My Favourite Tomato Varieties of 2023 | Ranking Tomatoes!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2023
- Taking a look at the tomato winners and losers of this year.
Reviewing the:
Sungold
Black Strawberry
Black Moon F1
Crimson Crush
Brad's Atomic Fusion
Brad's Atomic Grape
Indigo Blue Chocolate
Orange Accordion
Honeycomb F1
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Don't listen to them whiners. Test taste your harvest, it's the best part of filming it.
Yes, munch away and enjoy your beautiful harvest, Happy to come along for the ride 😊
😂😂
JB, Sungold has been one of my favorites for years, the only drawback is they due split rather easily. My favorite of all time is Cherokee Purple, not real protective, but such a deep smoky taste, I also usually grow Black Krim but didn’t have any germinate this year, more productive then CP but not as intense taste.
Happy Gardening 👩🌾 from Southern California.
Oh yes to Cherokee Purple,my favourite ❤
If you like sweet tomatoes, try "bartelli" it's a very prolific cherry tomato. Sungold was my favourite, but I gave up on it for the splitting. I've grown bartelli now for 4 years, I'm in Derbyshire and I grew them outdoors. They are really good do-ers
What an enjoyable review!
The best cherry tomato I grow is from seeds saved from an unnamed variety 8 tomato-truss of on-the-vine tomatoes in cellophane pallet packaging from the local shop 6 or 7 years ago. They were sooooo delicious. My daughter had just become a teenager and thought homegrown vegetables were degrading 😂
Anyway, I saved the unnamed seeds and have grown them every year since. They’re incredible. Every year they grow true to form. 8 toms per truss ripening at the same time. Always a perfect mini pallet size. I pick the trusses when ready and leave them in a bowl on the kitchen table - where they can keep for weeks! 🤷♀️The skins don’t harden, split or wrinkle. If anything, they just slowly reduce in size and dry out; still edible but more intense flavour. They’re plain red, slightly grape shaped, sweet and strong flavoured. Juicy but not watery. Perfect fresh or roasted. I roast with cream cheese (has to be Philadelphia 🙄) and/or feta for fresh pasta when there’s enough. Which is the only way my daughter would ordinarily eat them. There was usually only 5 toms on each truss when there were enough ready to roast for a meal. I pretended not to notice. 😂
NB Daughter now loves all veg grown in the garden. Especially cucumbers and gherkins. The tomatoes are starting to ripen this year. Hoping there’ll be a reasonable number of trusses DD can take back with her when she returns to university. Hashtag Got there eventually Hashtag sighs eyes rolling 😂
Loved the tomato ranking. My favourites this year in the greenhouse were chocolate cherry and a lovely sweet yellow one called Arctic Sun which flowered madly and ripened early and is still going strong.
I grew brads atomic and I too had a plant with black fruit. I thought it was related to the fruit being more exposed to sunlight than the others.
Ooh that's interesting 🤔
Thank you so so much for the best tomato review video I’ve been able to watch!! Really truly appreciate it 🥰
Aww thanks so much! That's so kind, made me smile 😊😊
@@JBNat I’m glad because I smiled too being able to watch it and get a good opinion on varieties
An excellent video and i enjoyed your ad hoc reviews 👍
Black Moon is now on my list for next year! I grew sungold this year. I like them a lot although I agree they do tend to split.
Great harvest JB. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the varieties you've grown. Amongst the varieties I've grown, Cuore Di bue, an Italian oxheart shaped beef tomato. Also Artisan mix, a sweet and tropical mix of plum shaped tomatoes which have been prolific for me this year. Thank you for your update. Paul
My favourite, which I have grown for four or five years now is Grightmire's Pride. It is heart shaped, very tasty and low acid. I grew San Marzanos for the first time this year and I am very impressed. So are the rodents. I have to pick them before they fully ripen so that they don't get munched on.
The rodents 😅 absolute pain aren't they! Grightmires pride sounds so interesting!
I grew Pineapple tomatoes this year and they are wonderful! Huge, prolific, and delicious! A sweet, fruity, beautiful tomato.
I actually tried to grow these last year but I didn't get a single tomato 😭😭
Fun review JB. For me, Brandywine is unbeatable for taste hands down. It’s an heirloom beefsteak variety.However, it is long to maturity, and you’ll get less fruit, but huge fruit. My largest was 2 pounds! I grow it outdoors, so maybe in a greenhouse you’d get it to ripen earlier. ( Quebec, zone 3 b here). I’d love to see you try it next year, especially if you like a great tasting tomato. ❤️
Thanks so much Meghan. That ones been on my list since the middle of this year when I saw Bob Flowerdew saying it was his all time favourite. Can't wait to try that.
