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This is a weekly blog with a fun vibe that often veers off gardening, so stop on by and join the conversation. We are here every Saturday at 8AM Central with new content and chit chat continuing throughout the week. We have a core crew that checks in each day, all comments are read. Which makes us the best diary series on DK.
In my never humble opinion.
I’ve tried, I really have. I generally do not like the flavor notes of a darker tomato. I wondered if I did not like the impact of anthocyanins (a factor in the darkness of a tomato), but some of my favorite foods are anthocyanin heavy. Cherries, black plums and red grapes are delicious! Perhaps higher antho tomatoes have other flavor molecules that interact with anthocyanin and make them less pleasing to my palate. Perhaps I need a lot of sugar with my anthocyanin to hit the flavor of amazing.
Anthocyanins are Good for You
A delicious darker tomato is Carbon. It’s on my plant-every-year list. But it seems closer to a traditional red tomato than the typical dark tomato.
I’ve attempted to research the level of anthocyanin in Carbon compared to other tomatoes and have come up empty. This dark tomato mystery is one I’d like to solve, as so many people love dark tomatoes, would love to gift me even more seeds, but I have to disappoint with a No Thank You. Black Krim, Cherokee Purple and other so-called purple/black tomatoes are favorites of many. I’ve grown them, seeds gifted to me from a few of the awesome people here, actually. They aren’t bad tomatoes (the worst tomato I’ve ever eaten was not a dark tomato, in fact), I just don’t seem to enjoy them as much as others do.
My favorites? The bi-color and green tomatoes. Aunt Ruby’s German Green is delicious and gorgeous. I hope that as I have tried so many dark tomatoes to expose myself to more mater flavor profiles, some of you who grow tomatoes will try a tasty green (as ripe) tomato, if you haven’t before.
In our home, we have a traditional first and second dish we always make with the first large tomatoes harvested from our garden. BLT and Caprese salad. The caprese salad with basil grown in my herb spiral. Sometimes I have lettuce I’ve grown, sometimes it’s from the grocery store or Farmer’s Market.
I’ve also made my own sundried tomatoes in oil. I’ve heard a home gardener should not do this (the oil pack), and a query to our state experts resulted in a solid “we don’t know”, so I can’t say others should do this too. Sure was both pretty and delicious though!
Want to see some pretty pictures of tomatoes? Rumor has it a certain someone in these parts dislikes all tomatoes!
I am in the middle of posting the lists of tomatoes and peppers I am growing. A short video for each subcategory, as listing 80 varieties in one long video would be a snooze! Will be growing 80+ varieties of tomato and 40 varieties of peppers (mostly sweet). Over a hundred plants of tomatoes and 50 plants of peppers. Including some breeding projects, one with our own DHM, fellow tomato lover. Micro-dwarf varieties I am growing, video under 2 minutes.
Did you know you can freeze tomatoes? Canning generally saves space, but freezing generally saves time. Please feel free to share your experiences with any preservation method.
The worst tomato I have ever eaten (before I spit it out) was Isis Candy. It did not taste like candy or a god. Who knew a terrorist organization had a flavor?
Other never grow plants are mint and Bells of Ireland. Volunteer milkweed and sunflowers are pulled. I have certain spaces where those two plants are grown and cultivated, but they will take over otherwise.
What is on your list of Always Grow and Never Grow plants?
Happy Gardening!