Tomato Taste Results: Citrine Shines Through

We had more than 300 people come to today's Washington Gardener Magazine 15th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

1. Citrine from The Farm at Our House
2. Sun Gold from Mock's Greenhouse   
3. Purple Cherry from Mock's Greenhouse   
4. Dixieland Gold (Dixie Golden Giant?) from Ben's Produce
5. Cherry Bomb from The Farm at Our House        
6. Cherokee Purple from Ben's Produce
7. Juliet from Quaker Valley Orchards  
8. Spiral Sweet Grape Tomato from Spiral Path Farm    
9. Sweet Treats from The Farm at Our House     

This year the top three tomatoes had the vast majority of votes -- those sweet cherry varieties are hard to beat! The winner 'Citrine' had 2/3 of the total vote -- it wasn't even close.  The rest of the pack were separated by just a few votes. This shows you that there were no real "losers" in this batch and that every tomato had its share of hard-core fans. Talking to folks, after they voted, they each insisted their chosen tomato was far superior to the others and I heard raves for each of the 9 choices.

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic -- and so are the market patrons!

Big thanks to Chef Sara Hayden of Vita Cooking School who joined us this year and shared her Gazpacho recipe and to Dimitri Olive Oil for the Balsamic Viniagrette we used on additional tomato tasting samples (and they donated a couple more bottles for the prize package!).

In addition to the tastings, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.

We gave out a gift bag full of gardening goodies, tomatoes, and market money to one of the tomato taste voters. Congratulations to EJ!  Her parents told us she is a HIGE tomato fan and was thrilled to win.

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About two-thirds live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Hyattsville, etc. A few are from far outside of the area, we even had votes from Illinois, South Carolina, and New Hamshire!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our interns (Colin Davan, Ian Ferris, and Miguel Zarate) and volunteers (MD Smith and Alexandra Jentz) for helping with all the tomato sample cutting, vote tallying, and helping greet all the tasters in the short, but jam-packed two-hour event!

Washington Gardener Magazine's 15th Annual Tomato Tasting at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

It’s ‘Green Zebra’ vs. ‘Sun Gold,' heirloom versus hybrid, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 23 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

   Chef Sara Hayden of Vita Cooking School will join us to share tomato recipes and tastings.

   Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

   Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win!

Tomato Taste Results: Sun Gold Rules Again!

We had more than 150 people come to today's Washington Gardener Magazine 14th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

1. Sun Gold from The Farm at Our House
2. Cherry Bomb from The Farm at Our House          
3. Sun Sugar from Mock's Greenhouse
4. Sakura Pink from Mock's Greenhouse   
5. Brandy Boy from Spring Valley Farm & Orchard                 
6. Spiral Sweet Grape Tomatoes from Spiral Path Farm                     
7. Beefsteak from The Farm at Our House
8. Artisan Cherry Tomatoes from Ben's Produce     

This year the top three tomatoes had the vast majority of votes -- those sweet cherry varieties are hard to beat! The rest of the pack were separated by just a few votes. This shows you that there were no real "losers" in this batch and that every tomato had its share of hard-core fans. 

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic -- and so are the market patrons!

Big thanks to Chef Sorangel who joined us this year and shared her Gazpacho recipe and samples.

In addition to the tastings, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.

We gave out a gift bag full of gardening goodies, tomatoes, and market money to one of the tomato taste voters. Congratulations to Arlen Salinas! 

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About two-thirds live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Hyattsville, etc. A few are from far outside of the area, we even had votes from Berlin, Illinois, West Virginia, and Georgia!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our volunteers MD Smith, Josh Panepento, and Alexandra Jentz for helping with all the tomato sample cutting, vote tallying, and helping greet all the tasters in the short, but jam-packed two-hour event!

Washington Gardener Magazine's 14th Annual Tomato Tasting at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

It’s ‘Green Zebra’ vs. ‘Sun Gold,' heirloom versus hybrid, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 17 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

   Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

   Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win!

Tomato Taste Results: Sun Gold on Top

We had more than 150 people come to yesterday's Washington Gardener Magazine 13th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

1. Sun Gold from The Farm at Our House 
2. Cherry Bomb from The Farm at Our House 
3. Chocolate Cherry from Mock's Greenhouse
4. Cherokee Purple from Mock's Greenhouse
5. Heirloom Mix from Audia's Farm North
6. Carolina Sun from Barajas Produce
7. Red Morning from Barajas Produce
8. Sweet Grape from Spiral Path Farm

This year the #1 tomato had double the votes that the #2 tomato did -- so it was a true land-slide. The rest of the pack were separated by just a few votes. This shows you that there were no real "losers" in this batch and that every tomato had its share of hard-core fans. 

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic -- and so are the market patrons!

In addition to the tasting, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.

