I like the shape, color and look, a departure from the genetically breath PERFECTLY ROUND grocery store type tomatoes.

I would think that taste can be subjective. And then for cooking, sauce ... the taste is a different matter when you get other things like garlic, peppers, parsley.. into the picture.

This is my second year growing them. Last year they were my most prolific plant, by far. They are not ripe yet this year, but the plant is healthy and has 60-70 fruit in the works.

I used the majority of them in sauce, (which was excellent) many were almost hollow, but meaty. I didnt have a problem with the taste raw, but but I usually used others for salads/sandwiches.

Costaluto Genovese are a wonderful saucing tomato - if you eat them fresh, prepare to be disappointed (until they're well cooked, they're watery and flavorless). When cooked down, the flavor and texture are superb. The flavor is spicy and full of tomato richness without the overly sweet flavor you get with tomatoes such as Early Girl that can have you adding more and more garlic and salt to a tomato sauce to overcome.

I've grown these tomatoes three times here in the Bay Area - once in El Cerrito and twice in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. I had much better luck with the plants I purchased as starts from Territorial than those I started from seed, myself.

This sensitive, blight-prone indeterminate tomato needs some serious support to keep from breaking its own branches with the weight of its fruit. Last year I had an otherwise unoccupied strip of fence that I decided to train them up with some string instead of installing cages. I lost a lot of fruit to sun scald and breakage. You can see how much foliage the plants have lost to blight.

If I was going to grow them again, I'd grow them spiraled around Texas Tomato or other similar large, sturdy cages, tied at every juncture to support the developing fruit.

After the fruit starts to ripen it's best to avoid watering as these fruit are very prone to splitting. As soon as they look ripe - harvest. These tomatoes are not keepers. If only one or two ripen at a time, freeze them whole until you have enough to process.

To best enjoy this tomato, I recommend washing and drying the fruit, slicing in half or thirds depending on the size - you want to expose as much horizontal surface area as possible so the water can bake out. I never worry about blemishes in this step unless it already looks rotten. Arrange them in a baking dish with a little space around each one, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 200 for 3-4 hours, until they're soft and starting to look dried.

At that point you can either cool and run them through the food mill and store the paste or - as I prefer, just pack them in half-pint Mason jars, press down to get the air bubbles out, close with plastic lids, label and freeze. When they thaw the skins have pretty much broken down and it makes great sauce or a finish to a stew, chili - any place you want a lot of tomato flavor but without a lot of sweetness.

Another tip - the ejecta from the food mill is still totally full of flavor. I simmer the skins, seeds, etc. with a little water, strain and jar it up as tomato stock. It makes a great addition to soups, sauces, etc.

I'm growing CG for the first time this year. It's a variety that the gardeners at Monticello grow -- it's considered a 19th century tomato. Jefferson was among the earliest Americans to grow tomatoes. (Also growing two of Jefferson's favorite lettuces -- tennis ball and dutch brown -- and they're looking good so far. The dutch brown really does have brownish leaves, too. :)

daninthedirt wrote that these "tomato costolo genovese are strong healthy bush tomatoes". Here in the UK (Yorkshire) the seed is sold as indeterminate (cordon) tomatoes. I'm growing them for the first time this year and the plants grown from seed are healthy and robust but have reached 2'6" tall, set a fruit truss with a number of normal size flowers and one very large flower. Is this normal with this cultivar? The plant seemed to terminate with this fruit truss but then strong growth has commenced with growth from a leaf node. It seem to me that this cultivar isn't indeterminate but an determinate (bush) tomato! Can you please confirm this for me? Also, does the fruiting truss need the extra large flower removing by nipping out or is it needed for fertilisation.

Would be most grateful if you could help your English cousin with this!

Kindest regards,

Tony

tony.jan5@btinternet.com

Hi there,

I live in Rochester NY and I've grown this tomato every year for at least 4 years. It's my favorite tomato! I love the look of it, so unusual, but the flavor and texture is what keeps me coming back. I find it acidic, but I enjoy that personally. And I wouldn't say that they are watery at all, but very juicy. I've never tried canning them, but for fresh eating, I slice them and put them on a piece of toasted bread with a little mayo, salt, and basil...omg. heaven. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! I know some people prefer a higher meat-to-seed ratio, but I think they have been pretty even in my experience. They do also make a good sauce! I don't bother skinning them; I cook everything and then run it through a food mill.