Really interesting tomato review JB. I must admit I wasnt that taken with Sun Gold although my wife loved them. Gardeners Delight were good as always but the star performer for me for taste and quantity was without doubt Moneymaker which i had both in my greenhouse and outside. Very popular and old variety but this was my first year of growing and they were excellent. May be not so sexy as some of the exotic types people grow these days but I certanly will be growing them again next year.
Loved the tomato review 👏👏👏
Agree that Sungold is a great tom and although mine have split in the past in greenhouse, they haven't outside this year. The Black Moon have seemed to take an age to ripen, maybe due to weather, but pleasant texture and when fully ripe, a great flavour. Thankyou for doing a taste test, though its difficult as flavour is quite subjective. Great crop too!!
I think the black moon do take a bit longer yes! I was definitely picking them immature at first because I didn't realise!
Thanks for this video. Have taken your advice on the best tasting tomatoes and ordered black moon and gardeners delight cherry. All ready for next season!
Hope you enjoy!
❤❤❤ Always focus on the positives, JB! 😂🥰 It’s a beautiful jungle and a HUGE harvest! Ooh, looking forward to trying the Black Moon! I really prefer varieties that are yummy for eating, and especially sweeter ones. Indigo Blue Chocolate sounds interesting too. For a substitute to the thicker skins of the Sungold is a variety called Sunsugar, which is said to be similar in taste but thinner skin and less prone to splitting. ❤
Will definitely try sun sugar, thanks Sox!
Since you mentioned liking sweeter tomatoes I think you should try Hawaiian Pineapple tomato. It’s sweet and fruity and one of my favourites.
Every time I see you in the greenhouse I think back to watching you grafting away with layers on, it’s just nice to see you shorts and t-shirt harvesting away reaping the rewards. I grew black moon and Shirley this year ( first year properly trying growing tomatoes) as I’m mainly a flower grower but the black moon is definitely a beautiful tomato will do doing it next year for sure!. Question tho where did you get the black strawberry seeds? As it’s a beautiful looking plant 🌱
Ahh that is such a nice comment!! I love doing the same. It's one of the things I enjoy the most about having the plot, looking back at how far it's come. Black strawberry was from Baker Creek, sent by Audrey 😊
Hi JB, I love the way you have discussed each tomato type in this video. My favourite this Year is, sweet million and Tomande, have made lots of tomatoes soup with the Tomande. I have bought Crimson crush for the next season as we like a medium size tomatoes, had lots of cherry sized ones this season. Which is great for munching as a snack & salads too. Thanks Dorothy sharing and take care 😊
Oh my goodness tomande!!!! I totally forgot because my plant died early but I should mentioned that one in the video. Really lovely tomatoes.
I love growing tomatoes (almost as much as chillies 😂). Good to have your reliable, bog standards but also to grow some interesting, pretty ones. So glad you rated them on appearance! Have you heard about the Dwarf Tomato Project? There's a rabbit hole you need to go down one quiet evening...so many amazing varieties 😊❤🍅
Not heard of the project but Jade's Instagram (jadegrowsveg) is full of great tomato reviews this year and I saw she was doing lots of dwarf ones!
I grew black moon this year and totally agree - lovely taste will be growing next year 😊
My feeling is that this year none of the tomatoes tasted as gorgeous as all the other years I have grown them, I put this down to the freak and changing weather conditions and late ripening. In memory of Steve I took 3 sidestem cuttings and grew them on. My choice to do so was Sungold, all were successful and I am now cropping them on a daily basis. I am assuming that Sungold's flavour which was not as good as expected was also due to weather but their habit of splitting has put me off growing them again. Even my Gardeners Delight was not as tasty as normal. Another enjoyable video, you are so good at this.
I agree with this, I think you need to grow the same variety over several seasons to get a fair idea as often if the summer is cold and wet, it affects the sweetness. Tomatoes that were ripe early and harvested in the heat of June tasted so much better than the ones that ripened in July and august. Even off the same plant.
I love Red Cherry and so does my little granddaughter. I'm growing beefsteak Ox Heart for the first time this year. Has anyone else grown it? If so, does it taste good? They're a beautiful shape, none ripe enough yet though as I'm getting them outside
Thanks for the taste tests, I have to say I’ve always wondered if the fancy coloured ones actually taste as good as they look or if they are just a novelty and it looks like some of them aren’t worth growing. You’ve thrown me a bit of a curve ball for next year though as I’d put Honeycomb on my list when another TH-camr said how amazing they tasted. This year my best toms were a mini bush variety of cherry tomatoes called Vilma, really sweet and juicy. Also grew Sweet Aperitif which weren’t sweet and a bit meh and beefsteaks, ok flavour but didn’t get to the expected size probably due to the weird weather we’ve had this year. 🍅🍅
I mentioned to JB about Honeycomb, as I grew it as an alternative to Sungold this year and I love it. I did say it is sweet with an umami back note, which I particular like. They didn't split like Sungold, which was handy as the weird summer we have had with patches of really wet and really dry have affected some of my outdoor toms badly. Honeycomb for me was prolific and is still growing and producing on my patio now. It s must grow for next year.
