Ananas Noir: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007
Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007
I don’t recall how this tomato ended up in my cart when I was shopping for seeds. It may very well have been an accident. I suspect that the fact that it was labled a “dark” tomato had something to do with it, though the picture on the sellers site does not look dark at all.
The description from the company I bought it from reads:
Our most exciting new tomato this year, it is wonderful in every way. This unusual variety was developed by Pascal Moreau, a horticulturist from Belgium. The multi-colored, smooth fruit (green, yellow and purple mix) weigh about 1 1/2 lbs. The flesh is bright green with deep red streaks. Everyone loves their superb flavor that is outstanding, being both sweet and smoky with a hint of citrus. The yield is one of the heaviest we have ever seen! Be the first at your farmers market to have this new classic.
The Beauty Pageant:
Size: The one picture is medium size but the other that have come off the plant have been larger than this one. Somewhere between baseball size and two fist size.
Shape: Round but a little on the lopsided side. The larger they are, the more lopsided they become.
The inside: Medium walls, thick core. There are several chambers inside. This inside is striated with red and green, with some white. The gel is loose which makes this a rather sloppy tomato.
Texture: Smooth.
Tasting:
Off the Vine Tasting: Very, very, very sweet. This is sweeter than any cherry tomato I have ever tried. Not much tomato flavor, just sweet.
Sliced and Salted Tasting: The sweet flavor is turned down some, but not much with salt added. The salt does bring back some tomato flavor.
Cooking Thoughts: As I am not a big fan of sweet tomatoes I can’t think of much that I would want to cook with these. They are candy sweet. Maybe as a side dish? This would be a fantastic tomato to grow if you have a child who is not fond of tomatoes. The sweet flavor would introduce them gently to tomatoes.
Growing Notes:
Medium size plant. While I harvested a few tomatoes off this plant, this is the first one that I have been able to eat. These tomatoes rot incredibly fast, I suspect the high sugar content has something to do with that. Also, the seller had a picture of a near fluorescent green tomato with red striations. Not one of mine has had such coloration.
Will Hanna grow this one again:
I won’t but I don’t like overly sweet tomatoes. If you do like sweet tomatoes, than I would highly recommend this one. I have never tasted one that is sweeter.
I’m starting to worry! There’s not very many varieties that are turning out to be keepers this year.
Hey Hanna!
Great gardening blog, and gardening information!
I just wanted to draw your attention to our newest press release at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/09/prweb550236.htm
Please check it out and if you have a gardening blog maybe you could post about our press release!
If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Thanks so much!
Simon
http://www.container-garden.info
I also grew this one this year:
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=185
Ananas Noir is French for Black Pineapple.
That’s very strange, I didn’t think it was very sweet. Mostly I thought it was a bit bland. I also got my seeds from Baker Creek. I guess it just comes down to climate…
I’m with Steph. Don’t seem to be a lot of keepers. But then, you’re obviously become very discriminating. I need to search through to see your methodology. How did you pick? How did you plant? (For example, one of each?)
I truly enjoy these quest type project. My husband is a little worried…
Robin (Bumblebee)
Steph & Robin (Bumblebee) – No, there are not. What I hope to find one day is the best of the best. The ones I don’t choose are not bad, just not the best. I have a rather small garden and if I found 6 tomatoes every year that I absolutly loved, I would never be able to try anything new. I try to find 1 – 2 each year that I love. The rest are okay. Just not the best.
I do plant one of each, I just don’t have the room for any more than that if I want to try all these varieties. I look for tomatoes that suit my taste, which are tangy, smokey tomatoes with good flavor in both the meat and gel. I always say that tomatoes are like wine. Everybody likes something a little different. And as Patrick mentioned, sometimes the climate can make a vast difference in how a tomato tastes.
Patrick – I think you are right. Yours looks a lot more pale than mine. I am beginning to wonder if the wrong seeds were in the package. It has happened to me before (not from them, though).
Simon – Thanks for dropping me a comment.
If it’s a really sweet and small, maybe it would be nice served beside a nice fall cake, like a garnish. Mmm. Cake.
Just sayin’.
Your pal,
Cookie.
Hey, this isn’t half bad. Im doing a paper, and this was a lot of help. I have to do a plant sale, and I’m trying to get people to buy it and to get an A+ on it. I’m also growing it, so I probably need more information to make it healthy.
This is my hands down favorite tomato! Of the dozen or so different (mostly heirloom) types I grew last year, this was the only one I saved seed from to grow again this year. And though a better one may be out there, I doubt this one will ever disappear from my garden. It’s just that good.
To me, the flavor is only slightly sweet and leans more to the deep, rich, smokey side. It was both juicy and succulent…the kind of tomato I have longed for since childhood. Definitely a keeper.
I really appreciate the work Hanna is doing with this blog. I usually find myself agreeing with her, like her review of the Goose reek tomato. But I sure part company with her on the Ananas Noire tomato.
I grow in containers, not on the ground, sad to say, because containers on my roof are the only the way I have to get my babies the amount of sunlight they need. So results from container versus results from growing on God’s earth are always an issue…
That said, I have two top favorites: Goose Creek and Momotaro. Ananas noire is in third place for me. This summer 2012 is the first time I have tried to grow them, and I find them to be in the same league. Same amount of sweetness, which for me is what tomatoes are all about.
I don’t know why Hanna found them to be super sweet. And I don’t understand how she can say she’s not a sweet tomato fan after reading her review of Goose Creek.
Not that I wouldn’t like “super” sweet, but that is not what I am getting in the Ananas Noires I am tasting. Very sweet indeed, just like Goose Creek and Momotaro, but not more so. And very nice, somewhat subtle, but still “big league” flavor. She is quite right about how fast they rot–they will never be a candidate for mass marketing.
This is the only black tomato I really like. Wanted to like Paul Robeson because Hanna thinks it’s good, and so does Laurel, and I love the man Paul was, but I’ve never had any success with it.