If it's at all helpful, I usually grow them in a mixture of miracle-grow garden soil and top soil. I give a dusting of Epsom salts and eggshells when I first plant them outdoors in May/early June and fertilize maybe once a month with miracle grow feeder. I know, a lot of people frown upon miracle grow, but I haven't had a problem with it yet.

happy planting!

Hi ala,

I live in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England and I'm growing them for the first time. The seed packet said that they are a indeterminate (cordon/vining) variety so I am growing them in a greenhouse using canes for support. However, although they are growing well and look healthy they are behaving more like a bush variety. As you have grown them for a few years, how do you grow yours? I don't want to pinch out all of the side shoots to find that they are a bush variety. Would love to hear your comments!

Best wishes

Tony

Here's my upside down (for some reason) picture of last summers Costoluto. Early in the season it rained a lot, and the flavor was just average, but the texture was mealy or pithy, so we ate them mostly in salads. Once the year became very hot and drier, we used the emitters on a drip irrigation system and the texture and flavor vastly improved. It probably was the most tomatoey, if that's a word, tasting tomato I remember eating.

Yes they are determinate, some plants were 5.5 ft tall, they need to be caged or trellised and have the branches that are heavy with fruit supported with soft ( we used old socks) slings. They were medium sized fruits, very pretty, and like all garden grown tomatoes, the skin is tough, so we liked them better when peeled. I don't remember extra watery, but they did seem to have a lot more seeds than others. We combined them with the smaller round Abu Rahwan tomatoes in the picture, and made salsa from them, we tried to strain out most of the seeds, but there were still plenty. Seed savers won't be disappointed.

We pinched out suckers on our plants occasionally, after the garden became a Jungle, we stopped. We are in central oklahoma summers 90 to 105 Farenheit . There were 2 volunteer seedlings that we transplanted to another part of the garden this year. They survived the winter and 20 inches of rain this month, so it will be interesting so see how they produce.

Only the volunteers and 3 transplants in peat pots survived the spring, so were probably not going to have another bowlful like the picture very often.

Oops just read my post. They INdeterminate

My Costalutos are six feet high right now, and I've just started picking ripe fruit. I have them growing on doubled commercial tomato cages, which work quite well. I use wire ties to latch them to the cages. No pinching, though in the last week or two I've been topping them because there is no support above 6 feet! Yes, the skin on the fruit is pretty thick compared to other slicers, but I like that.

If I said that they were "bush like", I just meant that they were less viney than cherry tomatoes. They certainly grow vertically. Also certainly indeterminate.

I've been harvesting seeds from them for the last few years, and I even rescue some plants from the compost pit. The seeds are quite large, and I find they germinate pretty indestructibly.

Hi Dan,

So if you don't pinch out side shoots do they fruit on the side shoots as well as the main cordon stem? Any chance of a photo of this year's plants? I'm new to growing this variety and they don't seem to be growing like any tomato I've ever grown before. It would be good to see how our American cousins grow these! Envy you for being able to start harvesting as early as June. We don't get the weather for that over here in the UK. Night temperature down to 42deg f last night and daytime temp only 60deg f. Can only grow tomatoes in the greenhouse. Good news is that my Costolutos Genovese are flowering and the bottom trusses are setting fruits.

Well, this picture probably won't help much, as it is one plant that is 6.5 feet tall, and so I'm kind far away. It's the tall one in the middle. But there are fruit at all levels, and on side branches everywhere. I've started harvesting, and have already picked about three per plant near the bottoms. Yes, we have early tomatoes, but when the heat sets in in a month or two, the plants will no longer fruit.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the photo, that has answered a whole host of queries. Here in England we would class this as a determinate variety (Bush) and not an indeterminate (Cordon/Vining) variety.

Mine are grown in a glasshouse to help maintain a decent temperature and are currently about 3 feet tall. I have been removing side shoots as the seed packet stated that they were cordons. I shall stop doing that now and allow them to put on side shoots. Support will give me a few problems but I will find a way around that as they grow. I may have to remove a plant to make room for the bushy growth as I hadn't appreciated how big a plant this variety would be.

