For home gardeners, there is a huge range of tomato cultivars from which to choose.
In the Penn State Extension office in Chambersburg and at the Penn State Southeast Ag Research and Extension Center in Lancaster County scientists have been running variety trials on tomatoes since 2000. They've evaluated more than 800 varieties across the complete spectrum of tomato types in that time. Every year, they examine 30 to 70 varieties, looking at taste, production, disease resistance, ease of training and appearance.
Following are some varieties recommended by Penn State Extension horticulture educator Steve Bogash, along with his comments about them:
Cherry/Grape types:
-- Sakura. "This very early variety was a favorite of our tasters and produced huge numbers of firm cherry tomatoes."
--Red Pearl. "Excellent flavor, tender skin, high production and moderate disease resistance made Red Pearl another top pick from our 2011 trial program. This variety has good red color and is highly resistant to cracking."
--Five Star. "2011 was the year of the grape tomato in our trials program. Five Star was another great producer with good-looking, well-flavored fruit. This one has very few seeds and is highly resistant to cracking."
--Maglia Rosa. "This is a very unusual variety, as the fruit is an elongate, cherry type that is mottled pink. Our tasters describe the flavor as ketchup-like. In both 2010 and 2011, the plants produced for only about five weeks, but they did make a lot of fruit that was well worth the garden space."
--Sun Gold. "No tomato article is complete without a mention of Sun Gold. This yellow-orange tomato is the candy of the tomato world. Production is high, the plants are moderately resistant to disease, and the fruit taste is awesome, but the fruit crack like mad. Every gardener should have one or two of these plants, so there is something to eat while gardening."
--Favorita. "This variety is so good that we retired its number several years ago and only grow it for our own use now. Very productive with deep red cherry fruit."
--Matt's Black Cherry. "Deep, dark color with a pronounced tomato flavor that is memorable. Once you taste this one, you will ask for it by name."
Slicers:
--BrandyBoy. "The related Brandywine tomato long has been heralded as the best-tasting tomato in numerous trial programs, but each plant produces only a few fruit, which are very inconsistent in size and shape, and the plant is highly susceptible to diseases.
"BrandyBoy tomatoes were introduced several years ago, and they immediately took top honors among red, slicing types in our program. When gardeners ask what single tomato to grow, this is the one. BrandyBoy is highly productive with large, pink, great-tasting fruit that taste nearly identical to Brandywine."
--BHN 589. "BHN are the letters used by a tomato breeder in Florida who primarily provides seeds to a commercial-grower cooperative. Don't let the letters and numbers discourage you from growing what are usually excellent varieties of hybrid tomatoes. BHN 589 has become a standard for many regional tomato growers as the plants produce copious amounts of great-tasting, good-looking, medium-sized, red tomatoes."
--Scarlet Red. "Like BHN 589, Scarlet Red is primarily a commercial tomato, but it makes the crossover into the home garden extremely well. This is easily the deepest red tomato that we've trialed, and it has that perfect sugar/acid balance that often is referred to as 'real tomato flavor.'
Production hint: only remove about three suckers, or you really will reduce production."
--Big Beef. "This variety has been around for a long time, and it still belongs on a top-tomatoes list. These are big, great-tasting fruit that run on the soft side. The plants are very robust."
--Celebrity. "For years, Celebrity was the standard red that we compared others against in our trials program. While it has been surpassed by some of these other varieties, it is still a great producer of medium-sized, good-flavored, round, red tomatoes."
--Defiant. "This is one of a new generation of tomatoes resistant to late blight. Somewhat smaller fruit, but big on flavor and production."
Heirlooms:
--Pineapple. "While there really aren't any great yellow/orange/red tomatoes, Pineapple is the one that provides the most consistent production and good flavor. It's soft and cracks readily but is the best of this type that we've trialed. Pineapple makes an excellent addition to homemade tomato juice."
--Mortgage Lifter (Radiator Charlie). "Excellent flavor and high production make Mortgage Lifter the No. 1 large, pink heirloom. I recommend it to growers. High production and moderate disease resistance separate this variety from most heirlooms."
--Arkansas Traveler. "This variety makes relatively small fruit at 5 to 8 ounces, but the production is good and the flavor excellent."
--Marianna's Peace. "This variety originally came into our program as one of those sample packets included with your order. The fruit are very large -- often more than a pound -- pink and very flavorful. The plants are enormous and require very tall supports. Even after every other heirloom has started to fade in the fall, Marianna's Peace will keep on producing."
--Stupice. "A lot of tomatoes claim to be early, but most don't taste like much. Stupice is the one early tomato that tastes like a real, mid-season tomato. The fruit are small at only 3 to 6 ounces, but they will beat most other tomatoes onto your plate by two to three weeks."
Patio or Container:
--Bush Early Girl. "Without a doubt, Bush Early Girl is the 'top of the heap' among slicing tomatoes that you can grow in a container. A single plant will produce a huge number of great-tasting fruit. Be sure your container is at least 14 inches across (bigger is better) and feed them well to get the most from these robust plants."
--BushSteak. "Second only to Bush Early Girl is BushSteak. These plants produce heavy crops of large, meaty fruit about a week after you start to pick Bush Early Girl. Again, use large containers and feed them well."
--Sweet 'N Neat (Red, Scarlet and Yellow). "We've looked at a lot of container-type cherry tomatoes, and while most varieties are at least OK, the entire Sweet 'N Neat series produces copious amounts of delicious fruit on very compact plants. You can grow them as hanging baskets or in ground pots. Plant single plants in 8-inch pots or three plants in 14-inch pots."
Paste/Roma types:
"In 2013, we evaluated just paste and Roma-type tomatoes as we had not included many of them in earlier trials," Bogash said. "While the trials were targeted at commercial producers, the two tastings held in the summer of 2013 identified several paste-types that rival the best slicers in flavor."
--Amish Paste. "This was the number one flavored tomato in both tastings. It had deep tomato flavor and due to the high solids would be great on sandwiches. This is a very large, indeterminate plant that requires very tall (7-foot-plus) trellising."
-Striped Roma. "This is second among best-tasting tomatoes from the 2013 program, with a beautiful, striped skin and deep-red flesh. While indeterminate, a bit more manageable than Amish Paste."
--Cassidy's Folly. "While No. 7 out of 24 to our tasting panels, it still had great flavor, good production and a deep, red-interior that caught our attention at the first slice. Although it is similar to Striped Roma in that it has a striped skin, it is a narrower fruit."
Gardeners can obtain some of these seeds from a local garden center, but some varieties will be more difficult to locate.
