Mmmmmmmmm! LoL looking delicious .. Just need a little olive oil, mozzarella, parmesan and a nice loaf of Italian bread.. I look forward to a fresh bruschetta all winter long haha..

I've never grown Cuostralee but have heard its praises sung throughout the forum lol - I'm gonna have to give it a shot.. Green varieties never really tickled my fancy.. What type of flavor could be expected from the Green Giant?

Micheal, to answer your questions.

(1)
The Cuostralee is probably the most perfectly shaped (free from catfacing, funny shapes~~~~ and other "visual defects" one usually sees in various tomatoes).
It looks like the "Perfect" (visual wise) tomatoes that you see in grocery stores~~~but~~~~~
it is extremely flavorful and juicy, thin skin, few seeds~~etc so the only relationship it has to a "super market tomato" is the "visual appeal".

(2)
If I blindfolded you, you would not know a Green Giant Tomato, from any of the best red tomatoes. "To Me", it has the "Traditional Tomato taste", not too sweet and not too tart. It does ripen very fast after it blushes, so it does not keep well, after picked~~~~but even if it is "Really soft and even mushy", it still tastes great, I just have sooooo many that I can't eat them soon enough~~~what a problem to have, ya thinks?

Gary

I love green when ripes with their spicy sweet flavor and have grown many of them including Green Giant, which has an interesting history, link at the bottom.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Cuostralee

Just correcting Tanias page a bit, but there were four of us who traded seeds with Norbert in France in 1992 and you can see from the link that I first listed it in the SSE Yearbook in 1993,

It's a fave of many, yields well for such a large fruited variety and taste is great as well.

That trade gave us many varieties that some of you might recognize, such as Jaune Flammee, Chianti Rose. Rose de Berne, Noir de Crimmee ( Black Krim) and about a hundred more.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Giant

I'd have those gorgeous slices with a scoop of cottage cheese and green onions. Wow, those look good !

Well, since we had these two tomatoes for dinner, last night,
Let's do a taste comparison, OK?

Taste Test, Cuostralee vs Green Giant.

Cuostralee (From a Wine connoisseur's Perspective)

Think of a fine wine that has been "Perfectly aged"
Smooooth is the Word. Not a trace of "heat" as it goes down one's throat.
The flavours are all there, but you must savour it and roll it across your palate several times to experience all it has to offer.
(Best example I can think of was a Wine, "LLords & Elwood, Rose of Cabernet", probably the smoothest wine I ever drank,
so We "Could" call this tomato, "Rose of Cuostralee"!
It "might compare to some of those Well aged Red Wines that are >$1000.00/bottle!

Now on to the Green Giant.

Green Giant. (From a Wine connoisseur's Perspective)

Well, your first bite, and this tomato Shouts Out "Hey, I'm a Tomato".
It's more acetic than the Cuostralee, but "to me", still a great balance between sweetness and acidity.
AS Carolyn points out, it has a bit of "Spiceyness" to it,
(alto that was very "Subtle" to me), the Green Giant I tasted , was "Extremely Ripe"
(It fell apart as I was slicing it)~so that "may have" toned down its "Spiceyness" a bit. Comparing it to a wine, I would say A properly aged and mellow wine
like the best Merlot, you ever drank is probably the best comparison I can offer.
Again no throat burning on the say down, but you do taste the flavour immediately as it goes past one lips.

Hope this helps in describing the tastes of these tomatoes and we will compare other Beefsteaks that I'm growing this year.

Oh!!!! and thanks for the info on these two tomatoes, Carolyn!!

Gary

I'm OK with one person supplying fruits of different varieties and comparing the tastes of one tomato with another at a taste testing, or even at home.

But I'm not happy with comparing the taste of tomatoes to the tastes of specific wines..

Merlot from X vineyard; subtle tastes of raspberries grown on a western slope, a hint of aged acorns, smooth finish, and some grape taste from letting them rot.

Reisling from vineyard X; strong grassy taste, a bit tart, deep golden color, like the sun setting, finishes slow on the palate, can compete with the best from Germany.

Yes, tongue in cheek, if not in mouth, for me, but no way will I ever compare tomato tastes with wines. LOL

Carolyn

Well, Carolyn, I know a lotta folks don't like car analogies, so I tried to think of something different, yet something most folks can relate to.

