Part of it underweigh, Anna. Patience, patience...

Here we go, Anna.
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The reason we were there! {{gwi:2114943}}

Us! L to R: pepino, Adam, Raymondo, Spatz, finbar, Craig (in white), Patrina, Bronwyn. {{gwi:2114944}}

Raymondo, Julie, Spatz and pepino resting between tastings. {{gwi:2114945}}

And Mrs finbar resting between tastings!

Nice work gang. Who were the big suppliers of fruit? I was worried there might be a dearth of things to try but, thankfully, those concerns appear unwarranted. I trust the restaurant and local plonk were of sufficiently high standards? Yes?

Craig supplied the bulk with Patrina adding the extras. Pepino bravely brought a BBY! :)

The restaurant - Pickled Sisters - was of mixed quality. A polite complaint about the overly-salty, undrinkable broth under Adam's fish was shrugged off by the kitchen. The chef said he didn't add any salt to the broth so the problem must have been with the stock which he didn't make. Thus we learned that the chef doesn't taste the food he's preparing. Cardinal sin.

Here's a photo to prove we were there: {{gwi:2114946}}

Much local wine was sampled at cellar doors and quite a deal was bought. There were some mighty fine drops on offer. Rutherglen remains one of the top wine-producing regions in the country.

The pics look nice and friendly. You lot sure set a high bar with all those heirloom tomatoes. They would highlight any flaws in fodder and wine. Sounds like I could have easily made a fool of myself.

Any incriminating pics?

BTW: I'll be posting a large seed offer on this page in weeks t/c for whoever is interested.

Thanks for the report and the piccies. Looks like there was no need to worry about the number of samplings, they look great.

It was a great weekend. A great choice of venue despite the agricultural restrictions. I was a little overwhelmed by the variety of flavours and textures and have only two stand out memories - a tomato called Big Yellow which was delicious (I grabbed the leftovers to get the seeds) and another called The Orange which was very unpleasant indeed. There were many that I'd like to grow myself (they're just about all on my 2005 list!). However, taste is a very personal thing and I'm sure others have quite different opinions.
Sign me up for next year.

Back from Rutherglen! What a fantastic weekend that was. We were all tomatoed out on Saturday. What a lovely day! What a great bunch of people! And the tomatoes were pretty good, too.

Craig, Raymondo and Patrina eager to sink their teeth into the beauties:
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Craig went out of his way to bring a huge selection. Next year we were hoping to have it over the border a bit, so we will have a few hundred to try and not 43 as the case was this time. 43 was overwhelming, an amazing amount of tastes. My second favourite was Bourke's Backyard, brought by pepino. I don't know why it's been so vilified, it was yummo.
I can hear you all whining from here, thankyou.

BBY in second place; which one was your favourite Adam? Prue stood the clear winner for me with Manyel in second place. I don't think I tried all the varieties, but I went home with a few more seed varieties...not surprising!
Now just need to convince my DW that black coloured cherry tomatoes are edible.

What a fantastic weekend folks! The anticipation was so exciting as the time approached, and the weekend truly lived up to it I wrote a fuller report in the US Tomato Forum, so I'll let you read it there. I arrived home tired but happy after 12 hours of travelling!

Mr and Mrs Finbar are gonna be missed bigtime next year. Hopefully the Grubs and others who weren't able to be there will come along to ease the pain.

PP

Here is a link that might be useful: Scroll down for my report

The varieties that stuck in my mind were Sungold, Sun Plum Segregate, Perfect Pale Purple - they were delicious! They got a 4 or 4-5 rating from me.

The Orange was horrible. It looked perfect, great colour, and when cut the texture looked fantastic - but the taste was yuk. The only tomato that got a 0 rating from me.

I think I tasted 28 varieties. This was the absolute limit.

I thought I would not be able to eat another tomato for a while but I did have a few slices of bruschetta with thinly sliced tomatoes for tea last night.

I propose we hold the Tasting next year in Italy.

