Carbon: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

I bought the carbon tomato simply because it was a yummy looking black tomato. I am a big fan of black and purple tomatoes and always on the lookout for new favorites in this area.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

Supposedly one of the darkest of the “black” tomatoes. Its flavor is exceptionally rich yet sweet and the essence of delicious summer tomato flavor. Medium to large, 8 to 12 oz. tomatoes are flattened round and smooth, without the cracking or blemishing that seems to plague some black tomatoes. They are dark purplish-brown on the outside with a deep brick-red interior. Indeterminate, 80 days

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Medium size. Just a little wider than a baseball and about half the height of a baseball.

Shape: Squat but shapely. Even my husband commented that it was a nice looking tomato. Smooth sides and very presentable.

The inside: Good, meaty core with this walls. Due to the size of the core, there is just slivers for the seed chambers, so there is not much in the way of seeds. Gel is pretty tight so there is not much juice running out when sliced.

Texture: It is not mealy but it is not smooth either. It almost has a slightly stringy texture.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Oh yeah. This has that nice black tomato flavor I love. The is nothing sweet about this tomato but it is not tangy or sour either. It is certainly smoky flavored. Almost meat like but just a tad tangier. After you have swallowed a bite, the aftertaste is exactly like the aftertaste of beef.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt does not seem to do much to the flavor of this tomato. It intensifies it some, but not significantly.

Cooking Thoughts: Good flavor, it holds up well when sliced and only has a few seeds. I thinking that this is an excellent everything tomato. Use it for sauce, sides dishes, appetizers or on sandwiches.

Growing Notes:
It is growing well. Decent size plant. There are lots of little green tomatoes but the pictured tomato is the only one that has ripened or shows any signs of even thinking about ripening. At this point in time in the year, my big concern is that the first frost will happen before they ripen.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
I really would like to. But if we get frost before the other tomatoes ripen than this tomato will just not be an option for the future. I can’t grow tomatoes that will only produce one good fruit in a season.