Gardening Magazine

Not All Tomatoes Are Red

By Mwillis
As is my wont, this year I have been growing loads of different varieties of tomato - some big, some small, some cordons, some bushes, some red ones - and some not red ones...
Not all tomatoes are red
I've mentioned before that I'm not usually keen on yellow tomatoes. I suppose it's a deep-seated prejudice, but to me a tomato is red, and I regard different coloured ones with suspicion! Yes, I know this is silly, but there you go... Most of the tomatoes I am growing this year bear red fruit, of course. For instance, the tally of (red) Maskotka and Montello has now exceeded 14kgs (from 8 plants). However, I want to show off a few different-coloured ones today.
This is the first. It is "Tango", which has orange-coloured mini plum fruits. It's probably just a false perception, but I think they do actually taste a bit orangey.
Not all tomatoes are red
Then we have "Bumblebee Sunrise". The first few I picked were mostly yellow, with few of the red stripes, but the latest lot are much stripier. They remind me of the famous variety "Tigerella", but with the colours reversed. They look very striking in a mixed salad!
Not all tomatoes are red
I got my granddaughters to test a couple of these on Friday, and they reckoned they were sour. Maybe this is a variety that needs to be eaten very ripe?
This one is the first ripe fruit of "Dwarf Beauty King", again a very beautiful red-and-yellow variety.
Not all tomatoes are red
The "Dwarf" part of this variety's name refers to the height of the plant, not the size of the fruit, which are actually quite big.  This specimen weighed 121 grams.
Not all tomatoes are red
I've shown off this one in a previous post. It is "Dwarf Barossa Fest", a plain yellow one, but surprisingly tasty.
Not all tomatoes are red
These dusky beauties are "Cherokee Chocolate", a close relative of the more well-known "Cherokee Purple".
Not all tomatoes are red
The Cherokee varieties all seem to suffer a lot from deep cracks that radiate out from the stems. This may spoil their good looks somewhat, but it doesn't affect the flavour, or indeed the internal texture. These are lovely tasty tomatoes, and I think the deep color gives them a certain richness - be it real or imagined. The fruits of this variety generally reach 350 or 400 grams, sometimes bigger. The two in my photo were 473g and 364g.
Despite all the above, the type of tomato I like best is the big, rugged, deeply-ribbed (red) one. The sort you find in markets in the South of France and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. This one is actually "Monserrat". It's not ripe yet, but it soon will be...
Not all tomatoes are red
What's your opinion? Do you think red tomatoes (in general) taste any different to yellow ones or orange, or green?
Not all tomatoes are red

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