Lemon Boy Tomato: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010
Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2010
This was a run by purchase at a local nursery. Despite the fact that I grow a dozen varieties of tomatoes in my garden, I always panic that I don’t have enough (This fear permeates many parts of my life. A dinner party at my house for 6 looks more like I am trying to feed the Mongolian Hordes Martha style). So, I always end up picking up another tomato (or 6) when I am out shopping for other plants.
I can’t say I am attached to this one in one way or another. I just bought it because I have not tried it before. The name “Lemon Boy†implies a sour tomato but it could also mean that the creator was referring to the bright yellow color.
It is a hybrid, but a popular one that has been around for years so no threat of it vanishing.
The description from a place that sells them reads reads:
A popular hybrid tomato, particularly with commercial growers, known for its uniform, lemon-yellow colored fruit which generally grow to about eight ounces. Borne in clusters, the fruits are a treat to the eyes and have a nice mild, sweet, tomato flavor. The plants are vigorous and are resistant to several common tomato pests so they are quite easy to grow. The vines also tend to be quite productive.
The Beauty Pageant:
Size: A little bit smaller than a baseball.
Shape: Very round. Everyone is almost the same size. They do seem prone to cracking as every one has cracked at the top a little.
Color: Dayglo yellow with just a smidge of orange thrown in.
The inside:The seeds are on the larger side, but not startlingly so. Gel is loose. Core and walls are not thick or too thin.
Texture: The flesh is pretty smooth and the skin is rather thin, which means you barely notice it.
Tasting:
Off the Vine Tasting: This is a subtle tomato. The flavor is there, but light. A bit on the sour side with a faint tomato flavor. It is not bad, just not strong.
Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt brings up the flavor and makes it more complex. Still not sweet, but you no longer feel like you are searching for the flavor with the salt on the tomato.
Cooking Thoughts: This is a good tomato for those who do not like strong tomatoes all that much. It is not quite what I would call low-acid, but it is not as in your face as the average red tomato.
Growing Notes:
It took awhile for the plant to produce, but once it did, it has produced very consistently.
Will Hanna grow this one again:
No. It is not a bad tomato but it is not my kind of tomato. Others may like it, but it is not for me.
I grew this one last year. At the time I was really impressed by it. Then again it was my first year growing tomatoes, and I was impressed by everything! This year I did not grow it, and I’m okay with that. I have found that I generally like a tomatoe that is a little sweeter. As you said, Lemon boy isn’t sour, but it’s not sweet either.
Great review of the tomato.
I just recently re-found your blog – I know I checked it out a year or two ago, but these days just haven’t found as much blog-reading time. Thanks to this coming weekend’s RIPE! event (which I hope to attend at some point), and seeing your name/blog mentioned as a speaker, I had to check you out again.
And BOY am I glad I did! This whole “taste testing and beauty pageant” of tomatoes is GREAT! Like you, I have a problem where I already started plenty of tomato varieties FROM SEED in the middle of winter, and yet for some reason I can be out at a store and see a new, intriguing variety, and I can’t pass it up. Why is it when I’m in the store doing that I don’t remember the trauma I put myself through as I lay out all my plants on planting day, and start picking out the wimpiest ones, the duplicates, the ones that are just too similar to another variety (chocolate cherry vs black cherry), etc….and STILL don’t have enough room for all the remaining plants even if I only put in one of each variety!?
Boy, my friends, neighbors and coworkers sure do love all the free tomato plants in the spring. 😉
Anyhow- I need to do something like you’re doing here. I NEED to document the varieties NOW so I can remember next spring to just not bother growing those really cool sounding Big Raspberry tomatoes. Sure, they’re pretty and funky looking, but the taste? Ehhhh…no biggie.
I have to say, if you’re looking for a new variety to try next year, I’d recommend Lucky Cross. These are big, beautiful and REALLY tasty! I don’t remember where I got my seeds for it this year, but you can see what they look like here:
http://store.tomatofest.com/Lucky_Cross_p/tf-0297.htm
I don’t normally love the yellow tomatoes because they’re lacking in some of that acidic zest I like. Now I did also grow orange “Persimmon” tomatoes, and orange “Marianna’s Peace”. Both are big and pretty. I should do a side-by-side tasting of the three, and decide to just grow one of the three next year.
Just think – we’re just a few weeks away from our first frost. I’m wondering if you’re better buffered up there along the lake? I live in Rootstown (near Ravenna, Kent, and Akron), so about 45-60 minutes S/SE of you.
OH yeah – PS: I’m also reading Small Plot, High Yield Gardening, and you’re mentioned in there as well! With my seeing the two different mentions of your blog withing just a few days of each other, I obviously HAD to come check out your site again!
I planted some of these last year, and we had yellow tomatoes out the wazoo. They were kind of bland though, so I didn’t plant any this year. Now I wish I had, because they seem to be resistant to verticillium wilt, which wiped out my whole crop this year. I’d rather have bright yellow bland tomatoes than none at all 🙁
LOL, I love the Mongolian Hordes Martha Style! I also do the same thing when it comes to tomato plants. I live in Texas… So my tomatoes are already in the ground, so I can’t handle going to garden centers anymore, because I always end up leaving the store with a few packs of tomato seeds, and a few plants!
Gardening for the better good should include not buying anything that will profit Monsanto. So Lemon Boy tomatoes are out.
Monsanto has nothing to do with Lemon Boy. Monsanto is not an owner of Burpee. Please read this commentary by the highly regarded garden blogger Mr. Brown Thumb on the subject: http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-garden/2011/02/can-you-trust-burpee-seeds/
Monsanto doesn’t own Burpee; I know. The list I saw specifically says they now buy seeds from Monsanto. Anything that profits Monsanto is off the table for us.
It’s pretty darn hard to know what has Monsanto’s fingerprints on it. How can one trust any company’s statement since they are self-serving? An independent list is the only way to go. I guess I figure I’ll play it safe that way. If our government weren’t crooked we’d have all GMO’s labelled and it wouldn’t be such an issue.