@@Dawn_Grows_Veg Thanks for giving honeycomb another vote of approval. I guess everyone’s tastes are different so I won’t know for sure unless I try it myself so I’m going to give it a go next year 👍🏻
My favorite is Esmeralda golosina love the flavor! And a new one for me this year is Saucey, early outdoor bush tomatoe and it's lovely.
Hmm... 2 sun gold plants this year and lots of rain but none of them split Maybe one or 2 but not many. i did pick them promptly as they ripened so maybe that helped. Others like my Tidy Treats was very prolific but lots were split... eventually gave up on them
Nice ranking JB! You should really try the "purple calabash" and the "green moldovan" next year. They are to die for...
Great review JB, made me laugh when you mentioned about the Honeycomb taste, good job I warned you heehee! I have just taken side shoots off my Honeycomb to try to over winter at your suggestion as they are F1 seeds as I love it! I do love a sweet cherry, but the Honeycomb is more than just sweetness, I love that umami hit. I grew these outdoors on my patio. It didn't split or get BER and they have grown through extreme heat and wet and still tastes amazing. Not many made it to the kitchen they were my garden snack of choice.
Everyone's palette is different so it always makes for lots of interesting reviews at this time of year. Personally I think Brads Atomic aren't very nice, although everyone raves about the flavour, I think they taste horrid, can't put my finger on what it is but then you mentioned a "green" taste and that was it! I don't like that green taste. Mine had really thick skins took AGES to ripen last year and got blight first. Not on my grown again list.
I prefer Shimmer as a cherry plum, mine have always been great. I found a grafted version in a local Dobies centre that were grafted on a tumbler for hanging baskets. They have been so prolific and tasty and ripen so quickly.
A new one to me this year is Alice's Dream, a stunningly pretty salad size tomato purple/red top orange/ yellow base, yellow flesh and so sweet and juicy. I got the seeds from Niall Radford but am trying to save some of my own for next year too. I am sure this is one you would love if you like a sweet tomato.
I totally agree about Crimson Crush, a good doer, and resists blight like a trooper but I found it suffers from blossom end rot badly early in the season. I end up removing a lot of the early tomatoes, but it did grow through that this year - probably the wet second half of summer helped, and now cropping well, not loads but enough. Great for roasting as the flavour is a bit bland for salads, again probably due to lack of sun this year.
Cherekee purple (beefsteak) and rosella (cherry) taste amazing. Definitely worth growing
Gave up growing Sungold some years ago because of splitting. Started growing Tigerella some time ago and it is gorgeous. It's not an F1 either so easy to save seeds of.
Love your choice of tomatoes and appreciate the taste test.
NICE review! thanks.
Check out the Mushroom Basket. it has that odd shape of the one you mentioned was less that ideal for taste... but the Mushroom Basket is AMAZING for flavor. Great as is, w/ salt, or sliced on a sandwich.
this year I grew 17 varieties... and I am making my notes now, for what is a "must grow again," and what is a "NOPE, gonna skip!"
Ukrainian Plum was a new one for me this year, and a very prolific plum type... along with the classic Roma plum type.
Brilliant, a great mix of tomatoes you have there. Shame about the black strawberry, they're so pretty!
My favorite tomatoes are Black Krim and Brandywine. I have tried so many and I always plant those. The ones from Wild Boar Farms are interesting but I don’t find them appealing. I wonder how different they are when they are grown in California with its long season and conditions that are so different from those most of us grow in. I always grow sungold as well. Yes, they split like mad. You can pick them and they will split right in your hand. I think F1 is only a thing if you want to save seeds. We had such a wet, disease-ridden year but I still have harvested enough to eat ridiculous amounts of tomato sandwiches and fill the freezer with sauce. Now to deal with the late glut of cucumbers. Can’t wait to see how you fill all your greenhouse and tunnel space next year.
If you like super sweet cherry tomatoes, that don't split and don't have thick skins, try Aztec Micro Dwarf. They are super quick to ripen, easy to grow and only need a small pot.
