Well, after much nervousness here, and eager beaver first sightings of ripening colour here, the salad days have finally arrived. My tomatoes have ripened, they're yummy and they've come through the taste test with flying colours! Who would have thunk such things possible?
Blognoscenti, I give you a small but perfectly formed Alaska tomato on the left, and a normal sized and thoroughly handsome Beaver Lodge Slicer on the right. On average, the Alaskas measure 44mm (1.7 inches) in diameter and the Beaver Lodges 68mm (2.7 inches).On a subjective 10 point scale, with 10 being the best, the Alaska rates a totally delicious 8, which is very tomatoey and will star in many salads in coming weeks. The Beaver Lodge Slicer gets a very good 7 out of 10, which is still very tomatoey and much, much better than anything I can buy in the shops, but not quite as tomato-tangy as the nice little Alaskas.
The texture on both is fine, but again I like the Alaska just that little bit more, 8 for texture. The Beaver Lodge gets 7 for texture, too. It's a tiny bit squishy but not too bad that way, while the Alaska holds itself together nicely for tossing in salads. I sliced up a Beaver Lodge in a lunchtime salad sandwich today and it really made that sanger something special. Maybe I should give it 8 for flavour, too? It was really nice.
So, why not 10 for taste? Well, I like to be a hard marker on tomatoes, just in case I come across something truly awesome one of these days. I have tasted some 9s in my time, but I'm saving up 10 for heaven. If I spent my '10' too soon then I'd have to do a Spinal Tap trick (if you've seen the movie you'll know what I mean) and give my best-ever tomato 11 out of 10.
6 comments:
They look yummy!!! Love the first tomatoes of the season.
I haven't seen the movie but I know of someone (me!) who got 101 out of 100 for Maths, the extra mark being for handwriting. So why not be fair and award some points for the shape of your tomatoes, too? And did you grade the colour?
If you like Beaver Lodge slicers, you should try Early Cascade. I am from the Beaver state (Oregon)-- where these varieties originate. Thanks to our wonderful breeders at Oregon State University, namely Dr. Jim Baggett. Early Cascades are small but usually win all taste-tests here, and they are prolific! Sadly, the seeds are getting hard to find.
You did it! Ripe tomatoes! I hope you have a long, fruitful tomato season. It's only been weeks but seems like ages since I had a good fresh homegrown tomato...
Enjoy!
Inspiring Jamie - I am hoping mine last the distance; I have big romas that are not turning red, just getting bigger and bigger! Fingers crossed they turn out like yours ...
Yum yum... I'm hoping I might get a tomato for Christmas, as mine are still green but getting bigger, like Oyster's. I have also had a visit from the Tomato Grub, but I think there was only the one. Once the temp goes down, I'll check.
Post a Comment