"EVP MAN" wrote in message
...

I'll be growing some black heirloom tomatoes this season for the first
time. Black Prince and Black from Tula. Although I never tasted a
black tomato I hear they are very good indeed. As a tomato lover, I'd
like to hear from others who may have tried them. I really enjoy a
tomato that has a lot of flavor and not so much on the mild side like
some yellow tomatoes I have tasted. We use most of our tomatoes fresh
as slicing tomatoes. I do realize that most heirlooms don't produce a
large crop as do hybrids. My crop will be a mix this year between
heirloom and hybrid varieties. I have never grown heirloom tomatoes up
till now and I'm not quite sure what to expect. The hybrids will kind of
be like my insurance policy so I at least end up with a few tomatoes for
the table

A number of studies have been done in Australia on the yield of heirloom
tomatoes vs hybrids. The result is that heirlooms produce more lb of fruit
per bush than hybrids and they do it steadily over a long period so you
don't get the glut of the hybrids all coming ripe in a short time. If you
go to he
http://www.diggers.com.au/articleWhatsNewIsOld.shtml
and scroll to the right you will see details of one company that has done
one of these trials. I do have the figures of one of their trials and the
reports on the taste from public tastings rates the heirlooms higher than
the hybrids and the yield from their trials is interesting as the heirlooms
beat nearly all of the hybrid varieties.

I've always grown heirlooms but didn't know I was growing them till recently
as the variety which is called Grosse Lisse is also one of the more popular
tomatoes grown by home gardeners in my area. Yield has always been good.

But to your Black toms.... I've grown a number of Black toms over recent
years - black Russians, Black Krim and they are very, very good. Good yield
(except this year is not great but than none of my other tomato varieties
are doing brillianlty this year either for some reason but still to many to
eat fresh). They are flavoursome and delish in anything I've used them
with. I've had them on salads, on french bread with olive oil garlic and
basil, in soups, added to casseroles, added to sauce (ketchup), made with
other varieties into chutney, just frozen with various other toms, in
spaghetti sauce etc.