On Sep 3, 5:42*am, George > wrote:
> On 9/2/2011 11:10 PM, Sqwertz wrote:
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> > On Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:49:24 -0700 (PDT), A Moose in Love wrote:
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> >> I had lunch today at a friends place. *Nothing fancy. *Processed
> >> cheese slices with tomato on a light rye. *Grilled a little bit in a
> >> pan using no fat. *Also fried cauliflower. *That was it. *However, I
> >> haven't tasted such a tomato ever I think. *I'm used to the store
> >> bought stuff. *Kind of I don't know, kind of blah. *However his tomato
> >> I had today was packed full of flavour. *My friend got the tomatoes
> >> from her neighbours garden. *These toms must have been some kind of
> >> heirloom tomato. *I never thought I'd be praising the tomato, but
> >> there it is. *We don't get many heirloom tomatoes here in the
> >> markets. *I've only seen them once in the supermarket, and they were
> >> expensive. *I believe $3.99. *But if they taste anything like my
> >> friends toms, they might just be worth it.
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> > Heirloom tomato doesn't mean "good". *It just means "expensive". *What
> > you just had is a typical home-grown tomato. *And now you know you
> > know why people who were raised on home-grown tomatoes bitch about
> > supermarket tomatoes.
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> > -sw
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> Heirloom also means good. When you buy seeds or plants you can buy
> heirloom and also more "modern" versions bred for commercial concerns
> (ease of transport, attractiveness etc) first then flavor second.
> Heirloom variety tomatoes are typically thinner skinned, usually
> misshapen etc but have a lot better taste.

Most heirloom varieties sicken and die at my house. Costoluto Genovese
is the only one that reliably does well. Juliets are the most reliable
producer, a hybrid sauce tomato.