varieties too it....It would make my life easier instead of growing endless varieties till I depart.. Of course as I learn I realise my father possibly got the tomatoes to taste wonderful due to the amount of work and effort he put in which was never appreciated by myself at the time....Thank You Ron NZ..

April 22, 2016	#2
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	I think that if you can't seem to find a variety you like in your garden, it's the garden's fault (well, yours basically). Proper fertilizing goes a long way in making the tomatoes taste better. If your soil is not naturally good, taste can be underwhelming if no extra fertilizer is added, even if yields are decent. I found that K and Ca to be very important to taste. I grow organically in pots and I have to tell you taste varies wildly from month to month depending how I fertilized, and I'd say it seem mostly related to those 2 elements.

April 22, 2016	#3
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,909	Tomatoes are basically acidic fruits. Their pH range is 3.9 to 4.3 (maybe 80% of them). The next content is brix (sugar). When the latter is low we taste the as tangy or sour and when te sugar content is high it wil mask/hide acidit but the acid will be there. There are other flavore factors. Some are called complex, smokey, fruity..Those I consider mostly subjective. And yes, some are "bland", not sweet, not tangy ?? that is like most of the store bought tomatoes. Gardeneer