Not the biggest but for me Black Krim.

Cool, I have some BK seeds that just sprouted! I look forward to trying this variety.

I think his question was 'where' you would grow the tomato, not what variety, if I am reading correctly.

Ted, you will probably hear from New Jersey people who will say their area is the best place in the world to grow tomatoes. It might be, but I also heard that was a myth perpetrated by the tomato industry there!

I think anywhere that weather if warm and nights are temperate with loamy, deep soil would be the perfect place. I always wondered how tomatoes grow in Hawaai because their soil is so black and rich looking.

Duane

Oklahoma- because everything is better here. I've got sandy loam, and a couple of growing seasons each yr. Even though it slows slow fruit set, the taste of the ones on the vine seems to be enhanced by our torturous heat.

Somewhere that would not get lots of rain in the weeks before the competition. Too much wetness makes for poorer taste....not to mention foliage disease.

That said, I would not expect consistantly great taste from all tomaotes grown near me in SW Michigan. We get some weeks with lots of rain each year. When that happens, tomatoes lose some of their taste, some split, and sometimes fungi move into the patch. But we still grow some very tasty toms! If I were going to be competing I might rig up an awning to keep excessive rain off if the forecast called for day after day of rain.

Soil would make a difference, too, much like in grapes for wine. Hopefully, someone will chime in with ideas on where the best tomato soils are. I have no idea where it might be and what flavor components would be enhanced.

I'd assume "chemicals" mean non-organic fertilizers and pesticides. It would be tough to grow decent tomatoes without some added nutrients from compost, fish emulsion, or other organics which do certainly do contain chemicals, just from natural sources.

Year to year seems like somebody always asks this question.I have been pretty much constant in my opinion; my experience of well over 50 years in 4 states tieing up tomatoes in the garden has established that the absolute finest place to grow tomatoes is 15 feet (approx.) back from the edge of Lake Tomahawk, preferably on the North side of the lake. Lake Tomahawk is located right at 3 miles from downtown metropolitan Negley, Ohio which is nicely situated in Columbiana County, Ohio over there at the east central edge of the state. You may Google up Lake Tomahawk if you'd like but you generally can't find it on a map cause we're hiding it some.

Do you mean this lake?

First of all, the OP was asking where is best and which tomato is best. Of course, like most things in life, there is no simple answer. You'll get a thousand different tomato variety recommendations, and most folks tend to prefer the climate they are accustomed to... (Except ME! -25°F the other night.)

Anyway...
If money were no object, I would choose the Central Valley in California for the perfect place to grow. Of course, that would be contingent on FREE irrigation! If the irrigation wasn't free, then I'd choose the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Of course, buying land there, would pretty much negate any profits for a long, long time into the future.

Also, tomato varieties recommended in one area, may not do so well in another area. For example, the Black Krim tomato, while being utterly delicious and desirable, can hardly be grown in the cold zones, because it will catface horribly. It seems unable to tolerate the temperatures while setting fruit, that other varieties tolerate better.

(And I'm not talking about isolated catfacing. More like several acres of very scarred, catfaced fruit, so bad that some had the stem encircled within the deformed fruits.)

Mr. Catman,

Yes, you have correctly identified the perfect tomato growing spot on the North American Continent! Amazing how you managed to bust through our half hearted attempt at secrecy-heavens to Mergitruod, now we are found and who knows what could happen next!

Sacramento is not known as Sacratomato for nothing. I'm not sure what you Easterners are talking about when waxing poetic and nearing rapture when writing about your areas, but come now. Everyone get real. Sacratomato and the Sacramento Valley is unparalleled tomato country. ;o) (I grew up in SE Michigan, and grew a few toms there, BTW...)

'Green Grape' tomatoes in Sacto produce from late June/early July until November, and there are few things better than walking out the door to your plant and picking a 'Green Grape', still cool while the air is hinting at 90º, rolling it around in your mouth before the anticipation of biting down to get the slight tang wrestling with the sweetness...sigh.... 'Green Grape' are not entered in competition because it is the most obvious thing in the world that this is the best thing ever and so the competitions are for 2nd place.

Nonetheless, If I were to still live there and enter a competition, it would be 'Black Krim' and 'Brandy Boy', and for the extra effort of just a few fruits, I'd enter a 'Brandywine' if I knew the judges.

Dan

San Antonio Texas! per the link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Pace Thick & Chunky

That's two for Black Krim! I'm getting excited about growing this one...

While you can certainly do worse than central Texas... When I was there, I was not so impressed with the number of days above 90°F. The hot, dry stretch surrounding July and August really shortened and interfered with the vegetable growing season.