Tomayto, tomahto: Food columnist Andrew Coppolino heads out on a tomato tasting tour | CBC News

Their names are as poetic as their flavours are delicious: Brandywine, Glitter, Red Coral, Sun Peach and Indigo Kumquat.

There’s always conventional Beefsteaks and Romas, but the other varieties you can find at the supermarket, generic grape and cherry tomatoes, don’t get that nomenclature love.

Horticulturists and serious tomato growers like Perry Grobe revel in finding and experimenting with new and unique varieties of tomato plants for their customers.

Testings and trials take place in the long tunnel greenhouses and in a garden at Grobe Nursery and Garden Centre. The garden here is just like hundreds of gardens in backyards at homes in Waterloo region and Wellington County.

“Home gardeners spend time growing a tomato for the entire season and want something that they love the taste of and has that full flavour. But people want variety, too. They don’t want the same tomatoes,” Grobe says.

The outdoor test gardens replicate conditions home gardeners experience: one is a very hot space where the plants are under the stress of high temperature, another is a half-shade environment.

“We want to see if some tomatoes do better than others, and if so where,” Grobe said, adding that they intervene minimally in order to judge how the varieties might grow in someone’s backyard.

There are anywhere from eight to 12 new varieties growing throughout the season as the garden centre responds to customer demand for diverse flavours. If Grobe thinks a tomato is worthwhile, they add it to their list of plant products.

Over time, some plants might get dropped. In fact, many are tested, but few are chosen: it’s rare that more than two or three “make the cut,” Grobe says.

“Many times, it is only one or two that get added. The trick is finding a low acidity tomato that isn’t bland.”

Commercially, tomatoes are grown either in pristine climate-controlled greenhouses or in fields facing the vagaries of weather, pests and plant diseases. Large-scale producers grow tomatoes for heartiness, rapid growth and ripening time, sturdiness for shipping and how well a tomato holds its colour.

“But growing tomatoes at home means growing for variety, flavour and texture,” Grobe said.

He says he has fun trialling tomatoes and points to a two metre-high plant in the greenhouse that’s laden with purple fruit, like a large grape.

“That’s Indigo Kumquat and it will make the cut,” he said. “You can’t help but ask what is that going to taste like? It’s a big plant and right now the fruit is purple but as it matures it gets a nice yellow cast to it. It bears prolifically.”

He says he imagines it will be an excellent tomato in a salad or on its own on a plate. It tastes good and looks very creative and different.

As for the recently popular heirloom tomatoes, they are prone to blights and that’s why an ancient Black Brandywine — perhaps the gold standard in heirloom tomatoes — has become a Darkstar hybrid with good flavour and better disease resistance.

“Heirlooms are much more problematic for disease and blight can ravage the plants quickly. Hybrids were developed to help improve resistance to disease,” he said.

During our visit, we did an informal taste comparison between the Darkstar hybrid and the heirloom Black Brandywine and agreed that the hybrid tasted a bit better.

While farmers, including tomato growers, have their fingers crossed for a final blast of summer heat and sunshine this rainy growing season, home gardeners can start to think about next year’s crop now.

Tips for home tomato gardeners that Grobe suggests include investing in fertilizer, organic or synthetic, he says.

“Do some feeding. Not a ton, but tomatoes and other vegetables like slow growth,” he says.

However, the soil is always most important and something you can start to work on now.

“Prep your soil in the fall to get it ready for next spring. Clean up the garden and work in organic matter this fall or next spring. It gets used up all the time. The better soil you have the better the plants are going to be,” Grobe said.

He’s eager to suggest that, come the spring, don’t be in a rush to start digging. You can buy your plants early, but don’t plant early.

“Wait until the soil temperatures are warmer. My tomatoes at home never go in the ground until June. Supply might dictate you have to buy them before May 24 but delay planting until the ground is warm,” Grobe said.

Finally, spend some time this fall researching seed companies and their catalogues for what’s new and unique.

“Catalogues start coming out in November. That’s where I go for inspiration and where I start dreaming,” he said.

“Life is too short not to have variety. Don’t drink bad wine and have a variety of flavours in your tomatoes. It’s a highlight for our family at the end of the year. We look forward to those tomatoes.”