We gave out a gift bag full of gardening goodies, tomatoes, and market money to one of the tomato taste voters! 

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About two-thirds live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc. A few are from far outside of the area, we even had votes from New York, South Carolina, California, and Georgia!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our volunteers MD Smith and Alexandra Jentz for helping with all the tomato sample cutting, vote tallying, and helping greet all the tasters in the short, but jam-packed two-hour event!

Washington Gardener Magazine's 13th Annual Tomato Tasting at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

   It’s ‘Big Boy’ vs. ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ hybrid vs. heirloom, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 26 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

   Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

   Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win!

Like and follow our Facebook event page for all updates and to see the voting results afterward:

https://www.facebook.com/events/803509038120764/

TikTok Tuesday: Tomato Party

@wdcgardener

Check out the recent Tomato 🍅 Party hosted by Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC. ##gardendc ##urbanfarm ##tomato ##dmv ##tomatotaste ##dc

♬ original sound - Kathy Jentz

By Molly Cuddy

Last Thursday, I attended the Tomato Party at Common Good City Farm. I’ll be doing a more indepth article on this event in the August 2021 issue of Washington Gardener, so look out for that in about a month.

The urban farm had been closed to visitors because of COVID-19, but has recently started hosting events again. They’ll be having cooking demos, a cocktail demo, and plenty more all happening over the summer. You can find the links to all the events on this page. Most of the events are free and for many of them you have to register in order to attend them. 

The farm was just a quick walk from the Shaw Metro station. They had arts and crafts for kids, as well as gardening themed books. 

There was plenty of free food to try, which you can see in my TikTok video for this week posted above. My favorite was definitely the catfish taco with a cucumber and tomato salsa, from Fish Scale. Everything was delicious, and the tomatoes from the farm were so fresh. 

I would definitely recommend attending the farm’s future events if you are in the area and available! It’s a great place to spend time with friends and family.

About the Author

Molly Cuddy is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this summer with Washington Gardener. She is also a campus tour guide and will be a teaching assistant for a professional writing class next semester.

Tomato Taste Results - "Meaty" and Sweet Wins!

We had more than 250 people come to last Saturday's Washington Gardener Magazine 12th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

1. Red Grape from Spiral Path Farm 
2. Sun Gold from The Farm at Our House 
3. Chocolate Cherry from Mock's Greenhouse
4. Field Red from Chicano Sol
5. Jaune Flamme from Three Springs Fruit Farm
6. Black Cherry from The Farm at Our House
7. Cherokee Purple from Three Springs Fruit Farm

Usually, our top few tomatoes are close in votes, but this year the #1 tomato had double the votes that the #2 tomato did (60 versus 30) -- so it was a true land-slide. The rest of the pack had in the range of about 20 each and were separated by just a few votes. This shows you that there were no real "losers" in this batch and that every tomato had its share of hard-core fans. 
'Red Grape' is a firm, cherry-type tomato with a shiny skin and bright, clear red color. The taste is one of overall sweetness. The texture is fairly "meaty" with a nice mouth-feel and is not overly juicy.

Last year, 'Red Grape' came in second and 'Sun Sugar' was third. You can read the 2018 results here.

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic -- and so are the market patrons!

In addition to the tasting, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.
Across the aisle, the UMD Cooperative Extension Service had a nutrition and recipe tasting booth that was giving out samples of a yummy Watermelon-Tomato Salad. That made a great companion for our annual event.

Heather Dylla, (pictured here) won the prize drawing of a gift bag full of gardening tools, tomatoes, market goods, and market money! 

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About half live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Kensington, Burtonsville, Hyattsville, and Wheaton. From farther away in Maryland, folks came from Rockville, Columbia, Laurel, Clarksville, Riverdale, Crofton, Brunswick, Frederick, and Greenbelt. Some crossed the river from Virginia. From out of the area, we even had votes from New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our volunteers Taykor, Kay, and Lexi for helping with all the tomato sample cutting, vote tallying, and helping greet all the tasters in the short two-hour event!

Calling All Tomato-heads!

It’s ‘Big Boy’ vs. ‘Green Zebra,’ hybrid vs. heirloom, cherry vs. sandwich slicer—the tomato wars have just begun and everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 24, from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato coloring activities for kids, tomato seeds, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement. You must be present to win.

Like and follow our Facebook event page for updates:

https://www.facebook.com/events/645760612602434/

Tomato Taste Results: Red, Sweet Cherry Types Triumph

We had almost 200 people come to last Saturday's Washington Gardener Magazine 11th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market today. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

1. Super Sweet 100 from The Farm at Our House 
2. Red Grape from Spiral Path Farm 
3. Sun Sugar from Mock's Greenhouse
4. Evergreen from Chicano Sol
5. Damsel from Crooked Fence Farm
6. Red Boar from Crooked Fence Farm
7. Midnight Snack from Mock's Greenhouse
8. Kakao from Crooked Fence Farm
9. Jaune Flamme from Three Springs Fruit Farm
10. Rutger from The Farm at Our House

Only a few votes separated our top two winners. Last year  'Black Cherry',  'Cherokee Purple', and 'Red Grape' were the crowd favorites

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic.

