Find the right tomato types, based on how you’d like to enjoy their fresh flavors.
Tomatoes come in a dizzying array of sizes and shapes.
However, there are just 4 general categories of this favorite homegrown fruit.
Credit:Marty Ross
Categorized by size plus culinary use, each throw in of tomato fills a unique role in the kitchen.
Lovemaking pasta saucefrom scratch?
Theres a tomato for that.
Credit:DLeonis / Getty Images
Assembling amodern take on a BLT?
Theres a tomato for that, too.
Marty Ross
1.
Credit:Ryann Ford
Grape tomatoes often fruit in dense ropes of a fruit resembling clusters of grapes.
They areeasy to pick and exceptionally productive.
Grape and cherry tomatoes are usually the first tomatoes to ripen in summer.
Credit:Cameron Sadeghpour
Most grape and cherry varieties are exceptionally vigorous plants.
Stake or cage grape and cherry tomatoes for easier harvest and best fruit production.
Expect plants to fruit from midsummer until the first frost.
Try these:Sugary is a red grape tomato that ripens in dense clusters.
Fire Fly is a small cherry tomato with sweet pale-yellow fruit.
Tumbling Tom is a cherry tomato with a cascading habit that works well in containers andhanging baskets.
It’s available in red, orange, and yellow varieties.
DLeonis / Getty Images
2.
Beefsteak
Also known as a slicing tomato,beefsteak tomatoesare summertime favorites around the grill.
These large tomatoessome weigh as much as 3 poundsmake perfect burger toppings and sandwich filler.
Beefsteak tomatoes are characterized by their juicy, meaty flesh and mild flavor.
Plant breeders have developed beefsteak tomatoes in a wide range of colors and color combinations.
For an especiallystriking platter of sliced tomatoes, grow yellow, orange, and red varieties.
Many beefsteak tomato varieties are determinate tomatoes, which meanstheir fruit all ripenswithin a 2-to-3-week window.
Stake or cage beefsteaktomato plantsfor easy harvest and healthy plants.
Kitchen notes:Beefsteak tomatoes have firm flesh, which makes them perfect for slicing thin.
Use them as sandwich toppers and all sorts of fresh eating.
Use these productive tomatoes to make flavorful sauces andfresh salsas.
Try these:Celebrity is an early ripening variety with excellent disease resistance and classic tomato flavor.
Heatmaster is a good choice for hot Southern gardens.
Ryann Ford
3.
Heres one thing you might count on with heirloomsthere will be plenty of flavor!
Grow several varieties of heirloom types of tomatoes to experience the wide diversity.
Open-pollinated and passed down from generation to generation, heirloom tomatoes haveless disease resistancethan many modern hybrids.
They are productive despite the diseases.
Heirloom tomatoes are available in a rainbow of colors and a plethora of shapes and sizes.
The traditional round, red tomato is an oddity in this group of colorful characters.
Kitchen notes:Heirlooms are exceptional for fresh eating.
Yellow Pear is a grape-like tomato with great flavor; it is a bountiful producer and requires daily harvest.
Cameron Sadeghpour
4.
Paste
Also known as plum tomatoes, paste types have a unique oblong shape and dense, meaty flesh.
Few seeds and low water content make thesetomatoes perfect for canningand freezing.
Many paste tomatoes produce fruit that ripens in a 2-to-3-week period.
Grow paste tomatoes in asturdy cage or on a strong trellis.
The vines of these productive plants become heavy with fruit and benefit from support.
Once the fruit begins to ripen, plan to harvest daily.
Kitchen notes:Paste tomatoes are the best bang out of tomatoes for preserving.
Paste tomatoes are not as desirable as other types for fresh eating.
Try these:Amish Paste has large fruit with a tangy, sweet flavor.
San Marzano is a foodie favorite and is prized for its low water content and minimal seeds.
Sunrise Sauce is one of the sweetest of all paste tomatoes.
Wisconsin 55 is an heirloom paste tomato with great flavor.