I really enjoyed Japanese black triflele and xanadu green goddess, but I'm definitely going to have a look at Black moon. Thank you 😊
Hi JB thanks for the tomato review.
Black Moon and Garnet are the ones for me this year and will be definitely back next year.
Shame about the taste of the Black Strawberry. They sure are beautiful looking tomatoes.
I agree with one of the earlier comments that toms have not tasted as good this year. I like sungold .for sweetness I find sweet aperitif unrivalled, but always wish they were bigger. Rosella and Garnet both lovely. Limoncito and orange beauty are good, tho the skin is a bit tough. You do have to make sure they are fully ripe or flavour will be meh. Always find gardeners delight disappointing. Tigerella better, but still searching for that tasty tomato of childhood picnics with a good balance of sweetness and acid.
100% agree re the Brads - I don't like the flavour either so I don't see what all the fuss was about a couple of years ago - I blame Tony 😂 My favourites this year in terms of flavour have been Sungold, Outdoor Girl and Alicante. Worse have been Brads Atomic Grape and Yellow Pear. Gardener's Delight is 'OK' but not fantastic, same with Roma - but that's good for sauces & chutney.
We can always blame Tony 😅 outdoor girl and alicante I've heard good things about! Cheers Mike.
I've got a load of tomato plants, Honeycomb I have and I can't really remember if there was any notable weird flavour to it. My mum particularly likes a yellow cherry grew, either Sun Baby or Honey Delight (can't remember which). My stepdad decided he likes 'Black Cherry.'
I do keep trying them just picked but I've decided that actually, I just really love and prefer making big batches of soup and pasta sauce. So next year I'm, going to cut down on the amount of cherry types I have and do a lot more Paste type tomatoes, my faves being Big Mama & Roma. I'm going to try San Mazano, Nagina and Sweet Casaday plum varieties too. I've added Black moon to my Premier Seeds basket just now to try as per your recommendation :D I've saved some seeds too so that will be interesting to see how those grow.
Yes we're the exact same! I must say I think I got the number of cherries right for once this year. Think it's good to just have a few so you can have them when you want them. Thanks for all the great recommendations!
Doing the same assess-for-next-year. A couple varieties of tomatoes that everyone seems to love are not going in next year. Narrowed it down to about four kinds. 👍👍👍. I will never grow Brad’s Atomic grape or Black Krim again. Not really liking the Japanese Trifele either. The Brad’s take forever to start to ripen and then all of a sudden they are split and or rotting. And they taste like a sweet fruit not a tomato to me. Could be the Canadian climate…? Plus, we all have our own tastes. Purple bumblebee, red zebra, pollock, tasti-lee, martino’s Roma - yum.
The toms that take ages to ripen are Brad's Atomic Grape.. they look lovely but I am not keen on the taste... I have grown shimmer this year and that's a stunning to look at Tom and really tasty too.. also indigo apple and indigo rose have been nice ...and rosella is s tasty cherry tomato ..and my sun golds have been delicious and sweet this year too ...my Crimson Crush..first year of growing..all got blight ..go figure as all my other toms have been fine!!
Could have written a reply like yours , word for word. Shimmer was my star last year. Crush failed the taste test and I lost most of the Black Moon to blight. Moved from Sungold to Honeycomb . ...........GOT TO TELL SOMONE , won Prizes for my Toms yesterday
@barrie6000 congratulations on your prize winning tomatoes 🍅 a few years ago at my first ever (and last ever show) I won a cup for best in show for my potatoes so I know the exhilaration that you are feeling 🙂👍
Hi JB. This year I'm growing a few. (She who says "I'm only growing 3 this year!")
Right, So, Chadwick Cherry (my fave, similar to gardeners delight and so awesome tasting, I will grow them FOREVER), Rutgers (the original Heinz tomato) Super prolific, not sure how they taste as they are the slowest to ripen, but massively huge 'maters!!! Russian, a super finicky plant that barely survived it's nursery stage but once in the garden took off ok and are producing VERY large impressive roma type tomatoes which are ripening earlyish, very meaty and are promising for sauces. Quinty Easy Peel, a canning tomato, also a good producer, so much so that added supports are needed for the weight of these monsters. Don't know how they taste yet, they seem to be slow to ripen so I'm SUPER curious about these ones. I also grew Black Krim, Earliest to ripen surprisingly, pretty nice flavor but I'm not too impressed with how much meat has to to be trimmed away because of the crinkles and rotting in adverse conditions. All of these are grown outside.
