Columbia, Missouri
September 26, 2007
What the winner lacked in size, it
made up for in plenty of juicy flavor.
The Sun Sugar Hybrid, a small orange cherry tomato, was by far
the top scorer – beating out 54 competitors – in a taste contest
judged more than 350 tomato lovers at the
University of Missouri’s
Third Annual Tomato Festival.
The diminutive winner scored a 4.25 average on a five-point
grading scale, besting Missouri Pink Love Apple, an heirloom
variety, which scored 3.71.
Runners-up included heirlooms Beefsteak from the Baker Creek
Heirloom Seed Company, and Black, a variety with an unusual
non-tomato purplish-black coloration, said MU horticulturalist
Leslie Shaw.
The lowest score went to Green Sausage, a hybrid, scoring at
1.45 out of five.
Seven of the top 10 selections were heirlooms as opposed to
hybrids. Heirlooms, dear to the palates of many tomato
aficionados, are open or self-pollinated as opposed to hybrid
varieties, which are cross-pollinated in an effort to create
certain characteristics such as size, shape, color or taste.
Seed from many heirloom varieties are passed down over family
generations. Varieties must be at least 50 years old to be
called heirlooms. In some cases, gardeners must search
catalogues to find seed for their favorite heirloom variety.
Some heirloom seeds no longer exist.
The orange-yellow color of the winning Sun Sugar Hybrid threw
some diners off when the MU Bradford Research and Extension
Center sold the tomatoes to on-campus dining facilities for use
in salad bars.
“But once people tasted the Sun Sugars they became very
popular,” said Shaw.
In addition to tasting the 55 tomato and 32 pepper varieties,
visitors strolled through the Bradford tomato plot and heard
informational talks from MU horticulturalists.
U.S. annual per capita consumption of fresh tomatoes is about 19
pounds, according to the USDA Economic Research Center.
Americans consume an additional 74 pounds per person each year
in processed foods. |
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