Ok, the storage tomato adventure continues.
So, we had some burgers last week and I finally cut one of each variety into slices to do a taste test. I should preface this all by saying when the breeders named these tomatoes 'longkeepers' I don't actually know what they had in mind, timewise. It's been over 4 months, so that may be longer than what was intended? I wanted to really see what the truth was about them so I have let them be. If I were to redo this I'd keep a little notepad and try each one once a month and rate it 1-10. But, I'm not that organized and I didn't think of it.
Well, the best taste is the little oval Madagascar, pic #1. Best texture too by a long shot, it's actually shocking how good that texture is for how old they are AND the fact that I picked them at the green hard ball stage. It's an impressive little longkeeper and one of the lesser known ones for some odd reason. If I had to pick only one to regrow, it would be this one with long term storage in mind. But Ramillette de Mallorca would be a close second, it just doesn't hold as long with these qualities.
#3 pic is the Zhiraf tomato, and the bottoms are getting pink because I flipped them upside down in the box. The light is terrible in these but needless to say they are all much pinker than the photos show. The lights made them look a bit green for some reason. It's still quite hard - the longest to ripen for sure. Barely ready to eat even now. Pic #4 is the Ramillette de Mallorca, probably the best beefsteak long keeper of the bunch, but at 4 months they aren't as tasty as they were 2 months ago. BUT they still taste like a garden tomato for sure, they don't taste like grocery store crud. Texture is decent, but not awesome. On the burger though, they seemed totally normal and better than store bought.
Last pic is Golden Treasure, a yellow long keeper. To be fair to the fruit, it was picked waaaay immature ( I started them as seeds 4 weeks before plant out too, so started too late too) and they seem to have the least ideal taste and texture. Terrible texture really. They cut like a foam apple. Would they be like that if I timed them right? I dunno. One lady says they're the best long keeper there is, so I may have just not done a good job with these. I'll probably try again. That said though, Madagascar was picked immature too and it's wonderful?
All in all, they all still taste darn good on a burger, and have a *from the garden* taste left in them - shockingly. It's been watered down in storage for sure, but it's still there. I think they'd do great in any meal where tomatoes aren't the main centerpiece. These are good for sandwiches, burgers, salads, scrambled eggs etc. Not good enough to eat raw with salt and some cheese, except maybe for Madagascar.
So far, no regrets. Main conclusions are: they're worthy, they fill a gap, and 4 months is probably pushing it a little! But I'm still going to leave them and see what they do.
I'm beginning to suspect that I've developed some corn related pathology though. Ever since I started growing fresh corn I've gotten to really love it, and I now reliably order too many corn seed packets every year - different varieties. I mean, I can grow exactly one variety a year and at the rate I'm acquiring these the math isn't mathing for an average human lifespan. I saw 2 new ones tonight - Honey Badger and Rainbow Inca, both fresh corn types. Very very very hard to resist getting them. So I decided not too. Now I really do need to find some land to rent.
