"Truly tasty" is only in the taste buds of the taster. In a blind test conducted years ago by Petoseed Company, absolutely no consensus concerning the best, most tasty, etc. Everyone has a different desired taste.

Grow your own, taste, then discard or keep. Your choice.

oxymoron (sp) with the exception of sungold cherry. lol

Early varieties are only "delicious" because they are early. Because we have been waiting so long for a fresh tomato. :)

Once standard varieties kick into production all the earlies are 2nd rate IMO. Better than store-bought but not nearly as good as most any mid-season variety.

If I had to pick 1 of the several I have tried? Bloody Butcher. Others say Matina.

Dave

Bloody Butcher was early for me, but I didnt care for it too much, and especially after the later krims, cherokees, etc came in. That said, I do think sungold was great. And people seem to like Black Cherry too.

This year I am trying Jaune Flamee and Stupice as they seem to be mentioned often here (I agree with you on the seed companies describing everything as "fantastic"). Also, Anna Russian, but I dont expect that one to come in as early as the other two.

I say ask the expert. This year Sungold as the first tomato of the season, Next year, Moravsky Div and Sungold, most likely. Though I am growing some other "earlies", too. Fourth of July hybrid has good, sweet flavor in our hot summers, but the skin is very tough and prone to cracking then.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moravsky Div

I tried Moravsky Div last year and found its flavor complex and quite tasty.

And if you read the link above you'll see that I was theone who got seeds for M Div from Andrey in Belarus and many think it's very good tasting.

In along thread elsewhere it was decided that Stupice is pretty much the same and was perhaps even devleoped by the Moravo Seed Inst.

Kimberly is another variety that's early and pretty good tasting as well.

Legend was bred to be Late Blight tolerant and is not known for having good taste and it doesn't have good LB tolerance anyway since there are newer varieties that have better genes for LB, but none of them really all that effective from feedback I've read here and there..

In general I agree with the person who said that early and tasty are oxymoronic and also with Dave who said the earliest ones taste good b'c they are early.

As for me, with few exceptions I gave up growing earlies many years ago, b/c by moving to midseason varieties things look up, and even more so when it comes to late midseason to late season varieties.

Which brings up the question of how one determines what's early, mid, late, etc., and here's the definition I use and several seed places now use something like it as well:

Very Early, 55 or less
Early, 55-70 days
Midseason, 70-80
Late, usually over 80 days.

But you have to tweak those a bit depending where you live and garden and the weather in any one season, and all the other variables, but at least it gives you an idea of some kind of timing.

I giggle when I see a variety listed at 72 days. Depend on that, set up a chair by the plant and wait for that 72 days, and dive in. LOL

Carolyn

I always grow a couple Pipo, which is a '42 DTM golf-ball size early that does great in a two-gallon pot, making it easy to move in and out according to the weather whims. I find it tasty, and have no idea why no one else ever seems to grow it.

Tatiana has a limited supply of seeds for it now, and no plans to offer it next year.

Jan

After looking a long time, I've settled on Early Wonder. It is a compact determinate, so in addition to having good flavor, it "grows small" so I can start it early and it will not outgrow my cold frame before it can be planted outside. I would rather have "good" tomatoes a week or two earlier than wait for "great" tomatoes quite a bit later. Started my E.W. last week.

Actually, my earliest tomatoes are Red Robin, a dwarf cherry. I start these the first of February and they will start producing in early May, still safely nestled in my cold frame in an Earth Box Junior.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Growers Supply

Thanks, Jll0306 -- I've ordered a pkt of Pipo from Tatiana. Anything that says 42 days sounds interesting!
-wc2k8

Some early varieties are quite good. I do not believe that EARLY means it can't develop GREAT FLAVOR. But it varies from year to year and garden to garden. And also varies by personal preference.

Personally, I will gladly trade the dozens and DOZENS of really good early tomatoes for the 1 or 2 late season ones that I finally get in September. I'm a flavor connoisseur, not a flavor snob.

If you want really early, I would
recommend 4th of July (very early), Stupice, and Kotlas. While you are at it, don't forget to plant some actual cherry tomatoes: Sungold, Sunsugar and Sweet 100s are good and I never get tired of them. You might also consider Jaune Flamme. Early and quite productive.

I also like Red Brandywine and Box Car Willie as excellent
replacements for things like Early Girl. They are not quite as early as Early
Girl, but both of them are much more productive and taste much better,
too.

For late tomatoes, I do like Black Krim (sometimes), Cherokee Chocolate (I know it is supposed to really be identical in flavor to Cherokee Purple - but to me it is better, and Aunt Ruby's German Green. I also like Yellow Brandywine and Brandywine OTV (but I DO NOT like regular 'pink' Brandywine, whether it is Suddath's strain or any other). [Shocking?]

Okay, you've got me going. Here is a more complete list of some of my personal favorites. It is organized by SIZE, and, of course, LARGER SIZE GENERALLY MEANS A LATER TOMATO:
CHERRY TOMATOES

Isis Candy (despite being a cherry, this one isn't early), Black Cherry, Rose Quartz or Sweet Quart, Sungold, Green Grape

MEDIUM AND SMALL TOMATOES

Green Zebra, RED Brandywine (NOT Pink Brandywine or just plain Brandywine), Lemon Boy, Little Lucky Mule Team, Box Car Willie

LARGE TOMATOES

Marianna's Peace, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Cherokee Chocolate, Lucky Cross, Black Krim, Big Beef

EXTRA LARGE OR LATE TOMATOES
THAT ARE EXCELLENT

Beefmaster, Coustralee, Italian Sweet, Mortgage Lifter

I agree that Sungolds are both early and tasty! They are always my first and longest producer. Green Zebra are also an earl producer for me and the whole family loves the taste but it seems like most other people do not!

I love Green Zebras if picked just right. To me, the trick is to pick them just as you start to get a slight blush of orange in part of the skin.

It will never turn orange (or if it does, it is WAY too ripe). On the other hand, skin mostly green with yellow highlights is probably just a bit too early.

Yes, FLESH will always remain green, but part of the skin will go through a sequence of yellowish white, yellow, then orange. Get it just about the time of the first blush of orange. After that, they start to get mushy and flavor suffers greatly, in my opinion, but hey, it is all just personal preference. Some other tomatoes DO benefit from additional ripening, but not Green Zebra.

Another thing with these green varieties, including such stand-outs as Aunt Ruby's German Green - YOU NEED TO GET USED TO THE FEEL OF THEM. So, when you are in the garden, just feel the tomatoes (both green AND red varieties), and squeeze them lightly sometimes. Learn to tell when they feel ripe, by feel, and when they are too green or two ripe.

(My ADD is showing in the last sentence of the last post.)

Fcivish, thanks for the info on Green Zebra. I grew that a few years back as my tester variety, and all the fruits I picked were already obviously too ripe. Very mushy. Cracking. Frankly, I was hesitant about picking because...well...you know....they were green. And I didn't know what color of green they should be when ready. You have made me place the GZ back on the "Try Again" list.

As for a good early one, I also vote for 4th of July. Good first pickings here in 5b (NEPA), and the additional harvests seem to improve throughout the summer (In my humble novice gardener opinion).