Paste Tomatoes

12 years ago

I'm looking to try experimenting with several varieties of Paste Tomatoes this summer.

Requirements:

Heirloom

My Mother grows San Marzano and Roma tomatoes, so I don't want to double up and grow either of those.

I'm looking for a tomato that is meaty enough to be used as a paste tomato (for sauce, tomato soup, etc) but TASTY as well (not bland) and possibly able to be eaten fresh sometimes too. TASTE is one of the most important factors that I'm looking for.

Color is unimportant. Resistance to cracking is helpful but I could live with some cracking if the taste is superb.

I already have seed for Opalka (which I believe fits all of those requirements) and Smokey Mountain (which I know very little about).

Are there any other popular tomato varieties that fit most or all of these requirements, that I should check out?

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Comments (11)

digdirt2
12 years ago
Here you go. Lots of opinions.

Looking for a good paste tomato

Best paste variety

Dave
ncrealestateguy
12 years ago
Polish Linguisa for me and they are good sliced long ways on sandwiches. They seem to take less calcium than opalka to dter BER.
Related Discussions
"Roma Grande" paste tomato
Q
Comments (7)
"Colorado Seed Co" says Rio Grande is a popular variety in Europe that is very prolific, and they call it Rio Grande in Europe and Roma Grande here, if that isn't a typo. A US reviewer, Sarah, on the Franchi seed site calls Rio Grande semi-determinate and someone in another community says it kept yielding cluster after cluster right till frost. Roma Grande in a Pennsylvania trial last year was the #1 paste tomatoes for production and #5 for flavor. The grower in charge of the trial mentions the package was available as Burpee seeds in Lowes but not in the online catalog. I bet that is the study you reference since the 31.1 pound/plant yield is there, except it was 24 plants, not 17 as you mentioned. Also, The package of tomatoes was part (1/5 packs of seeds) of the now discontinued Burpee Bamboo salsa kit. Cook's Garden seeds according to an Uncle Wayne else called Roma Grande an OP indeterminate. I bet if you contacted Franchi, Cook's or Colorado you would get your answers as to your cultivar, and it wouldn't surprise me if someting dumb happened, like Burpee not identifying the paste tomato in its kit with the real name, so it wouldn't be seen as an endorsement as being a favorite LOL Maybe they just buy a little from someone like Franchi and rebrand it under the table, since people in many big marketing departments tend to be more concerned with ... marketing. Here is a link that might be useful: Roma (Rio) Grande
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Gilbertie Paste tomato
Q
Comments (3)
The name given to what some call Gilbertie's Paste is really Gilbert Italian Plum as it was named by the person who is the originator of this variety and is from PA. Let me just quote a few of the comments made in the SSE YEarbook about this variety from the orinator: 85-110 days, and to me that means a late season for sure Indet, RL " great dried, fruit slow to ripen, and HAS A NASTY TENDENCY TO FALL OFF IF BUMPED, ......and then goes on to say that the seed came from a gentleman whose family (Gilberts) have grown it since it came over from Italy with them late in the last century. I haven't grown it but those who have, as listing it in the SSE Yearbooks seem to like it for sauce. The history given is one that so many sauce/paste varieties have as coming with families when they immigrated to the US from about the late 1800's to maybe about the early 1920's. Some of them are not all that good for fresh eating and some are. Yes, I have grown a lot of them but when I was still making sauce I didn't use just paste varieties, I used what tastes best b'c most paste varieties aren't known for great taste. Just cook the sauce down a bit more. Amish Paste was named a paste but it's far too juicy/seedy to be a paste. Many times a variety was named because of the shape it had, not b'c it had dense meaty flesh with few seeds. Another example is Lillian's Red Kansas Paste which isn't a paste either. These days if I were going to grow a paste here's a few I like, and do so b'c they also taste good and can be eaten fresh as well. Not that you asked, but I'm on a roll here so..... LOL Heidi Mama Leone Opalka Sarnowski Polish Plum ....can't remember the others right now, luckily for you,LOL, but I've grown all the Costolutos and various strains of San Marzanos out there and don't think they match up to many others as regards taste. Just my opinion, of course, b'c what I always want is great taste, whether for sauce or fresh eating. Just for the heck of it here's a list if varieties that originated in Italy from Tania's Tomato data base and it reminded to note another great one for fresh eating and sauce, and that's Tony's Italian. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Category:Italian_Tomatoes I could put up such lists from her webpage for sauce/paste varieties from other countries that have tomato based cuisines, and the Sarnowski Polish Plum I mentioned about is but one example. Hope that helps. Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Gilbert Italian Plum
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paste tomatoes libby's pride and aunt lucys paste any body tried.
Q
Comments (5)
At the bottom I linked to Libby's Pride, and yes, I was the first to list it in the 2010 SSE Yearbook and sent seeds to Mike at Victory Seeds, who offers it now. I'd have to look at some back Yearbooks b'c I don't rememember what I thought about it but I did send seeds to an SSE friend who lists it in the 2014 yearbook and knowing her I'd say that her description was on the luke warm side, I haven't grown the Aunt Lucy one and there are no listings for it in the 2014 Yearbook and here's Tania's page for it, seeds offered by Tomatofest. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Aunt_Lucy%27s_Italian_Paste#tab=General_Info And yes I've grown Dix Doight de Naples which is the correct name for it and it looks like both Bill Minkey and I first listed it in the 1997 SSE YEarbook. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Dix_Doights_de_Naples#tab=General_Info And I did think very highly of the above and remember it well b/c it was the first variety I ever got a somatic mutation with, same as a sport with apples, etc, and one branch had fruits that were still red but an entirely different shape. I've also grown the Martino's Roma you mentioned, listed that one in 1993. Maybe it was the year you grew it since it always turned red for me here in zone 5 upstate NY. I don't know where your grandfather came from but all of the above originally came from different areas of Italy. If Italy is you focus I can also highly suggest Mama Leone http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Mama_Leone That one was introduced by Nancy, the same person who who still lists Libby's Pride in the 2014 Yearbook. I should mention that none of the tomato varieties that are in the SSE Yearbooks are available to folks who are not SsE members if you aren't familiar with SSE. Please forget about the various Costolutos and San Marzanos from Italy b'c IMO while they once had excellent reputations, not so for most folks today. Hope that helps, Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Libby's Pride
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good disease resistant meaty/paste tomatoes ?
Q
Comments (13)
The reason I asked whether you figured out what the problem was is that you could easily switch varieties and still end up with disease. If it's something like early blight, some varieties may be more resistant, or you may switch varieties and get disease anyway. Or it could be a disease like septoria to which there is no variety developed for resistance or tolerance. Or it could be a soilborne disease which would be handled very well using hybrids bred specifically to resist them, whereas switching to another open pollinated or heirloom variety would do you no good. Or it could have been a pest and not a disease, in which case, it's only very minimally about variety. IMO, a key thing is to figure out what your problem is this year and prepare for it appropriately in subsequent years. For example, it may be a disease that can be controlled well by pre-emptive regular spraying of fungicide, in which case, if you like what you're growing this year for taste and how well it cans, you may just want to grow it again but spray preventively from day 1 of plant-out to ward it off longer so you can get a plentiful harvest. There are also practices like how you support plants in order to provide good airflow and spacing, etc. It may be due to a pest that can be controlled if you watch for them and catch them early. As Dave points out, there's no perfect. It's about finding a combination of variety characteristics and cultural practices that work for you. IMO, it's unrealistic to expect perfect disease resistance from any variety. You also need to give plants an assist with your cultural practices, and to do that, you need to figure out what's going on in your garden in terms of prevalent disease and pest organisms.
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cziga
Original Author
12 years ago
I should add that they don't HAVE to be Paste tomatoes specifically, but oxhearts or any other options that are thick/solid enough to be used as paste tomatoes and fit the taste criteria, etc ... I have grown almost no oxhearts and would be interested in some varieties that could double as paste tomatoes with good taste!

