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To: Pollard; Diana in Wisconsin
Pollard; I have not grown Rutgers, but I have seen pictures of them and glad you had a chance to try a ripe one!

I have tried San Marzano and 10 Fingers of Naples and Principe Borghese and there were lots of small tomatoes and problems with blossom end rot, at least in my garden.

Heirloom Amish paste from Seed Savers, indeterminate, produced large paste tomatoes which Mrs. Pete said were the best tasting in the garden that year. If I had a lot of room for indeterminate tomatoes they would be a good choice for canning and eating. They were not as productive as other paste varieties which you would expect with a Heirloom variety.

Good Determinate type Picus F1 (Hybrid Roma type paste, Stokes Seed) and Yaqui VFFNA Hybrid Tomato (Blocky large from Tomato Growers supply). Both grow to 36-48 inches and will need support because of the large number of fruit. I would rate the taste at perhaps 7 out of 10. (These are canning varieties) Amish paste would be 9 or 10. Both of these varieties handle heat well. (Note that Yaqui is large and blocky and it was difficult to push it whole into small lidded Ball jars.)

https://www.stokeseeds.com/ca/picus-vf-tswv-hybrid-plum-tomato-329d-group

https://tomatogrowers.com/products/yaqui-vffna-hybrid?_pos=1&_sid=20fa1bac5&_ss=r

787 posted on 07/28/2025 6:17:46 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission; Pollard

I tried ‘Yaqui’ last season and would also recommend.

San Marzano, 10 Fingers of Naples and Principe Borghese have been past favorites, too.

I am really missing tomatoes this season. I have a total of five on the kitchen counter - when I should already have five DOZEN in my stew pot! :(

It’s a combo of the weather and the varieties I planted this season. Who knew it would be a Monsoon season?!?! Obviously not me, or Farmer’s Almanac.


789 posted on 07/29/2025 5:26:04 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission; Diana in Wisconsin
I had forgotten about Amish Paste which is something I wanted to grow some day but I never intended to grow a paste type this year. One thing I did do this year was round up and clean every canning jar that had no contents. Next I need to clean out the ones with contents.

Next year seems like a good time into get back to canning. Will have to start shopping for a food mill/strainer. Start Amish Paste from seed in the shed. Pot them up and put them in the tunnel when it's warm enough and then transplant outside the tunnel when it's warm enough out there. Might have to go wild blackberry picking again. I made blackberry jam several years ago but it was way too much work shoving that stuff through a small mesh strainer by hand. Guess I was into laborious food processing for a spell because I made homemade bratwurst that same year.

Anyone got any recommendations for a food mill/strainer?

I know Victorio used to be a good economy version that had the ability to be motorized. The brand name changed to VKP but I don't know if that affected quality. Or was it the Victorio grain mill that was popular with the preppers? Now that I think of it, Country Living Grain Mill was the nice one but Victorio grain mill would do the job iirc.

I do know I've watched a video of a guy using and reviewing a Victorio food strainer for tomatoes and it seemed to work good. Skin and seeds out the side and pulp out the end into a bowl. Wonder if I can adapt it to my Oster KC power base to motorize it.

I've got a collection of Oster Kitchen Center power bases and attachments including blender, mixer, large SS bowl, mixing paddles, dough hooks, meat grinder with sausage stuffer tip, ice cream maker, veggie processor that shreds, slices and cuts french fries - short ones.

Can't believe they never made a food strainer. They made a juice extractor so I might have to get one. In fact, I see a few attachments I don't have that would complete my collection. They even made a pasta maker that will do thick or thin spaghetti, fettuccine(or egg noodles), lasagna and rigatoni. Looks quite interesting pumping out rigatoni.

Tractor tires are supposed to be here today so I guess I'm going into mechanic/welder mode.

793 posted on 07/29/2025 6:44:59 AM PDT by Pollard (Sick of the weather? Wait a minute.)
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission
Pollard; I have not grown Rutgers, but I have seen pictures of them and glad you had a chance to try a ripe one!

They are productive and as of now, I think most of the rest might be decent. One of the signs of my abiotic condition is fuzzy fruits. Any that feel fuzzy will end up with the blotchy ripening and internal whitening which adds up to poor tasting. Most of the green ones left on the plants are smooth and the fuzz does start when they're green so we'll see. I pulled and tossed most all of the fuzzy ones no matter the color and there are still a lot of smooth green fruits left and one good sized one is showing color. As mentioned, they're better fresh than store bought slicers and meaty enough for sauce so they are a decent dual purpose mater. From four plants, I've tossed 40 fruits and have 40 left and plenty of growing season left.

799 posted on 07/29/2025 10:46:10 AM PDT by Pollard (Sick of the weather? Wait a minute.)
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