That's what I want to see - names of favorites. Now to look up Granny Cantrell.

My friend swears by Celebrity. It's a tasty medium red. My Dad loves Better Boy, a large slicer. Last year, my favorite was called Black Prince, which is really a deep red/purple. Kind of like Cherokee Purple, but smaller. For taste, some of the romas are really nice. Last year, I grew a large, pepper-shaped roma called Andes. It was great, but didn't put out much fruit. This year, I'm trying Blue Beech, another large pointy paste tomato. Some folks sold them at the Farmers' Market a few years back, and it was really great in a Caprese Salad. Not sure if it's red or pink, but Arkansas Traveler is an old time favorite in hot summers with nice medium fruits and some disease resistance.

Not being a tomato purist, I try and grow several varieties including oranges, yellows, blacks (purple), pink, reds, and stripes. One of these years, I'll figure out which ones I like and which ones do well for me. So many varieties from which to choose.

If you have many colors of tomatoes, the Caprese Salad looks really stunning. It's very easy...
Slice several tomatoes, and lightly salt them in a collander. After about 30 minutes, they will have shed some of their juices. Slice some fresh mozzarella cheese and pick several large basil leaves. Alternate the tomato, cheese, and basil in a spiral pattern on a large platter. Drizzel with either some pesto, or olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Grind some black pepper and salt to taste. Serve as a side along with grilled meats, or eat as a light meal with some crusty bread.

You are killing me pauln. I grew Celebrity and liked it. I want to try some heirlooms; never had luck with them but the descriptions are sooo tempting. I have cabin fever so bad I have been looking at u tube worm videos.

helen, you need a good book to read!

The salad sounds wonderful. I have made a couple of batches of mozzarella that turned out pretty good. This would be another good use for it.

Gldno, how hard was making the mozzarella? I've read a little on the subject, and it looks like it mainly needs one funky ingredient for the whole thing to work.

Yes Helen, I'm dying too. All of these visions of tomatoes dancing in my wee little head. Let's see, when the maders start showing up, I usually make some gazpacho first off. Then a huge bucket of salsa fresca. Somewhere in the mix is the Caprese salad. Then I do a caprese pizza. Same concept as the salad, but I use assorted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, on top of a layer of my pesto on my homemade whole wheat/semolina crust. This is the "Zen" pizza, and there's enough dough for another pizza which is the "Over the Top" one with everything I can think of on it. Oh man, it'll be 5 months before any real tomatoes come around. I don't know if I can wait that long.

Paul, it is very easy. I have certainly not perfected it yet but it does melt nicely. I have Ricki Carroll's book 'Making Cheese, Butter and Yogurt' and have used her 30 minute mozzarella recipe and also another one that calls for no strange extra ingredients other than junket tablets. He has a good website about cheeses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home made Cheeses

Go to the Okla forum and check out okiedawn's post. I hope this is OK to post here. I can not believe her energy. She is offering seeds.

i don't know what the best red is. german red strawberry is pretty good. i can tell you my absolute favorites in gold and yellow. aunt gertie's gold and dr wyche's yellow. both are excellent to me and prolific.
william

Do you have an opinion on bloody butcher, stupice, sara's galapagos, black cherry, amish paste, or eva's purple ball?

I got seeds from okiedawn (Oklahoma forum)today in little manilla packets, labeled with descriptions of the tomato. She said Ozark forum members were welcome too for SABE. I am very pleased with what she sent.