Patti, thanks. I must admit that I would never think of doing tomatoes that way. I will have to try a small batch and see what happens!

If you try it please let me know how they turn out. I don't have ripe tomatoes yet but I may try it myself when I get some.

Don't those tomatoes Dave has on the fire look yummy?

Yes, they looked great. But I doubt one can make roasted tomatoes the way I was thinking. Drizzel some olive oil on them and they need a dish. I see in the post that Trish then makes something from them after cooking. Still worth a try. I will report back on how it goes.

Yep, that was salsa. Cooking them over the fire imparts a really nice grilled and smoky flavor to the salsa. I think any sauce could benefit by grilling the tomatoes first. Delicious!! We use hickory wood, by the way.

Newyorkrita said:Yes, they looked great. But I doubt one can make roasted tomatoes the way I was thinking. Drizzel some olive oil on them and they need a dish. I see in the post that Trish then makes something from them after cooking. Still worth a try. I will report back on how it goes.

I have cooked a cheese/potato dish in a Pyrex baking pan on my gas grill. I kept the temp at 325 and it cooked just as it would have in my oven, which is also gas. You could cook them on the grill for a bit then put them in your dish and add the olive oil, let cook awhile longer and have the best of both worlds

Dave, I have yet to make my own salsa. Your way of roasting them first looks great though!

Patti, I have never tried to cook anything in a dish on the grill. I just cook stuff that I can put on the grate. But my VIVA ITALIAS just started getting ripe and as soon as I have enough I will experiment on the grill and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the suggestions. Lots of things I never thought of doing!

A bunch of little Grape tomatoes wuth a Juliet Tomato and a quarter for scale. The Juliets are so much bigger than the other grape types.


And here are Juliets and Viva Italias.


Viva Italias on the vine.


And two BeefMasters. One pound six ounces and one pound one ounce.


Beefmasters on the vine.

The great tomato taste test challange!!!!!



I did my own tomato taste testing just for fun. First I picked tomatoes from six hybrid varieties I am growing. Put post it notes on them so I could not get them confused!!!

Superfantastic is new to me this year and so was Beefmaster. Whoppers I have grown on and off for nearly 16 years. Skip some years but they always return. Big Boy was the tomato I grew up with as my mom grew these when I was a kid. Again I have some most years and lately have the Better Boys most years also. Early Girl is an old standby here.

Results are-

1- Beefmaster
2- Big Boy
3- Better Boy
4- Early Girl
5- Whopper
6 - Superfantastic

Those first three I can definately taste a difference on but really, really like the flavor of all three. Early Girl is good and I am very dissapointed in the flavor of the Whoppers this year. I remember them being much better. So I don't know if my memory is wrong or they just don't have as much flavor this year. Superfantastic is not so super since it is deffinately, definately last in my taste tests.

I also have PATIO and BETTER BUSH new this year. Have already determined that neither has much flavor and neither of this two will be back next year. Also I have 4th Of JULY which I have had once before. Too bland for me and I do not like that the fruits are so small. The size of golf balls. Not coming back. Joining them on the not to return next year will be the Whoppers and Superfantastic.

Those first three, Beefmaster, Big Boy and Better Boy are the true winners to me. Early girl I want to grow but would like to cut back the number of plants in order to try another early variety. Not that I know what that will be.

>> very dissapointed in the flavor of the Whoppers this year. I remember them being much better.

I've read several people saying that some varieties taste better in some years, other varieties taste better in other years.

But I am not going to plant this years dissapointments again next year. I want to try some new (new for me) varieties. So I need some room to be abel to do that while still bringing back this years favorites.

>> still bringing back this years favorites.

I agree 100% with that. And I also find that I'm soon out of room.

Out of room, Forget out of room. I am out of room but plan to extend my tomato garden bed to make it longer for next year. Really had to figgure out how to squeeze that in the plans.

I have a similar battle cry: More beds! More soil! More compost!

... but I'm also running out of spaces with even partial sun.

And time and energy.

My neighbor told me she had read in newsday that this was a great year for tomato production on Long Island. Well I sure do agree on that!

But apparently they published a receipe that calls for tomatoes, feta cheeze, pine nuts and figs. She was super excited as she thought that the receipe sounded SOOO good. I almost barfed thinking about it. So she said she will make it and share some with me. I am like please don't!!! I will NOT eat nuts. No nuts of any kinds. I hate figs. I don't willingly eat feta cheeze either but at least I can stomach it. But no matter what I say, she thinks I should eat it. No way!!!

My mother and grandmother lived in a part of Brooklyn that was all recently immigrated Irish and Italian, back before WWII.

They each knew THEIR kind of food and considered it the ONLY kind. But an Italian neighbor really liked our seven kids, (my aunts and uncles) so she would periodically make a big dish of lasagna and bring it over for us. Nana was so suspicious of that strange-looking stuff that she would always throw it away secretly and thank the neighbor profusely.

I don't know what Nana sent back in return, but I hope it was better received!

Wow, I really am going to have to start tomato seed next year. I stumbled upon the website and the intros of Wild Boar Farms. Oh my, oh my. Such beautuful tomatoes. I just have to try some of these for myself.

http://wildboarfarms.com/index...

I must say I am really pleased with the BEEFMASTER tomatoes I planted this year. I have 6 plants and they have been producing nice big juicy and tasty tomatoes. I have tried out various different beefsteak types each year looking for the perfect one. Well, this one is it. Great tomatoes.

I had a retasting today of two of my tomato taste test loosers. Whoppers and Superfantastic had really nice fruits on both so I picked them and tasted to compair again. Still loosers! I had read somewhere that fruits could taste better later in the season. Well, not these. Still bland and just not the right notes of taste to me. Not coming back next year. I have so many other varieties to try.

Some years things go great and there is no desease. Other years (like thus year) I have to keep spraying the tomato plants weekly to try and stay ahead of the fungal deseases. What can you do, need those tomato plants to keep producing.

I have been spraying with the Daconil weekly. Just did so again this afternoon.