2021 Tomato Trials - the Results - The Chatty Gardener

The 2021 tomato trials have gone far better than I feared would be the case. The plants managed to escape this year’s widespread blight and produced a decent crop despite the less than perfect weather.

True, the haul has not been as good as in previous years – partly because I had fewer plants following germination problems early in the year.

Those tomatoes that did make it through have performed well and they are still cropping. The temperatures are forecast to drop dramatically this week though and I’m ready to pick what’s left and ripen the green fruit in the kitchen.

As ever, the taste test is subjective and results will be affected by growing conditions. Here’s the round up.

I was given seed in return for a fair review.

Now, as a family we tend to prefer cherry-style tomatoes so it was a surprise to find that the winner of the 2021 tomato trials was a beefsteak variety.

I was given ‘Brandy Boy’ by Marshalls as part of an offer via the Garden Media Guild. It’s a new hybrid of an old Heritage variety, ‘Brandywine’, bred to give a more compact plant and better resistance to disease.

Despite the size of the fruits, they had a really good flavour, slightly acidic and were extremely juicy. Definitely one to grow again.

‘Burlesque’, a beefsteak given to me by Burpee Seeds, was not as good. We thought the flavour was not as strong and the flesh was a bit ‘woolly’.

Another Heritage variety was ‘Bloody Butcher’, given to me by Dobies. This produced mid-sized tomatoes that didn’t have a strong flavour but were pleasant enough. I suspect it would possibly be better cooked.

I didn’t think ‘Giulietta’ from Marshalls was going to make it into the 2021 tomato trials as the first fruits all suffered from blossom end rot. However, as the season progressed, so the plants seem to fare better and we ended up with quite a few of these plum-type tomatoes.

Eaten raw, they have a good flavour and firm flesh however, they would be best cooked – especially as the large fruit are easier to skin than smaller varieties.

It was difficult to decide which of the cherry-type tomaotes we preferred. Out of the yellows, ‘Merrygold’ from Mr Fothergill’s was top. It had great a great flavour although the skin was a bit tough.

When it came to the red cherries, ‘Cherry Baby’, given to me by Marshalls, scored well as did ‘Crimson Cherry’, from Suttons, and ‘Rubylicious’ from Burpee Seeds.

‘Cherry Baby’ had a good flavour but a tough skin, while ‘Crimson Cherry’ was well-flavoured but a bit soft.

‘Rubylicious’ had a great flavour and good acidity, which we prefer. It was also the first to germinate with shoots appearing after just four days.

In contrast, the other yellow cherry Mr Fothergill’s sent me, ‘Gold Nugget’, was disappointing. We didn’t think it had much flavour, the skin was tough and the texture not good.

‘Red Robin’, from Chilterns, had only average flavour and the fruit was inconsistent – some were better than others in terms of taste. It was another that was a bit soft in texture.

Finally, the last in the 2021 tomato trials was ‘Crimson Plum’, sent to me by Suttons. This proved to be a tomato with good flesh and flavour. A nice change from a cherry tomato.

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