American seed catalogs offer literally hundreds of tomato varieties but the catalogs don’t always reveal which ones have really great flavor. But now, thanks to the extraordinary work of Amy Goldman in her book The Heirloom Tomato, we have a source for a comprehensive flavor ratings of 200 heirloom varieties, all grown in the same location. Below is a list of the 56 heirloom tomatoes that Goldman rates as having “excellent” flavor. And she tells us what she means by “excellent”: “Scarcely equaled in texture of flesh and richness of flavor. Distinctive, delicious, deep and complex, with luscious, rich flavor. Savory, mouth-filling, and juicy. No grave faults. Finely balanced sugar-acid ratio yet endowed with intense flavor. Extremely desirable.”

In describing, evaluating and photographing such a large number of tomatoes in such a beautifully produced book, Goldman has done gardeners an unprecedented service. Plus, she’s included an outstanding selection of recipes to help us make the most of our tomato harvests. The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table was a classic the day it was published. Order your copy here.



Heirloom Tomatoes Rated as Having Excellent Flavor

From The Heirloom Tomato, by Amy Goldman



Currants & Cherries

Black Cherry: Fruity and well-balanced. CR Lawn of Fedco Seeds gives this one the nod: “Yum!”

Wild Sweetie: Super-sweet

Matt’s Wild Cherry

Sara’s Galapagos: Sweet; lots of flavor in a little package. Smells of the leaf.

Blondköpfchen

Gold Rush Currant: High acid and high sugar

Green Doctors: Sweet and tart

Ribbed

Ceylon: Excellent when cooked

Globes

White Beauty

Burpee’s Globe: Honey sweet

Aunt Gertie’s Gold: Sumptuous, rich flavor

Manitoba: Well-balanced, winey

Red Rose: Very sweet and rich

Yellow Peach: Well balanced

Peach Blow Sutton: Cool and refreshing “tomato lite” flavor

Russian Black: Earthy

Flamme: Perfect blend of sweet and tart; fruity

Beefsteaks

Pruden’s Purple: Luscious, savory, and sweet

Black Krim: Green Giant: This is the best-tasting-green-when-ripe beefsteak.

Aunt Ginny’s Purple: Rich flavor

McClintock’s Big Pink: Delicious rich flavor

Big Ben: A peach of a tomato—not as sweet as the Brandywines, but very rich.

African Queen: Well-balanced, like wine—a taste I wish could last forever

Believe It or Not: Perfectly balanced

Hugh’s: Sweet and lemony. Seed-saving superman Neil Lockhart says Hugh’s is one of his favorites for flavor.

Great White: Divinely sweet

Santa Clara Canner: Well balanced

Sudduth’s Brandywine: Like a fine wine. I dare any hybrid to measure up.

Yellow Brandywine: High acid and high sugar. On everyone’s list of favorites.

Bicolor Mortgage Lifter

Marvel Striped: Sweet, one of the best bicolor beefsteaks

Gold Medal: Well reviewed by tomato cognoscenti: “superbly delicious” (Darrell Merrell); “top rated in flavor” (Ken Ettlinger); “our finest bicolor” (Seed Savers Exchange)

Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter: Well balanced

Yellow Mortgage Lifter: Sweet and sprightly

Mullen’s Mortgage Lifter

Pears & Plums

Antique Roman: Beefy, savory

Super Italian Paste

Goldman’s Italian American: Sweet and luscious. Joan Dye Gussow, author of This Organic Life, wrote to me one summer: “Goldman’s Italian American tomato is a stunner. They taste lovely to say nothing of how they LOOK. One plant in an urn is setting absolutely gigantic tomatoes.”

Old Ivory Egg: Sweet and lemony

Opalka:

Orange Banana: A worthy rival of Flamme

Anna Russian: Nice tang, mildly sweet and savory

Purple Russian

Amish Paste

Vilms

Elfin: Fruity and sweet

Chile Verde: Finely balanced

Oxhearts

Orange Russian 117: Honey-sweet, finely balanced, endowed with rich flavor

Hungarian Heart: Savory

Japanese Oxheart: Winey, sweet, nice fruit acid

Color Groups

Dixie Golden Giant: Sweet and pleasing

Casady’s Folly: Fruity

Speckled Roman: Sweet and savory

Aunt Ruby’s German Green: A perfect balance of acid and sugar

Pink Salad: Mouth-watering in the same way as Sugary (an F1 hybrid miniature pink plum tomato, winner of a 2005 All America Selections Award)

To find seed sources for these varieties, visit our Seed Finder.

To learn more about growing tomatoes, see America's Favorite Tomatoes and Enjoy Fresh Tomatoes All Year.

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Cheryl Long is the editor in chief of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine, and a leading advocate for more sustainable lifestyles. She leads a team of editors which produces high quality content that has resulted in MOTHER EARTH NEWS being rated as one North America’s favorite magazines. Long lives on an 8-acre homestead near Topeka, Kan., powered in part by solar panels, where she manages a large organic garden and a small flock of heritage chickens. Prior to taking the helm at MOTHER EARTH NEWS, she was an editor at Organic Gardening magazine for 10 years. Connect with her on Google+.