Ripe Tomatoes, Canning Underway

    The tomatoes have started to ripen in their boxes, so prep for freezing and removing their skins has begun.  In terms of ripening, Scotia, Early Annie, Brad's Black Heart, Black Sea Man, and Hungarian Heart are in the lead, Black Prince and German Striped are somewhere in the middle, and Midnight Sun, Coastal Pride Orange, and Dwarf Roza Vetrov are trailing badly.  I cooked down some tomatoes yesterday and did another batch this morning. That sauce filled five 1 L jars, which are in the canning pot now.

Update:  Done!  One batch down.

Hungarian Heart - most looked more like beefsteaks than hearts.  These two were the closest to a "heart" shape in the bunch.  LARGE, pink, and the taste was a wonderful surprise.  I found them mild and yet very flavourful!  Easy to peel when processing for sauce.  I would grow these again.  Indeterminate.

Black Prince - Produced fairly well despite the cool, overcast weather.  I would love to see how it does in a "good" year.  These are very easy to peel when processing for sauce and they have a nice, smoky flavour.  Love black tomatoes.  Indeterminate.

Striped German  - large and beautiful when ripe!  Warm yellow/orange and blush red.  They almost glow.  They appear marbled when cut through the middle.  I liked how compact this variety was for an indeterminate plant.  I posted a similar picture on a gardening forum and was asked how much these tomatoes weighed.  I weighed these, and three others from the box:  1 lb 1.6 oz - 1 lb 6.7 oz - 1 lb 3.8 oz - 8.5oz - 9oz - 11.6oz.

Scotia - prolific, tasty, and early.  Determinate.  Very juicy with lots of seeds.  This is a small drawback for making sauce, but Scotia produces so dependably that it is a variety worth growing.

Early Annie - lived up to it's name.  Prolific, early, determinate, and easy to peel when processing for sauce.

Black Sea Man tomato -  The flesh of these is almost mahogany.  Average production, but oh, the flavour!  Compact, determinate plants.

Brad's Black Heart - I wish I'd taken pictures of some of the first ones that ripened.  Several were monsters, twice the size of the one below.  It's a variety that started ripening early and produced quite well.  Unfortunately, the excessive rainfall caused many of them to split, and once indoors, mould quickly developed along the cracks.  I had to process them quickly.  Some of the larger ones were so far gone (cracks/mould) that I just collected seeds from them and composted the flesh.  I would like to grow this variety again, though.  Gangly indeterminate.

Work Release Paste - I grew these for the first time last summer.  They were among my favourite tomatoes of the season, and they performed well again this year.  Productive, indeterminate, and easy to peel when processing for sauce.  Meaty and mild tasting.

Midnight Sun - This was my first time growing Midnight Sun, a variety developed by Karen Olivier of Northern Gardener.  This was a dismal growing year for a variety I think would have much preferred a longer, hotter season.  I have a boxful of still-green tomatoes that look like they are too immature to ripen.  I did, however, get 4 medium-sized Midnight Suns that ripened, so I will be able to save seeds from them to grow another year.  This is a heart variety that is truly shaped like a heart!  Most had very defined, pointy bottoms and rounded "sweetheart" tops.  Pretty orange/yellow and blush marbling, too.  A gangly indeterminate.  More pictures here.