In addition to the tasting, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.

Kendall Wienecke of Washington, DC, (pictured here) won the prize drawing of a gift bag full of gardening tools, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, natural insect repellent, and market money! 

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About half live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, and Wheaton. From farther away in Maryland, folks came from Rockville, Reisterstown, College Park, Columbia, Davidsonville, and Greenbelt.  From out of the area, we even had a few votes from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our incoming Fall 2018 semester intern Ashley O'Connor for helping with all the tomato sample cutting and helping greet all the tasters in the short two-hour event!

Love tomatoes? This event is for YOU!

It’s ‘Big Boy’ vs. ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ hybrid vs. heirloom, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 25 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win.

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/236494013858785/

Washington Gardener Magazine's

10th Annual Tomato Tasting

at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

 It’s ‘Big Boy’ vs. ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ hybrid vs. heirloom, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 26 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win.

9th Annual Washington Gardener Tomato Taste is August 27, 2016

Washington Gardener Magazine's

9th Annual Tomato Tasting

at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

 It’s ‘Big Boy’ vs. ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ hybrid vs. heirloom, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 27 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win.

Tomato Taste 2015 Results: A Stunning Upset!

We had almost 300 people come to yesterday's Washington Gardener Magazine 8th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market yesterday. Here are the results of the more than 200 ballots submitted.

1. Black Cherry from The Farm at Our House
2. Sun Gold from Chicano Sol
   
3. Sun Sugar from Spiral Path Farm tied with
   and  Red Currant from our own Washington Gardener Magazine garden plot
4.  Pineapple from Three Springs Fruit Farm
5.  Garden Peach from The Farm at Our House 
6. Juan Flamme from Three Springs Fruit Farm
7. Valencia from Country Pleasures
8. Orange Banana Paste from The Farm at Our House 
9. Sunny Boy from Three Springs Fruit Farm
10. Green Zebra from The Farm at Our House 

It is amazing that 'Black Cherry' upset both perennial favorites 'Sun Gold' and 'Sun Sugar.' This may indicate a new trend in tomato taste towards more flavorful, less sweet kinds, or it just may be that the youths at The Farm at Our House have a special grower touch that lent their 'Black Cherry' an extra winning zing.

If we had excluded the cherry varieties from our contest, then the 'Pineapple' would have won as it was the top vote-getter of the slicing tomatoes.

Do take a minute to click on the photo link above to view the Flickr album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic.

Daphne McCambridge of Silver Spring, MD, won the prize drawing of a market bag full of gardening goodies and $25 worth of market tokens!


Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About half live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Kensington, Hyattsville, Rockville, Gaithersburg, and  in MD. From across the river in Virginia, attendees came from Crystal City. From out of the area, we had attendees from West Bath, ME, Stamford, CT, and Haddon Heights, NJ. And we even had one taster this year from Durham. England!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to Doree and Martha for helping with all the tomato sample cutting and helping greet all the tasters in the short two-hour event. See you next August!

Sun Sugar Reigns Supreme in Field Crowded with Sweet Competitors

Tomato Taste 2014 Results

We had over 150 come to today's Washington Gardener Magazine 7th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. This is about 100 fewer than in previous years, but is not surprising given the weather. We had two heavy downpours and spitting rain throughout the morning, so many market shoppers may have stayed home.

Here are the results of the more than ballots submitted.

1. Sun Sugar from Chicano Sol Farm
2. Pineapple from Three Springs Fruit Farm
3. Sun Gold from The Farm at Our House
4. Chocolate (Black) Cherry from Mock's Greenhouse and Farm
5. Doctor Yellow from Spiral Path Farm
6. Beefsteak from Spring Valley Farm

Anne Hardmann of Silver Spring, MD, won the prize drawing of a gift bag full of luscious tomatoes and a tomato growing system.

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About half live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, College Park, and Riverdale in MD. Some were from farther afield in Maryland -- Columbia. Clarksville, Gaithersburg, LaPlata, Suitland, etc. A few attendees made the trip across the river from Virginia. From outside of the local area, we had attendees from Pennsylvania and even as far away as Alabama! 

See many more photos from the event at http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine.

Thank you to all who came and participated. A BIG thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to volunteers Teri and Martha for helping with all the tomato sample cutting and helping greet all the tasters in the short, intense two-hour event.

See you next August!