Phew, there's a journal!! Love from Ontario!!💗
Wow thank you! Lots of interesting sounding ones there
Interesting, I’ve never thought of sungold as having a thick or tough skin! Ours are always outside though as we don’t have a greenhouse yet. We do get the splitting skin especially after heavy rain but you can largely avoid it by picking them slightly earlier and letting them finish ripening indoors. It doesn’t impact the flavour at all.
Other favourites last season were Jaune Flamme & pineapple and atomic grape, but I agree the colour feels weird to eat. I’ve recently started this year’s seeds and am trying Barry’s crazy cherry and sweet million, also adding some old favourites like tigerella, black cherry and black krim.
Oh and I’m trying Japanese black trifele too, finally found some seeds after hearing Jessie rave about them for years!
Oh, the black strawberry are so pretty... too bad not so good eating. Midnight Snack was my dark beauty this year and tastes good too
*Makes notes to try Black moon but already has a huge variety of tomatoes for next year*
my bestestest toms were actually tomatillo gonna get the purple and pineapple to grow next year and might not even bother with regular toms
Amish Paste is my favourite - obviously grown for sauce but never got to make any as they are so lovely to eat fresh. Im afraid Ive tried the purple coloured ones and dont like any that I have tried.
Try the Crimson Crush outside in a bed with loads of organic matter,, in a good year they are more flavoursome when grown outside
I actually popped some outside Phil! But those plants have just been so scabby and gross. Every single fruit has been got at by slugs or birds or other things. I kept it around because I felt like it was making a noble sacrifice and meaning the ones in the greenhouse were left alone 😂
Your mystery tom looks like brads atomic grape to me, which is my favourite by a mile but this year they've been poor at best which I assume is down to the rubbish summer. Still waiting for my black moon to fully ripen. They seem to be getting stuck half way!
I enjoyed your reviews! Just wondering, do you think soil would have an impact on the tomato's flavour? Has anyone ever tested tomato growing in different soils to see if it impacts the flavour? I noticed that your impression of a tomato's flavour was sometimes at odds with the description on the seed packet, so maybe soil would be the difference.
I was just talking about that with my hubby today. We have 2 gardens, one with black bought soil and one with sandy red local "dirt" I call it and there does seem to be a difference for sure. Personally I have also found that fertilized tomatoes also have more flavor. Calcium and manure of any kind are their friends, IMHO.
I imagine it's actually quite likely yes! I've not seen much difference between the ones in soil and the ones in sylvagrow compost mind you. Got quite a nice layer of manure in the soil too working it's way down :)
Best for me, Sungold ( and yes I like the Honeycomb ) add Sweet Million /G.D / Rossella . Star for me Shimmer this year. Found Crimson Crush tasteless . Lost most of the BlackMoon
Thanks JB for the tomato overview. It was great to have ratings for them for taste, and growth as well as appearance. I am definitely going to try Black Moon next year after your outstanding rating. . My favourite tomato is gardener's delight- been growing it for years and love it! Happy gardening :-)
Ugh!! JB! At least you’ve had a decent crop of toms! They have been a real flop for me this year 😞 so far I’ve only had 4 of 20 varieties ripen! 😑 I’m starting to see some colour changes in some others FINALLY.. but yeah.. never again will I holiday first week of April! 😑 really screwed my planting this year, then the foreverspring delaying planting out 😑 I’m just keeping everything crossed that I get a few more! So far tried dwarf eagles smiley, it’s ok.. thinner skin than Sungold but lacking the acidity.. Sungold.. Ailsa Craig I picked up from a charity shop because it looked healthy and why not 🥴🤣 it’s been the best producer so far in volume at least.. if lacking a bit in flavour 🥴 and golden hour which are nice.. thicker skin but sweetish with an after taste that’s hard to describe 🥴 I will have to update further if I get there 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Oh no! Have they improved at all in the last few weeks? Trying to holiday at the start of the gardening season is a nightmare isn't it!!!
Supper sweet 100
Black Cherry for me this year JB Never grown it before. So tasty, prolific and looks good too. Mum in law loves it too and shes very much a tumbling Tom kinda gal!!
They're so great aren't they! My first year I got really lucky with tomatoes.
Aperitif so sweet best I’ve grown
Hi Jb have you tried purple bumble bee they are really sweet and juicy my wife likes these with a passion .
Hi, where do you get the seeds from, not seen or heard of them before.
San Marzano if my favourite for making sauce.
Yeah that's a great choice! I only have roma this year, might give the San Marzano a go next year.
They are a tad prone to BER (especially in pots) so plan to have some CalMag on hand@@JBNat
try golden cherry
That black tomato looks like atomic fusion
Rosella unreall for me the best
TOMATO SUN CHERRY EXTRA SWEET F1 is god and red
Black Cherry is OP