Selecting and Growing Great Paste Tomatoes

For paste, pasta sauce, and homemade ketchup, pick a variety suited to the purpose.

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When I was a girl , my mom and I took weekly trips to the market place for fruits and vegetables . Even then I was charm by the dissimilar apples , lettuces , peppers , and tomatoes ; only there was just one kind of spread tomato , and it was always call ‘ Roma ’ .

horticulture and canning have since become a minor compulsion and a preferent pastime , and I ’ve see that it ’s not one variety of spread tomato that results in the tasty salsa , the creamiest catsup , or the copious spaghetti sauce . That ’s when I settle to put paste tomatoes to the test . I scrutinized the catalog and talked with local market place agriculturalist and nurseryman . Then I summate a few democratic darling like ‘ Sausalito ’ and ‘ La Rossa ’ to my list , as well as strange potpourri such as ‘ Amish Paste ’ and ‘ blimp ’ . For the next two years I grew 20 varieties in my garden so I could discover for myself if there really was any difference . Here ’s what I learned .

The ever popular ‘ Rommany ’ bombed , with lower yields than other miscellanea tested . I subsist in Oregon , and I had mellow hopes for ‘ Oregon Pride ’ and ‘ Oregon Star ’ . I did get the gargantuan tomato key out in the catalog , but I also get subscript taste . ‘ Royal Chico ’ delivered excellent flavor but produce poorly . Two varieties I chose for their unusual characteristics—‘Black Prince ’ and ‘ Sausage’—surprised me the most . These two were among the best varieties .

A handful of dependable varietiesNaturally , flavor is a big broker in what make a tomato cracking , but also authoritative are disease ohmic resistance , productiveness , texture , and ripen time . It does n’t count how flavorful a tomato is if the growing season is over long before it ripens . The six smorgasbord that came out on top are ‘ Black Prince ’ , ‘ other Cascade ’ , ‘ Italian Au ’ , ‘ Saucy ’ , ‘ Sausage ’ , and ‘ Viva Italia ’ . Each produce well and has bang-up flavor in good and bad grow seasons alike . These six can be grown in any region where the intermediate tomato can ripen , especially when starting with seedlings .

Originally from Siberia , ‘ Black Prince ’ has a robust , deep garnet coloring I love . Like a chameleon , the color changes depending on where you live . Increased Sunday and passion encourages a deeper color , with an almost chocolate lambency . The pear-shaped , orchis - sizing fruits ripen early on indeterminate but unemotional vines . I use ‘ Black Prince ’ bracing in salads and alimentary paste dishes , or combined with ‘ Viva Italia ’ for sensory salsa .

‘ Early Cascade ’ is a very early , disease - resistant , and vigorous plant that perform peculiarly well when staked or caged . The rounded , slightly warmness - determine fruits bring out an almost uninterrupted bumper crop of tomatoes right until the terminal of the season .

‘ Italian amber ’ puts on a show - quit performance with its beautiful golden - chicken fruits and prolific yield . Easy to disrobe , ‘ Italian Gold ’ is high in pectin , and its refreshful predilection make it perfect for canning and freeze .

No paste tomato is stark for every need , but ‘ Early Cascade ’ and ‘ Italian Gold ’ come close . The fruits are a match for just about every pauperization , although ‘ Early Cascade ’ may not raise the thickest catsup and sauces . Both are easy to undress , ready them the ultimate for give notice .

When space is at a premium , industrial plant ‘ Saucy ’ . Its determinate , disease - repellent vine are very compact but prolific . The comfortable - to - skin fruits develop in clusters that keep back well on the vine until you ’re quick for them . Use ‘ Saucy ’ fresh or with alimentary paste for salsa making or canning .

‘ Sausage ’ really surprised me for several reasons . The undetermined works can grow quite tall , and the meaty yield , shaped like its namesake , can grow up to 6 in . A dependable heirloom assortment , ‘ Sausage ’ comes into full production later in the time of year , when there is less garden work and more time to pay to putting up the crop .