"This is a tomato", says Raymondo to Patrina and Pepino.
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This is Big Rainbow.
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"I won't smile", thinks finbar. Friday night.
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Schnitzel orgy. Sunday night.
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So this is where you all hang out! I wondered where all the reports got to?! Would you consider having me on this forum? I have been so busy lately that I missed this forum.
Great reports too!
Cheers
Craig

Hi Craig. We were only saying on the weekend that we hardly ever saw you here. We hadn't realised you didn't know about this place. This is where we congregate and get up to general mischief. Like organising weekends in Rutherglen!

Glad you all managed to have a good time without me! :-)
I'm really disappointed I wasn't able to make it.
I had great fun & games with the trees adam, & as I had to have another half day off to visit the solicitor today it's just as well I didn't go.
I'll be there next year though, wherever or whenever!

Count me in Finbar!
I love getting up to general mischief! Especially the Rutherglen type.
I will use this forum for more tomato pictures in preference to the US forum I think.
Cheers
Craig

We tend to cross-post tommy photos between here and over there. We get some NH visitors here, but not many.

To be truthful, we only post our pics on the US forum to annoy Earl. But I don't think it works. He loves them!

I think my fave was Manyel pep, and good to see special K here too. Finally found the normal people's forum!!. NOT.
We had a great time on the weekend Sarah, trouble is , these people like to eat. All the weight I lost in the preceding 3 weeks was all back on for the weekend. I wish I could care, but ya dead a long time. I was able to eat my favourite, all time yummy, Vienna Schnitzel, with fried potatoes, a green salad, and baked tomatoes with garlic and zucchini from Pepino's garden. A bit spesh. Oh god, we ate well, it was really nice. Gardeners are like potters, in a smuch as, they have a gentility about them. it's about being near the earth I'm sure, really reassuring in a way.

Its really weird planing one of these things me thinks. Last weekend I would have been only able to bring some cherries and a couple of large toms to the show. This weekend coming I will, (i think), have 8 bigger type toms and the same cherries ripe.

Sorry this has taken so long, but I was rudely interrupted by work commitments. (HOW annoying!)

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And (da da)...

Here is a link that might be useful: The Results of the Taste Test (disclaimer disclaimer)

Thank you to all you generous people. I now have more tomato seeds than I quite know what to do with, however I don't feel I'm at the stage where I need to store them in alphabetical order...

finbar, would you be so kind as to share your lemon tart recipe? A perfect follow-up to the tomato overdose.

I see you deciphered my hieroglyphics. Also interesting to see how varied the opinions are...Manyel 1? What the...?

Congrats on a great job with the collating, Bronwyn. Elephant stamp for you! Some of the American growers are interested in the results, so I'll post a link to the results on the Tomato forum.

I'll post the recipe for the Lemon & Lime Tart later this arvo.

You already posted it over there, Bronwyn. Well done. Another elephant stamp!

Great job, Bronwyn. I'm also impressed you could read my handwriting!

I wasn't impressed with Manyel, pepino.

Happy to see that Pale Perfect Purple is first. :)

Hi pepino - I suspect the ratings are a bit of a bloody disaster from a true stats point of view, but not everyone gave every tomato a rating and I was only given 5 sheets...

and thanks heaps, finbar.

(a bit irritating losing a post because it has the same subject)

Thanks Bronwyn. I know, work is a bugger. We should find a way to abolish it!
The results are varied aren't they? The pictures are great too.
That lemon/lime tart recipe will be very welcome Finbar. Loved the strong flavours of lemon/lime.
Cheers
Craig

The key to the taste balance is obviously the amount of sugar. I've experimented with many different sugar volumes and I think the current one is about right. Don't be daunted by the number of eggs and amounts of butter! This recipe is adapted from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers' River Cafe recipe.

These ingredients will produce a tart of the size we had on the weekend. It serves 10 to 12 in a 12" fluted flan tin with a loose base. For smaller, just scale down the ingredients appropriately.

