Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Black Trifele Harvest

One hundred seventy-five days from seed (sown February 10th). Even if this won't be a banner year like 2008, I'm satisfied with the outcome of our new tomato trials. The flavor of these japanese black trifeles weren't anything spectacular like how I'd seen in product/grower descriptions, but I'm more than willing to bet that this spring's abundant rain had a hand at turning Trifele into a bland gal. The only "black" that seems to have beaten the odds is Black Krim, and there are two left on the vine.

Today's average daytime temperature: 23°C / 73°F

10 comments:

MAYBELLINE said...

Oh well.
There's always next year.

Rowena said...

Maybelline - my sentiments exactly.

Fern Driscoll said...

Why are they called black?

Rowena said...

Fern - they are among that "purple" tomato group which is neither black or purple but rather deep in color (skin and flesh) when ripened. My guess is that black is a direct translation from the plants' original source. I tried translating black into russian but I get something that looks greek to me.

chaiselongue said...

I'm not usually keen on 'black' varieities - it's just that tomatoes should be red, it seems to me, except when they're yellow! But these look good. Pity they don't taste as advertised, but that is probably due to the rain.

Rowena said...

Chaiselongue - the day I got wind of the heirloom craze, color went out the window. Red, white, yellow, green, striped, pink, purple, black! Too many to choose from, not enough room! In the end it is always taste which matters most. I also grew the french marmande variety, but their flavor does not compare against the black krims.

KennyT said...

Wow, it seems like growing my own tomatoes will never happen to me if I stay in Hong Kong.

I have never seen these tomatoes before, they look delicious to me!

Rowena said...

KennyT - if you ever get to the point where you can grow your own toms, even if it's in a container on a balcony, please let me know. It would be great if it were in HK 'cause then I can add another international gardener to my list of greenthumbs!

Blossom said...

Yummy .. I love tomatoes.

tom | tall clover farm said...

Hi Rowena, some cool weather varieties that have worked for me this year were sugar lump (small), Northern Exposure (firm and medium to large) and Fourth of July (small to medium).

If I could have but one big heirloom in my garden, it would be "pineapple" an heirloom yellow, red mix with few seeds and thick meaty flesh. I only get 3-4 per plant but they are large and memorable and as a sweet tomato should taste.