As you mentioned, this is only my "taste buds", but I figgered as long as I had the two types of tomatoes, Side x Side on my plate, I would do the best description,
(that I thought of at that time), to compare the two.

Thanks for your input!

Gary

Thanks for the comparison Gary.. I'm going to give Cuostralee a shot next year for sure.. I will say that I found your wine analogy humorous and beneficial! My problem is that I could never find the subtleties described by wine aficionados and the like (could be that I'm not a wine drinker)..
Perhaps my palate is a little too rugged for such hair splitting? haha.. I also find that my palate isn't too keen on "rolling," it's more adept to the "hurry up and swallow because it's just so good" method LoL..

Mike

Thanks for the post Mike.
"Truth be known", Now, that we are in our 70's, we are pretty much into
"Vin de Refrigerator", but when younger, we kinda got caught up in the middle of the Wine Tasting Thing, and we do like to visit the Napa Wineries.

As the "two Tomatoes", (that I reviewed), kind of "Set a Base", if you will,
I will try to describe my other Beefsteaks without the "Wine Analogy" and just compare them to the Cuostralee and the Green Giant, (Unless I come up with a better Analogy)!

"To Me", when somebody says a tomato is "Great Tasting", that does not tell me a lot, (great tasting compared to what)?, so I welcome any "Creative Tasting Posts" that our knowledgeable folks here, care to offer!

Gary

Gary, I liked your post and thought it creative and different. Good read !

"To Me", when somebody says a tomato is "Great Tasting", that does not tell me a lot, (great tasting compared to what)?, so I welcome any "Creative Tasting Posts" that our knowledgeable folks here, care to offer!

&&&&&&

Gary, you shouldn't think that I disliked your wine comparisons, I did not, or I wouldn't have gone ahead and given those crazy wine descriptions of mine, but yes, I'm a wine drinker, from time to time, but I don't think that there are many who are who post here who could relate to wine comparisons. I could certainly be wrong about that,though.

When talking about great tasting, I agree, compared to what?

What one person loves another person will never grow that variety again, which is the problem in being asked what are your best tasting varieties.

There are so many variables that go into taste that it's almost inpossible to rate tomatoes bc taste is personal, perceptual and even has a human genetic factor.

I know it's popular to ask for a person's best tasting ones, but I agree with you, again, compared to what:

Which is why I, for one, never post what I think are my best tasting ones, never have and never will, since best tasting is a moving target and changes, for me, from year to year.

I have less problems responding if someone asks about a certain category of varieties for a certain reason/purpose and if I have time would consider doing that. .

So I'll be curious to see what other kinds of creative comparisons folks come up with.( smile)

Carolyn, who also thinks it might help to say all time best tasting versus what I grew last year, what I've tasted so far this year, etc.

Since most traffic lights have 3 lights, I guess we best "add the caution (Yellow) light".

So Here She is, "in all her Splendor".

Kelloggs's Breakfast.

"KB" has been 2nd in production to only the Green Giant.
KB & GG have produced the biggest 2 tomatoes I've grown this year, (so far)!
Each has produced a 1.4 Lb tomato.

Taste wise, I would compare it to the Cuostralee, but since I only had the Green Giant and the KB on the plate , we will compare them, (as best I can).

"To Me", if you took the Green Giant and attached a spigot to it and drained out
about 90% of the acid, then you might be close to the flavor of the Kellogg's Breakfast.
(This is "NOT to say the GG has too much acid though").

This is also not to say, KB is "overly sweet".
It still has many of the other flavours in it that we associate with great tomatoes,
just not much acid,similar to Cuostralee in that regard.

The KB is very juicy with perhaps more seed pockets than GG, alto not a lot of seeds.
It is thin skinned and you don't really notice the skin when you eat the tomato.

In fact, I'll tell you something "interesting" about KB.

I've been growing tomatoes for 10 years now, (not an expert by any means), ~~~~but~~~~~I've grown many different kinds, (again not in "Carolyn's League"),
but here's the interesting thing!!!

In all those years, my wife has never said,
"we have to buy that tomato again, next year".
But she has said,
"We must buy another Kellogg's Breakfast, next year".
She has even repeated that msg, several times.

So, "To my wife", that is a very special tomato.
She likes the Green Giant too, so it's not strictly a "Low acid high sugar thing"~~~~
but to be honest, I have no idea why she feels as she does about that mater,
but how many guys, (even my age), have "totally figgered out Women????? (ROFLMAO)!!!

Gary