So you can see the size difference and the prolific nature of the smaller compared to the larger- not ready to comment on quality, and not a very sophisticated judge. (To make a batch of sauce I just take a bunch of ripe paste/roma/sauce tomatoes and go to it; I’ve never had enough of a specific variety to make isolated batches.)
Seeing a little disease on the lower branches, and some bug damage, but these are completely unsprayed and dern near organic (“dno” should be an acceptable marketing term, I think) and I have no complaints.
In an earlier post I mentioned a paste variety called “Health Kick”, which purports to have higher than ordinary levels of lycopene. It did not do particularly well, but I’ll take another shot at it next year and go from there.
My generally prolific “Early Cascade” are not happy with me this year- and I’m eating my paste tomatoes at the table instead of cooking with them. But I’m getting a few smallish Cascade and will see what happens in the future.
I’m liking this one to eat, too. Cut a couple for the plates at supper tonight and they were brilliantly red clear through and tasted great, slightly on the sweet side, though. They seem to never lose that green top completely -better to be ripe when it looks green than to be green when it looks ripe. They’re good and I’ll grow them again.
Yes usually referred to as having green shoulders.
Pastes are good for salsa too, I don’t mind the sweet, but usually you want pastes to be kinda bland, seems those types cook up better, like the heat brings out the flavor. I like the blacks and deep reds. They taste best to me. I don’t grow many yellow/orange, or even pink although I do like them too. Many fantastic pinks out there.
I like the reds and blacks for regular use. Still experimenting too. I have some favorites, but no plant is perfect. The reds and blacks can be a challenge to grow. Often low production or disease magnets. I wish I liked the yellows more, as they produce and produce and produce some more.
I want to make sure when I can sauce that the product is safe so I add a little lime juice, to knock the pH down a touch.
I don’t like a sweet sauce, many do. When prepping the sauce, I never add sugar, but I do add shredded carrots to make the sauce more basic, to neutralize the lime,and knock down the acid from the tomatoes themselves.
