How to Choose the Right Tomato for Your Garden
If you grow vegetables in the summer, you probably grow tomatoes, and they are often the first vegetables a new gardener tries to grow. This is a good option – there is nothing better than eating a ripe tomato that you grew yourself.
But not all tomatoes are created equal, and deciding which ones to grow can be difficult. There are countless varieties, and rather than choosing based on color or cute name, learning the characteristics of different types of tomatoes can help ensure a more successful season of growing (and eating) tomatoes. Whether you grow tomatoes from seeds or buy seedlings from a nursery, here’s what to consider to help you choose the right tomato for you.
Determinate and indeterminate tomatoes
Before you start learning about the taste, color or anything else, you should know about the two types of tomatoes. All tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate, and at the most basic level, the difference is in the harvesting: determinate tomatoes produce all their fruit in a few weeks, while indeterminate tomatoes do so over the course of a season. This seems like an easy choice because who wouldn’t want a season full of tomatoes? And if you’re harvesting, say, slicing tomatoes for sandwiches, a season full of tomatoes makes sense. But if you’re harvesting tomato paste to make a sauce, you’ll likely need them all at once, so you can make several large batches of the sauce.
The two types of tomatoes also grow differently: Determinate tomatoes tend to be bushier, grow to a certain point, and then stop. Indeterminate tomatoes grow taller, like a vine, and never stop growing or setting flowers. You can prune indeterminate tomatoes to shape the plant, but you should never prune determinate tomatoes or you will limit the amount of fruit you are able to grow.
Every plant label or catalog listing will tell you whether a tomato is determinate or indeterminate, but when in doubt, do a little research. You can search the name of the tomato online to find out, or ask someone at the nursery.
The type of tomato determines its shape, size and juiciness.
To see the varieties of tomatoes on offer, all you have to do is go to the grocery store. There are cherry tomatoes (they’re not just little tomatoes), paste or plum tomatoes, and ball tomatoes. Sometimes you’ll even see slicers. Each of these types of tomatoes serves a specific purpose.
Slicers are best for sandwiches.
When you picture the perfect tomato, you probably picture a sliced tomato. Palm-sized or larger slicers can weigh over a pound and come in a variety of shapes. There are heirloom tomatoes, such as Purple Cherokee or Berkeley Tie Dye, which have large, well-defined lobes and shoulders. There are ball tomatoes that you usually buy at the supermarket: the size of a tennis ball, very round and smooth. There are heart-shaped tomatoes such as Quoer di Bue and Oxheart, which have a distinct point at one end and tall shoulders that make them look like hearts.
What really sets slicers apart, however, is that they have good juiciness—more than other tomatoes—but also enough meat to allow the tomato slices to hold together. This makes them ideal for sandwiches or a nice caprese salad.
Pate or plum tomatoes make a great sauce.
Although tomato sauce can be made from any tomato, the best tomato sauce is paste or plum. These elongated tomatoes have more meat and less juiciness, making them ideal for cooking and canning. This shape makes them easy to clean and ideal for baking. Classic paste tomatoes include Roma (determinate variety) and San Marzano (indeterminate variety), both of which have amazing flavor. You might also consider varieties like Amish Paste, an undefined variety popular for its size and production, if not so much for its taste. Growing multiple varieties (say, one great-tasting tomato and one good-yielding tomato) and using both will yield more sauce while maintaining flavor.
Cherry tomatoes – for snacks and salads.
Cherry tomatoes, typically the size of a bubble gum ball, are popular in salad bars and make ideal appetizers. It is important to note that cherry tomatoes are not baby tomatoes, but mature and mature tomatoes that should be this size. There are several subspecies of cherries. While most are spherical, there are also pear-shaped cherry tomatoes, the most famous of which is the Yellow Bell. There are also grape tomatoes, which are actually small paste tomatoes like Juliet, which are very prolific and a great compromise; They make a fantastic sauce and are great for snacking.
The color of a tomato really affects the taste.
One of the most exciting aspects of growing tomatoes is the range of colors you can get. Every year I grow a veritable rainbow of cherry tomatoes, but the colors aren’t just for looks. The color of a tomato is created by pigments, and these pigmentation elements affect the amount of sugar and acid present in the fruit. Red and pink tomatoes, which have more chlorophyll and lycopene, have higher acid levels than yellow and orange tomatoes, making them more tart. Blue, brown, and purple tomatoes have higher levels of anthocyanins, resulting in a more savory flavor. Green Grape cherry tomatoes are slightly spicy due to the lack of lycopene.
Cherry tomatoes are a great way to experiment with color and flavor. Once you know what you like, you can try slicers in those colors. But even among paste tomatoes, which are traditionally red, there have been surprising changes in recent years, resulting in yellow paste tomatoes like the Sunrise Sauce that I grow myself—this variety can make a less acidic sauce or soup if too much acid in tomatoes tends to overwhelm you.
Know the rules for using tomatoes, but don’t be afraid to break them.
While all tomatoes are somewhat interchangeable—you can make cherry tomato sauce or use tomato paste on a sandwich—you’ll notice a big difference if you use the right tomato for the right job. There’s nothing better than cutting up a fresh Yellow Brandywine tomato and slicing it up for a BLT. My canned whole tomatoes, grown in my yard called San Marzanos, taste better than any can of tomatoes from the market, and while you can snack on any tomato, the sweetness of cherry tomatoes makes them a better choice.
Understanding the type, color and growing habits of different tomatoes can help you choose the right tomatoes for your home garden and buy seeds or begin a more informed process. It’s tomato summer!