totally tasteless tomatoes...

[fruit&vegvirgin]

help!! what can I do with masses of tomatoes that all taste really boring and look like cotton wool when you cut into them?
I grew Alicante and Buffalo, got a huge but very slow ripening crop - and now that loads are red, we've started eating them and are SO disappointed.... I was fantasising about those fab ones you get in Provence, which really taste like proper tomatoes, but honestly mine are just pretty yuk. have tried them fresh from the plant, as well as those which fell off and have ripened under glass in the porch.
am thinking making vats of tomato sauce, padded out with tins or puree which actually taste like tomatoes, but is this a waste of time? should I just chuck the lot?

[Silverfox]

It really depends on how many you have got. There are loads of idea's about what to do with tomatoes on other threads. If you don't want to use them maybe try getting together lots of your old junk and doing a car boot sale this weekend coming. Bag up the tomato's and sell them for 10p on your stall.
You won't make much but it will cover you for another packet of seeds next year.

[Shortie]

Hi F&VV... If they're really that bland, I'd cook them into a pasta sauce that you can flavour with garlic, peppers, and whatever else you fancy...

[SueA]

Sorry about your toms FVV but don't give up, as Shortie says if you put them in sauces they should be o.k. The tastiest toms I find are usually the cherry or tumbler types, they pop & are full of juice when you bite them. I think that ones which you ripen indoors always seem to go a bit woolly & bland so that could be your problem with some & maybe a combination of the heat & lack of water could have affected those outdoors. I usually grow 'Moneymaker' outdoors & they are generally tasty but this year they just haven't ripened, it's strange with all the sun we've had.

[JazzDuke]

If you want a lovely tasty large misshapen tom try Marmande (not many to a plant mind). As previously the cherry types, esp. Gardeners Delight is superb.

Also as previously cook them. Also try to just liven them a bit, a sprinkle of salt and olive oil, then a couple of basil leaves often works wonders.

[bramble]

Fairline also have a lovely flavour. They are a medium sized tom and seem to ripen pretty quickly.

[Alice]

Sorry about your toms F&V Virgin. You could cook them to a pulp and freeze it then flavour it with onion, garlic and basil when ready to make a sauce, or just bin them and used tinned tomatoes. I'm sure you worked that out for yourself. As to why your toms are flavourless and wooly - what temperature was your greenhouse. I think if you let the temperatures soar the tomatoes are ruined. I try not to let the greenhouse get above 25 degrees. 18 -25 is fine for toms. If you're growing aubergines in the same greenhouse it doesn't work as the aubs want it hot. My toms were great, but the aubs a complete failure as I kept the temps down for the toms. My outdoor toms were also great this year as the summer was very good. Maybe you could grow your toms outside and let the aubs have the greenhouse. Good luck for next year.

[fruit&vegvirgin]

sauce it is then, I cant throw them away!! they were outdoors Alice, in growbags with those slot in pot things as well, and arranged with their backs to a wall with glass above - lovely hot spot, but maybe too windy for them as we are v. close to the sea. I think I watered too erratically... am thinking about trying a couple of plants in the kitchen garden itself next year, which is more sheltered (but praps not as sunny). havent got a greenhouse, but am plotting...

[ryanguevara1983]

I grew toms for the first time this year and had a similar problem with a few of mine. I found that picking them when they're still quite orange and firm worked well, the taste was also much sweeter. Although a plump deep red looks great tom, i find the orange ones more tasty!!

[leona]

i have a similar problem. i grew black zebra and purple russian and although the toms taste ok, there are hardly any therre and they have been pest magnets. i went to a tomato fair on sat and tried loads and bought 10 packets of seed! the best one i tried and definately the most amazing tasting tomato i have ever eaten was called rose de bearn. incredible taste. cant believe i have to wait a year to grow them!

[lyndap]

I've grown gartenpearle for years, and usually really tasty,with a lovely bite but this year not half its usual flavour.It must have something to do with the weather as grown the same as previous years!

[nick the grief]

funny that, I grew white beauty for the first imw this year & they are supposed to have "sweet Honeyed flesh" Absolutley bland, yet the ferline & the Gardeners delight are brill & they are all growing the same

[Protea]

My Sungold cherry toms grew fabulously this year (in a greenhouse) and were very sweet, i've grown this variety for 2 years now and they always have a fab flavour.

regarding the heat in the greenhouse (can't remember who's post it was), i had all the vents open and the door all summer and i know it reached 40 degrees on several occasions in there (min/max thermometer), so i really don't think the tomatoes need it to be kept at 25 degrees. Also remember that they are grown all over Spain and Italy etc where temps are very high all summer, especially if they grow under plastic/glass.

The high temps also helped my chillies which dominate my greenhouse - i've had a fantastic crop of red fruits but they're not very hot which is dissapointing.

[bramble]

All tom varieties have a very different taste as we all know. Personally i think the heat does'nt
have any effect other than ripening the fruit. I think the problem lies in putting too much water on the plants.

[JazzDuke]

Watering at the same time every day certainly helps avoid splitting toms (just see what happens when you get irregular rain) but what many seed packets don't tell you is how quickly they ripen. I don't think we have a long enough summer for the mediterranean ones that we love on holiday (e.g. marmande as above). I'm thinking of trying more of the Russian types which (and this is a complete guess) I asume have been bred for a similar climate. Most of the cherry types ripen quickly enough. My gartenperle were early and the Gardeners Delight (best cherry, imho) were not far behind.