Sweet Pastry

350g plain flour
Pinch of salt
175g unsalted cold butter, cubed
100g icing sugar
3 egg yolks

Pulse the flour, butter and salt in a food processor until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolks. Pulse again until the mix combines. It won't take long. It's ready as soon as the mix leaves the sides of the processor. The key to the softness of the pastry is not to overwork it either in the processor or, afterwards, by hand. Tip the mix out of the processor, pat it together into a ball, then wrap it in GladWrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When you come to use the pastry, it should be pretty firm. Firm enough to grate. Use the side of the grater with the largest holes to grate the pastry into the bottom of the loose-bottomed flan tin. Grate piles of pastry all around the bottom of the tin. Then, with your fingers, flatten out the piles, pressing the grated pastry to form a thinnish base. The warmth of your fingers will soften the pastry to make it workable. If it's too thin in places, grate some more pastry over the thin spots and press it into place. For the fluted sides, break off pieces of pastry from the ball and press it around the sides of the tin, making sure there's a secure join to the pastry base.

Bake blind at 180C for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is light golden colour.

The Mixture

175g caster sugar
Finely grated zest and juice of 5 lemons and 3 limes
6 whole eggs
9 egg yolks
300g softened unsalted butter, cubed

See what I mean about the eggs and butter! Put the zest, juice, sugar and eggs into a large saucepan over low heat. Whisk until the egg yolks have broken up and the sugar has dissolved. Add half the butter, stirring all the time. The mixture will thicken as the eggs start to cook. When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, add the rest of the butter. Never stop stirring. Keep stirring until the mixture is very thick. Remove the saucepan from the heat and continue to stir until the mixture's temperature drops to lukewarm.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry case (in its flan tin) to just below the top of the fluted edge. Put the flan tin into a 230C oven for 8 to 10 minutes. If your oven is hotter at the back than the front, rotate the tart 180 degrees halfway through in order to keep the colour of the pastry even.

Just to increase the chances of a heart attack, I serve it with whipped vanilla cream!

Thanks for the hard work with those results Bronwyn! Fantastic job!

PP

Thanks finbar. I'm glad it's the low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar version. :-) though I'm a King Island cream person meself.

And no worries, Patrina. Since I arrived tomato-less it's the least I could do.

Actually, whaddya mean "serves 10 - 12"? Maybe one!

No probs, Bronwyn, just scrape a vanilla bean into a bowl of King Island cream and give it a good stir. And give me the spoon to lick.

You've all put me to shame. Thanks for all the work on the weekend. Great job Bron and Craig. I must have wierd tastes or something. Oh well, life's a journey.

Thanks Bron for the effort involved in collating, and particularly deciphering, the taste reports.

Okay, now I'll HAVE to add Patrina Pepperina's Pale Perfect Purple to my 2005 grow list!

I think we should start creating tomatoes with names like

Adam's Ambitious Amber
Bron's Bountiful Black
Craig's Capricious Caper
Finbar's Festive Fanfare
Jason's Juniper Jaunt
Ray's Royal Ruby
Spatz's Spring Spectacular

Ozmantis' Orrible Oblate.

Monsanto's Malicious Megalomania.*snicker*

Grub's Gourmet Green *wink*

D'ya need seeds for PPP Ray?

PP

Thanks PP,
If anyone wants seeds for the large delicious green I grew just mail me. It's a mystery that came from a pack of Paul Robeson. I didn't have the heart to kill the other dwarf seedling I grew from the pack and stuck it in a pot. Guess what? It produced three small black oblate fruits, so at least I have some seeds for PR now. If you want to see the green scroll down to pic headed Mystery Green in the linke. All my other pics from the tomato season are here.
Best, Grub, looking at Kohl Rabi, carrot, lettuce and assorted veggie seeds now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Gallery

Orrible oblate ? What are you refering to Graeme :-)

As always, it's in the eye of the beholder, Richard.

I just sent off seeds for 13 varieties to the owners of the B&B where we stayed. I offered to send some seeds, they enthusiastically accepted. They'll be sorry!

It is a bit addictive isn't it Finbar!!!

Sure is. As the B&B owners are going to find out!