Great Tomato Taste-Off | 2023 Winners
September 12, 2023
By Jane Weissman
The 2023 winner for the Great Tomato Taste-Off is a perennial favorite — Sungold. Following closely behind is another favorite — Matt’s Wild Cherry. However, the big SURPRISE is a tomato new to the farm this year (*) — the gorgeous and delicious Tropical Sunset.
The following list of top-rated tomatoes includes the Ranking Number, tomato Variety, an * if new in 2023, the tomato Type in [brackets], and in (parentheses) the # of 5 (terrific) ratings.
TOP RATED TOMATOES
424 Sungold [cherry] (41)
416 Matt’s Wild Cherry [cherry] (33)
415 Tropical Sunset* [cherry] (19)
404 Red Pearl* [cherry] (26)
401 Mochi [cherry] (6)
398 Green Zebra [green] (22)
397 Honey Drop* [cherry] (24)
388 Mosvich [red] (10)
387 White Cherry [cherry] (8)
386 Gigante di Rotonda* [paste] (14)
384 Lemon Boy* [yellow] (12)
381 Pink Ping Pong* [pink] (14)
381 Glacier [red] (7)
376 Berkeley Tie-Dye [pink] (7)
375 Lillian’s Yellow* [yellow] (10)
377 Yellow Brandywine [yellow] (11)
Here are the RANKINGS for each TOMATO TYPE:
CHERRY/GRAPE
424 Sungold (41)
416 Matt's (33)
415 Tropical Sunset* (19)
404 Red Pearl* (26)
401 Mochi* (6)
397 Honey Drop* (24)
392 Black Cherry (12)
387 White Cherry (8)
372 Super Sweet 100s (10)
PASTE
386 Gigante di Rotonda* (14)
358 Speckled Roman (6)
The pastes are late to ripen. While looking very promising, there were not enough of them to taste to determine accurate rankings.
RED
388 Mosvich (10)
381 Glacier (7)
Of the remaining seven varieties, four were ranked in the 350s.
PINK
381 Pink Ping Pong* (14)
376 Berkeley Tie-Dye (7)
371 Rose De Berne (10)
The remaining two varieties were ranked in the 340s.
YELLOW/ORANGE
384 Lemon Boy* (12)
377 Yellow Brandywine (11)
375 Lillian’s Yellow (10)
367 Striped German (5)
367 Valencia (8)
358 Garden Peach (7)
PURPLE
360 Black Krim* (6)
359 Paul Robeson 5)
358 Black Prince (5)
347 Cherokee Purple (5)
346 Weaver’s Black Brandywine (2)
GREEN
398 Green Zebra (22)
A big thank you to farm member JaneWeissman for leading the Great Tomato Taste-Off! It was an incredible return ofthis longstanding farm tradition and made possible by her leadership and can-dospirit!