A mid - season tomato , ‘ Viva Italia ’ is one of the first hybrid Italian paste - case tomatoes develop . This variety resists many disease , including bacterial touch , a leafage spot disease that boom in cool , wet conditions . Although ‘ Viva Italia ’ is definitive , the vines grow smartly , holding abundant , pear - shape tomatoes . This easy - to - grow form produces throughout the time of year and even sets yield during hot weather condition . The fresh , savoury feeling of ‘ Viva Italia ’ is excellent in salads , and it keep up to canning , cooking , or freezing . It ’s my identification number - one selection for a piquant sauce , and the flavor liven up any salsa , especially when combined with ‘ Black Prince ’ .

Optimum weather condition better flavorEven the most flavorful salmagundi can suffer an distasteful fate when raised in an surround with too much of some thing or not enough of others . Too much nitrogen will encourage foliation growth at the expense of fruit yield . Excess water can dissemble flavor , so do n’t overwater once tomatoes have reached full size and are beginning to transfer color . Other factors that can damp tomato flavor are insufficient heat and light . Always give tomatoes your sunniest spot : six 60 minutes or more of direct sun a day .

If finding a touch with decent sun is a problem , adjudicate contribute more light and heat to your plants by lay down a mulch of heat - soak material , such as Rock or grim slate . Studies have also prove ameliorate yields and flavor by using material like the IRT ( Infrared Transmitting ) mulch or the newer red - biased mulch developed by the USDA and Clemson University . The IRT mulch works by absorb infrared radiation , which heat up up the stain . The red plastic ponder far - flushed light up into the growing plant . The Agricultural Research Service , U.S. Department of Agriculture , reports that the red credit card payoff up to a 20 percent increase in production when liken to black mulch .

To bring more light and heat to the fruit , stake , trellis , or cage your plants . Lighten up heavy clay soil by working in compost or other constitutional cloth . This will not only benefit the harvest , but the organic affair will open up the soil , allowing aura and water to click better .

A soil test can go a prospicient way in help you determine how much fertiliser to implement to your plants . Tomatoes take copious amounts of phosphorus , potassium , and Ca , and even though you should n’t exaggerate the nitrogen , it also is needed for healthy plants . My plants get a side - dressing of well - rotted manure , but compost also works . Rock dust applied at the charge per unit of 10 pounds per 100 satisfying feet or a kelp foliar spray will impart plenty of worthful flavor - produce vestige mineral .

Once your plants are instal , water deeply and keep the grunge wet even ; mulching will reduce water red . When soil wet fluctuates , blossom - end rotting may produce in susceptible plant . This is unremarkably because of a calcium lack , and moisture fluctuations can interpose with the uptake of calcium . A calcium asymmetry can also occur if the soil has too much magnesium , so do n’t use dolomitic limestone , which is high in atomic number 12 . Before planting , summate crushed eggshells or huitre shell to the soil to avail forbid the problem .

Two other diseases that can also be prevented by constituent method are baccy mosaic virus and tomato blight . Tobacco mosaic virus can exist in dried tobacco and can be open from smoking or even treat coffin nail or other tobacco products . If you smoke , do n’t do so around your tomato plant , and be indisputable to wash your hands before going in the garden .

A tea made from the horsetail industrial plant ( Equisetum hyemale ) may protect plants against tomato blight . To make the tea , moil the horsetail plant life , clean or dry , for about 20 mo . Strain and load to a nice tea colour and then spray or mist the plant before blight hits . I have also found this to be effective for mildews , rusts , and other fungal disease .

Experience has shown me that the ripe salsa or spaghetti sauce has as much to do with the type of tomato used and how it was grown as it does with the recipe . For flavorful food that ’s laborious to resist , grow the best in paste tomatoes .

by Kris WetherbeeApril 2000from issue # 26

Photo/Illustration: Janet Jemmott

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