[helena]

They even have several kinds of chilhuacles - what else looks interesting?
The clueless me needs an expert advice: Chile Plants - Cross Country Nurseries

[Liza]

I'm a BIG fan of Brandywine and Abe Lincoln tomatoes. Great tasters, and nice for slicing. For sauce, any roma or San Marzano will do.
I'd like to try those chocolate habaneros...

[rancho_gordo]

Amish paste aren't glamorous but they're great.

It's handy to have a bush of serranos at your fingertips. They are prolific and you can let some get red. And then you can pickle them if you can't keep up. Or make Diana Kennedy's Mule Driver salsa.

[Liza]

Tim Stark has an article on the April/May 2006 issue of "Organic Gardening" in which he lists his favorites. Sources sited are rareseeds.com, burpee.com, territorial-seed.com and tomatogrowers.com.

It's a beautiful issue with Tim's tomatoes on the cover.

[GG Mora]

I ordered several varieties of tomato from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year. Marmande, Patio Orange, Black from Tula, Mortgage Lifter, and the one I'm most intrigued by – Paul Robeson, described thusly:

Quote

This famous tomato has almost a cult following among seed collectors and tomato connoisseurs. They simply cannot get enough of this variety’s amazing flavor that is so distinctive, sweet and smokey. 7-10 oz. fruit are a black-brick color. Named in honor of the famous opera singer star of ‘King Solomon's Mines’, 1937. Paul Robeson was also a Russian and Equal Rights Advocate for Blacks. This Russian heirloom was lovingly named in his honor. We are proud to offer such a wonderful variety.

Small photo:


I've been really impressed with this company. The founder, Jere Gettle, is a real youngster (don't think he's even 30 yet), so he prepresents a new generation of organic/heirloom gardeners. He has 2 or 3 different websites going, and a magazine, and a gardening forum. The small seed-starting booklet that came with my order gives great instructions for the novice grower. I'll be interested to see how the seeds perform, but I expect good things; the company has been reviewed very favorably at Dave's Garden.

[Orik]

helena, on Mar 16 2006, 02:27 PM, said:

They even have several kinds of chilhuacles - what else looks interesting?
The clueless me needs an expert advice: Chile Plants - Cross Country Nurseries

We've had mixed results with their plants - szechuan chile plant is now yielding its third crop of about 20 peppers, piri piri about the same (and really great flavor, I'm not sure why they're not used more widely). The three Jalapenos we got so far were good but small and the roma tomato plant has finally remembered to flower after growing to about 3.5 ft. I'm sure some of this is due to poor gardening skills.

[helena]

Orik, great news on chiles - may i mail order some of your crop?

[mongo_jones]

my serrano peppers plants all failed. put out some initial fruit but then went into stasis from which they never awoke.

of my tomatoes, the two i would recommend highly are the sugarsnack cherry tomato, and the yellow pear. both prolific, low-maintenance and incredibly tasty.

(can someone explain how i harvest seeds from my current plants to be used next year?)

[mongo_jones]

ate a wonderful tomato from the farmers' market yesterday. the seller told me it was the black prince variety, but from pictures online it looks more like russian black.

wonderful, complex flavour and lovely texture. i would be happy to eat a whole meal just of these with some salt, pepper, olive oil and arugula.

here's the one i ate alongside a brandywine:

[rancho_gordo]

mongo_jones, on Sep 17 2006, 09:26 AM, said:

ate a wonderful tomato from the farmers' market yesterday. the seller told me it was the black prince variety, but from pictures online it looks more like russian black.

I believe all the Black Russian tomatoes are related. I know of Black Krim, Paul Robeson and few others. They have a rich, bloody flavor and I they are tops in my book. Therefore you have excellent taste if you like them.
When I grew them here, the yield was low but the payoff was worth it.

[mongo_jones]

and what's more they're apparently very tolerant of cold. so, maybe i'll have some luck here if i can coax them into growing from seed. since that will probably be a disaster i'm also hoping that i'll be able to find seedlings on sale from a farmer or at a local gardening store.

[Maurice Naughton]

Here are some heirloom tomatoes from the Beauvau covered market at place d'Aligre in Paris yesterday.



Here are some others, the kind I had in my salad tonight. I liked their baroque character, and the owner said they were full of flavor. He was right.

I haven't been able to find the names of any of these. But I haven't given up.

[LML]

Maurice Naughton, on Sep 17 2006, 09:34 PM, said:

The ones in the middle I know as either Raf or Montserrat. The other ones are 'banana' tomatoes.

[mongo_jones]

not this?

Quote

Black From Tula Tomato
Origin: Russia
Item #: TOM007

The Black Tula Tomato; known in Russia as "Czerno Tulski Tomat", is a beautiful dusky brown to mauve black colored beefsteak tomato with green shoulders that weighs up to 12 ounces in weight. Features an outstanding, salty flavor with a semi smoked taste that is unlike any other tomato out there! Indeterminate. About 75 days to maturity.

[The Scream]

Maurice Naughton, on Sep 17 2006, 07:34 PM, said:

I haven't been able to find the names of any of these. But I haven't given up.

Champ Martins

Tomate Noire de Russe or Black Prince or Black tulu

Tomate banane or Banana legs

Don't quote me on this Maurice. I have to verify it.