Dave - thanks for those links. I actually did a search before posting but it didn't turn up much (only 1 of those threads you linked to). Lots of discussion on paste varieties, not too much on other varieties that could be used as paste type tomatoes.

Also, no mention about the paste variety "Smokey Mountain". Is this because it is rare, and rarely grown ... or because it's just not good enough to be mentioned in these type of threads?
dickiefickle
12 years ago
try this link

Here is a link that might be useful: google
digdirt2
12 years ago
Given your criteria then you already have the best one to meet them all - Opalka. For the oxhearts, my personal favorite is Bull's Heart

Dave
greenmulberry
12 years ago
Opalka is my favorite all around tomato, they are GREAT for making sauce and I find they are tasty enough for many other uses. They are so solid, just pure tomato flesh, very little seeds and goo, they are my favorite tomato for a fresh chopped salsa.

80% of the plants I put in each year are Opalka, and I never regret planting so many.
clones2
12 years ago
Im a big fan of Martino's Roma for paste and taste. I am trying Opalka and Polish Linguia this year as well...
cziga
Original Author
12 years ago
Opalka certainly seems to be the winner for paste tomatoes ... I am already planning to try this one for the summer so I'm looking forward to it.

I was hoping to hear from anyone growing or who has grown Smokey (Smoky) Mountain as a paste tomato, I'm curious about this one.

Dave, thank you for the Bull's Heart suggestion, I will look into it. I am looking for a couple good oxheart varieties to try, especially ones that can be used to double for paste tomatoes, and I appreciate the suggestion.

Thanks :)
highalttransplant
12 years ago
I liked the taste of Opalka much better than San Marzano, which I thought was bland and mealy. The problem I had with it was that most of them weren't ripe when we had our first frost.

In '10 I grew Amish Paste, which was earlier for me than Opalka, and had decent flavor for a paste tomato. I'm growing it again this year. I'm also trying one called Romeo, which I don't know too much about, other than it's supposed to be large for a paste type.

I have seeds for several oxheart type tomatoes, but haven't grown any of them out yet. From what I've read, most aren't overly productive, and I don't have enough space for low producers, even if they taste really good.

Just my 2 cents,
Bonnie
kevinitis
12 years ago
Last year I grew italian heriloom. I know its not a true paste tomato, but it was grown in Italy where they make a lot of tomato sauces. I found it was a good slicer eating fresh because it was almost the best tasting tomato in my garden, but also meaty enough to make a good sauce. It was fairly productive and is going to be a staple in my garden. Taste wise it was about 3rd out of about 35 varieties. Thats saying alot because I choose most of my varieties based on their taste reputation.

I also grew san marzano, amish paste. San marzano I thought was too soft and spoiled to easily for my uses, though it was VERY productive. My amish paste was not planted in the best of locations in my garden (a somewhat shaded area) but it had fair production of tomatoes smaller than usually proclaimed for this variety. It was middle of the pack for me on taste (possibly because of less sun). I am going to try it again in a more sunny location because I believe I really did not give it a fair shake. It has a good reputation locally here in Utah on taste, productivity, etc.
ferretbee
12 years ago
Last year I grew a couple Martino's Roma. It's a slightly pear shaped Italian Heirloom. They were very prolific and very good quality.

Paste Tomatoes

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