Tomato Review - the Big 'uns

Here at the end of August, our large slicing and paste tomatoes are finally ripening. We took a little time to gather some to evaluate. It amazes me how different they all look.

Celebration: These are mid-size tomatoes. They ripen earlier than some of the others, are fairly prolific, and are a good side for slicing

Rutgers: Similar to Celebration, but a little firmer, which I like. This year they seem to be a little less prolific. We will need to debate which one we keep as we should really narrow our selections.

Beefsteak: I pictured these being bigger, but these plants have been producing tomatoes on a relatively small size. Probably will drop this one.

Brandywine Pink: These have been slow to ripen, but they are huge. Kind of a fun one to grow. Maggie likes big slices, so we will probably keep this one as the Beefsteak did not deliver.

Cherokee Purple: These are at the end of their season, but still getting a few. Always a keeper due to its size and taste.

San Marzano: After a slow start, these paste tomatoes are producing a lot of fruit. Should be good for some fresh salsa. Always good to grow one paste tomato, and this one is it.

Beam's Yellow Pear: A later producing cherry tomato, these are a fun shape and color. We forgot we even planted these so they were a bonus to find. Even when we decide not to grow them, we still seem to grow them.

Amish Bonus Tomatoes: Maggie has been driving a local Amish woman to the store monthly, and last year she shared a couple of tomatoes with us to save seeds from. The red version seem like a cross between Celebration and Brandywine. The large yellow tomatoes in particular have been a good addition and a keeper.

All of the pictured tomatoes went into a pan for roasting in the oven at 360 degrees for 90 minutes. I ran them through a food mill and will use for tomato soup with tortellini at lunch this week. I then decided to make a cabbage curry dish for dinner the remainder of the week. The recipe called for diced tomatoes, so I had to go back out to the garden for more tomatoes. With 7+ varieties of large tomatoes to choose from, it was fun to think about which would work best. I decided on a mix of Cherokee Purple, which broke down for sauce, and Rutgers, which held together a little better.

The weather has taken a turn for the colder, so only a few weeks of tomatoes left to enjoy. I had a BLT for breakfast, trying to capture summer while we can