Ace, Big Boy, Big Girl, Pearson and Beefsteak were already popular.  Ace and Big Boy were early hybrids that changed the industry, being much more disease resistant and reliable producers all over the country.  Our suppliers began pushing Better Boy and Early Girl.  Better Boy was an improved Big Boy and supposedly better tasting, much more productive and even more disease resistant.  Better Boy was the top variety in the 1970's and still highly popular (Burpee's best seller) and Early Girl is still the best known "early" variety.  The breeders won't divulge the parents of their hybrids, however, there are some hints that the original Big Boy, bred in the 1940's, got its flavor from the Russian heirloom Black Krim. 

In the 1980's the hybrids Beefmaster, Champion, Celebrity and Supersteak were promoted.  Champion gained a reputation as the top variety of its time and is still popular.  I do remember growing and promoting Sweet 100 hybrid cherry tomatoes.  These marble-size tomatoes hang in huge clusters and taste like candy.    

The 1990's brought the rise of heirloom varieties.  Heirlooms are regional favorites from all around the World and a large number represent the extremes of tomato genetics.  Once home gardeners discovered the variations in flavor, shape, color and texture they were no longer satisfied with what the corporate breeders considered a tomato.  Our store increased our heirloom selections from just a few to 40 or more. 

Brandywine is credited with raising the interest in heirlooms.  Brandywine makes huge pink beefsteak-type fruit with an unforgettable creamy flavor and texture.  Unfortunately it is a relatively light producer.  Red Brandywine is a better producer. 

Black Krim is another with distinctive flavor, a dark burgundy colored, ugly, lumpy big fruit with rich, smokey, slightly salty flavor.  In my garden it's been the favorite of local wildlife.  Even though I was growing 8 other tasty varieties, very few
Black Krim fruit ripened intact.  Other "black" heirlooms, Black Carbon, Black from Tula and Cherokee Chocolate (a.k.a. Cherokee Purple), have a similar flavor and are more blemish free. 

Sometimes the story is even better than the fruit.  M. C. "Radiator Charlie" Byles was a truck mechanic with little education but had a good brain.  He situated his repair shop at the base of a mountain pass to fix the radiators of all the coal trucks that overheated.  He loved growing things, especially tomatoes.  He decided to breed the big heirloom German Johnson with 10 of the largest beefsteak varieties he could find to create something better.  After creating the perfect "hybrid" he spent many years to stabilize ("dehybidize") his new variety.  When Radiator Charlie was satisfied he started selling his plants for $1 each at his truck stop.  $1 in the 1940's was worth between $10-$15 today!  He was able to pay off his $6000 home mortgage by selling tomatoes.  His tomato today is called the Mortgage Lifter or Radiator Charlie.  It is a 1-2 pound pink beefsteak with rich, sweet flavor, and few seeds. 

One of the more unusual heirlooms is Aunt Ruby's German Green.  This large beefsteak ripens yellowish green with deep green shoulders and a slight pink blush on the bottom.  The flesh is a mix of neon green and pink and the flavor is spicy and sweet.  It's quite good.  A bit less unusual is the vibrant orange beefsteak heirloom Kellogg's Breakfast.  The flesh is very meaty, unusually juicy with a very rich flavor. 

On the conventional side, the hybrid Big Beef was promoted heavily as a miracle of conventional breeding.  It is resistant to a long list of diseases.  The perfectly round fruit is blemish free, and tasty. We began promoting Lemon Boy which produces huge quantities of mellow fruit and is the best hybrid yellow tomato.  In fact it remains one of our best overall.  Local tomato king, Steve Goto, promoted Momotaro, a Japanese hybrid, as his #1 favorite.  For the last decade this has been our top seller.  The flavor of this 6 oz. pinkish red fruit is rich, but very, very sweet.  Jetsetter was introduced as an improvement over Early Girl.  Jetsetter has larger fruit, and the plant seems a bit sturdier also. 

Among cherry tomatoes, Sungold a very sweet, thin skinned, golden or orange tomato has become the most popular.  This Japanese hybrid may have Brandywine in its ancestry.  I do really like the Russian heirloom Black Cherry.  It has the same complex, smokey flavor of the larger "black" tomatoes.  Definitely not boring.

Juliet is one of the original "grape" tomato varieties.  It is a hybrid between a paste tomato and a cherry tomato.  Their solid skin and flesh allows them to hold better in the field and in the supermarket.  Sugary is an award winning grape tomato with a unique pointed tip.  Also unique is its foliage that looks like it was accidentally sprayed by a weedkiller.  The very solid fruit is nearly 10% sugar! 

Now there are at least 300 varieties I have yet to grow.  We try new varieties in our backyard every year, but we always grow Momotaro and Lemon Boy.  If you have yet to discover your favorite, I'm betting you find it among the varieties mentioned above.

Please visit us at our farmers market locations.

EVERY FRIDAY  9am-1pm
Mission Viejo Library
200 Civic Center Drive, Mission Viejo

EVERY SATURDAY  9am-1pm
Historic Villa Park Orchards Packing House at Chapman College
304 N. Cypress, Orange

EVERY SUNDAY  10am-2pm
The Great Park, Irvine