Like most cherry tomatoes, they are sweet but sometimes described as intensely flavored. Sometimes referred to simply as “Lillian’s Yellow,” this heirloom tomato was created by Lillian Bruce of Tennessee, and is popular with home gardeners. These tomatoes are, as the name suggests, a beautiful shade of yellow and range in size from small to medium. The flavor is said to be sweet and fruity with a balanced acidity. In case the “F1” in the name didn’t give it away, the Giulietta F1 tomato is a hybrid variety developed by a seed company. Giulietta F1 tomatoes are usually a dull to full red when ripe, and medium-sized.

Tomato Facts: A Juicy Recap

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a fruit from the nightshade family native to South America. Here are some more intriguing tidbits about tomatoes that you might not know. Here are some ways they are used in cooking around the world.

• Another study examined the effects of eating tomatoes, tomato sauce, and gazpacho—a cold tomato soup—on blood pressure in older adults.
• These varieties can be red, yellow, orange, or even striped.
• Add them to your pasta dishes, or use them where you might cherry tomatoes, like in bruschetta or one of these four great toast toppings.
• Jubilee are medium to large globe-shaped golden-orange tomatoes with very meaty, thick-walled interiors and mild flavor with a bit of tanginess.

Globe tomatoes have a mildly sweet flavor and just a bit of acidity. They are definitely multipurpose and are often used in salsa, sandwiches, pizza, salads, and pasta sauce. Like other beer take varieties, German Johnson tomatoes are large, often weighing around 1 pound or more. Due to their size and flavor, German Johnson tomatoes are commonly used for slicing and eating fresh in sandwiches like BLTs. Like other cherry tomatoes, they are often eaten fresh as a snack, are a good option for veggie trays, in salads, or used as a garnish. They produce a lot of fruit and are fairly disease-resistant.

• These grocery store staples are oblong, grape-shaped tomatoes—hence their name!
• Lycopene is one of the most abundant plant compounds in tomatoes.
• There is a common belief that Valencia tomatoes are native to Spain, but there is actually more evidence that they were developed in Maine.
• Giulietta F1 tomatoes are known for their sweet and mild flavor, and are often used in salads, chopped for tacos or fajitas, in salsa, and sauces.
• The stripes become more pronounced as the tomato ripens, and would go well in a stuffed tomato recipe.

Types of Tomatoes (with photos!)

These grocery store staples are oblong, grape-shaped tomatoes—hence their name! They are smaller than cherry tomatoes and tend to also be denser and meatier texturally. Their small size makes them great for snacking or adding to a quick and easy pasta salad. It’s a general term for varieties of tomatoes that have been passed down between gardeners for generations. If you don’t spot them at your grocery store, look for them at farmers markets or smaller garden centers that deal in specialty produce.

Health Conditions

We just remarked on how unusual bright yellow tomatoes are in the lemon boy tomato (above) and alphabetically we happen to hit another bright yellow tomato. tomato coin Again, we think the best uses are any application you want to accent with an additional color. A leafy green salad with a white dressing covered in 4 colors of sliced tomatoes makes a nice presentation. Early Girl tomatoes were developed in the United States to deliver multiple harvests until the first frost stops them from producing. They are a globe tomato that typically gets to be about the size of a tennis ball and perhaps 4-8 ounces, and are a sweet tomato with a bit of acidity. Chocolate Stripes tomatoes are typically used in salads, sandwiches, and sauces.

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Roma tomatoes are known for their mildly sweet, robust flavor. Their lower moisture content compared to other tomato varieties makes them a clear favorite in fire-roasted tomatoes or tomato gazpacho. Marmande beefsteak tomatoes came to us from France where they grew on farms around the city of Marmande in SW France in the 19th Century. Oddly, a blight devastated vineyards in the region in 1870, and many growers replaced their grapes with this tomato, and its popularity took off. That is probably more history than you wanted, but we find the odd events that often lead to the adoption of food fascinating.

Cherry Tomatoes

What’s more, many subspecies of tomatoes exist with different shapes and flavor. Tomatoes sold on the vine are grown in greenhouses and keeping them attached prolongs their shelf-life. Their quality of flavor is inconsistent and even at their best, vine-ripened tomatoes tend to be mild in flavor. They can be sliced for sandwiches and burger, chopped and added to salad, or cooked down into a sauce.

They are a juicy orange with a firm skin making them great slicing tomatoes. They are one of the sweeter varieties, with the classic tomato flavor that everyone loves! You can use these in most tomato applications unless you are after that deep red color. Sure, you can find tomatoes in supermarkets year-round, but the summer fruit (yes, it’s a fruit!) comes in even more variety during the warm weather season. There are big beefsteak tomatoes, colorful misshapen heirlooms, and mini cherry tomatoes for a burst of sweet flavor. Juliet tomatoes are a hybrid tomato developed in the USA in the 1990s.

While they are tiny, usually less than half an inch in diameter, they pack a sweet and tangy flavor. These tomatoes are commonly used in salads, as garnishes, or simply eaten as a healthy snack like cherry tomatoes. When cooked, they stand up to heat well, making them a great option for stuffed tomatoes. They are often sold as mixed varieties, offering a colorful assortment of small tomatoes in one package. This is convenient if you want to showcase a variety of colors in your cuisine, salad, or charcuterie board. Cherry tomatoes, as a category, don’t have a specific origin since they are derived from various wild tomato species.

In fact, you can use cocktail tomatoes in any recipes that call for cherry tomatoes! You may be familiar with a particular type of cocktail tomato called the Campari tomato. These golf ball-sized fruits are so sweet they hardly need any preparation. You can just halve them and toss them right into a salad, but this variety also takes heat well. Try roasting them with parmesan and herbs or using them in delicate sauces.

Cocktail Tomatoes

And as if you don’t already have enough choices, tomatoes can further be classified as either hybrid vs. heirloom and determinate vs. indeterminate. Tomatoes are often harvested while still green and immature, then ripened artificially with ethylene gas. This may lead to less flavor development, resulting in bland tomatoes.

Hydroponic and greenhouse cultivation

The five-petaled flowers are yellow, 2 cm (0.8 inch) across, pendant, and clustered. Fruits are berries that vary in diameter from 1.5 to 7.5 cm (0.6 to 3 inches) or more. They are usually red, scarlet, or yellow, though green and purple varieties do exist, and they vary in shape from almost spherical to oval and elongate to pear-shaped. Each fruit contains at least two cells of small seeds surrounded by jellylike pulp. Consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products has been linked to improved skin health and a lower risk of heart disease and cancer.

Cherry tomatoes can also be roasted, grilled or baked to bring out even more of their sweet qualities. This cherry tomato flatbread is a great example of how versatile these tiny gems can be. Named because of their large size and meaty texture, beefsteak tomatoes should be your go-to tomato for topping a juicy hamburger or layering onto summery sandwiches. These tomatoes are also easy to slice and won’t get juice everywhere, so they’re perfect for picnics. Use these together with red and yellow cherry tomatoes on a veggie tray or charcuterie board.