tveguy3 said:Rita, these are bigger then the Juliet that I have seen in the markets, but still much smaller then the roma's that are on the other three vines. I have the tags, and I'll have to read them more carefully to see what's up.

A mystery as to what they could be.

This is a great tip for all those BLT's we are enjoying with our tomatoes. You may know this but it was new to me and I love it. Line a cookie sheet with a sheet of tinfoil and lay all the slices of bacon on the foil. I can do a half pound at a time. Place in cold oven on middle rack and turn oven to 375. Cook for 20 minutes or until it is done to your liking. This varies with the different thickness of bacon. Blot on paper towels. Let the cookie sheet sit until the grease is thick and cold, and then you can roll it up and toss in garbage. No splatters and it's all done the same. If there are no nitrates, etc. I save the grease for fried potatoes, popcorn, etc.

The oven method for bacon is how the restaurants that I worked in - years ago - cooked their bacon.

Bacon grease on popcorn? - wow - my family is from Georgia and SC, and even we never did bacon grease on popcorn - sounds good! I think I was at least 15 years old before I realized why I didn't like eggs anywhere but home - my Dad (the breakfast cook) always cooked them in bacon grease.

Love BLT's, but don't eat bacon any more. I maybe should try some turkey bacon and see if I could have them once this summer before the good tomatoes are gone.

Geof, my Mom had a big old cast iron frying pan with a cover, and she used bacon grease to pop the corn. Butter and salt went on the popcorn. It was the best treat we could imagine on Friday nights. It still beats microwave all to pieces!!

Karen, thanks for the tip about the oven-cooked bacon -- I keep meaning to try that but wasn't too sure of the details... Definitely sounds like an advantage if you're making a bunch for a crowd or whatever (I guess "whatever" would be "because I really LOVE bacon" )

And I totally agree about the stovetop popcorn being the best -- I have a glass top stove so hadn't cooked "real" popcorn in a long time -- as my "method" involves a lot of sliding and shaking of the pan and I knew that wouldn't be a good thing with this stove -- but now I have a "Whirly Pop" pan (with a crank that turns a blade to keep the kernels moving) and it works perfectly!! SO much better than microwave

Sandy, my glass top stove is the worst thing that was ever invented. I would give anything to have my old burners back that I don't have to worry about. You just look at it wrong and it's dirty, and I have white which is a double pain in the neck!!! I guess we are never satisfied, lol.

we had one of those stoves too. My DH is the cok but I do the clean up so when we moved we left it at the old house and got a new one with real burners again!

I had one of those with the very shiny black top. OMG I was glad when I bought this house, as it needed a slide in stove, so I put the other one into my rental house. It finally wore out. I'd never have another one.

It seems that people either hate the glass-top stoves, or love them -- and I love mine! I've had it for over 10 years and I swear it's the only stove that I've ever been able to keep looking really clean. And I can really trash the cooktop, believe me... but with just a couple of minutes of cleaning it still looks nearly new. (It does have a couple of very small scratches, but after 10+ years that doesn't seem too bad.) And, although "they" told me that I shouldn't use it for canning and the like (of course, that was after I already had it...), I do so every year without a problem, including pressure canning. I fully expect to buy another one when this one finally croaks

I picked another 5 gallon pail of tomatoes this morning after the rain stopped. It's cooking now. I'm making another batch of sauce, I'm not sure how many more I'll can of the sauce. I may make one more. Then I'll concentrate on whole tomatoes for a while before I can some tomato soup.

Your going to have lots of sauce.

Yup! I use a lot of it though, every time I make it I think I have too much, but it all gets gone before spring.

My husband would love for us to have enough to can a lot of sauce and whole tomatoes. I tell him, make me the space and I will grow them!

Be careful what you wish for, Claudia!!

Today's harvest of tomatoes

Sausage tomatoes

San Marzano Radorta

Mother nature can be funny See the duck?

Some Celebrity tomatoes to pick tomorrow

Lots of tomatoes there!

You know what I'll be doing all day tomorrow!

Wow thats a lot of tomatoes!

I rarely let mine get that ripe on the vine, picking when they have a solid blush, and then letting them finish inside. Read somewhere it was less stress on the plant and less likely to attract insects and other critters. Those sure look great though.

At this time of the year I really find it best to pick the tomatoes early when they are somewhat ripe but not at all ready to be eaten and just leave them on the counter to ripen. Otherwise the slugs get to them and chew holes in them or the rain causes them to slip and crack and then start to rot. Pick them early and avoid all these problems.