The flowers on the lower truss are fertilized and fruits are setting, so I'm looking forward to sampling the taste, fingers crossed!

Thanks once again,

Kindest regards

Tony

Tony -

I usually consider determinate/indeterminate to be indicative of the fruiting schedule. That is, determinates do it all at once, while indeterminate do it continuously. Certainly indeterminate varieties tend to be somewhat more vining -- cherries are very much so. But Costoluto Genovese fruit throughout the summer, unless the temperatures get really high. No question that one can try to get vining tomatoes to bush by trimming. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Now, having said all that, I am somewhat perplexed that while my plants are now loaded with fruit, and growing like crazy, the flowering has stopped. That's unusual. I hope these plants aren't going "determinant" on me! It may be that the plants are simply smart enough to know that they can't easily support any more fruit until a lot gets harvested.

Dan

I grew these for the first time this year so I'll throw in my two cents. I found them good only for cooking, and then they were very good. Fresh, the skins were very tough, the flesh tough to mushy depending on how long I left them on the vine. No flavor to speak of and fairly acidic. The most "blah" tasting homegrown tomato I've ever eaten. However when slow roasted in the oven (drizzled with olive oil, garlic and oregano) some sweetness comes out but not enough to be cloying. Those tough skins relax enough to open the pleats but hold together to allow me to simply (but gently) scoop off the flesh. I left the seeds in, not wanting to bother with a sieve, and had a rustic sauce almost as thick as tomato paste. It worked very well over pasta and also spread on bread.

Mine is behaving as indeterminate but the fruit did seem to set in 2 prolific "waves" which allowed a number of tomatoes to ripen at the same time--good for cooking purposes. Its still hot here so I'm waiting to see if I get a third wave. Fruit were of varying sizes from tiny to huge and the very large ones tended to be quite misshapen.

Bottom line, I don't think I'll grow this tomato again because we prefer a sweet slicing type of tomato like Celebrity. But if you're looking for a cooking tomato that's also a conversation piece then Costoluto Genovese is worth the space in your garden.

I've got a plant this year that was supposed to Polish Dwarf but turned out to be some kind of Costoluto.

I like the fruits as they have just unique shape and are interesting. Plus they are meaty, with little juice and seeds. That makes them good in cooking and making fresh sauce for pasta.

When using a tomato for sauce, you can alter the taste by adding herbs (basil, oregano, parsley), onions garlin etc. That is how most Italians use tomatoes, not much as fresh slicing.

So, anyway, I have saved sees and will grow it again in 2016.

Sey

PS: Updated to show a picture of my Costoluto fruits.

The picture with cell phone under bad lighting does not do the justice. It is more red and has 12 ribs, weighing 145 grams.

I grew Costoluto Genevese for the first time this year. I agree, the tomatoes are excellent in tomato sauces with pasta, fried on toast for breakfast, and make a fantastic tomato soup as well as a really good tomato relish. They are okay in a Greek style salad but not the best tasting beefsteak tomato I have ever tasted ( I normally grow "Faworyt" beefsteak) but they are prolific. We have had a magnificent crop and considering that everyone in the UK is saying that this has not been a good year for tomatoes we are very pleased. We did have problems early in the year deciding whether or not they should be grown as a cordon or a bush but can confirm that they grow best as a cordon.

We grew 12 plants this year but will reduce this to 6 next year, not that we don't like them, just fed up of tomato soup!

Tony

I have been growing cosotluto genovese tomatoes for about 5 yrs. both for sale at the farmers market and use at home. I find these to be simply the best tomatoes I have ever grown. Taste in sauce and for slicing is fantastic and for an heirloom it produces very well. I am in SW PA and this being an indeterminate V. makes for a big flush of late season fruit. I had a few plants in my hothouse and picked the last green fruit (which ripened nicely on the sill) in Mid Nov. I use a squeezo for processing so the lobes and heavy skin is not a big deal. I have found in our area that cool wet early summer conditions can lead to tomatoes with watery bland taste but I have never found the Costoluto lacking. One other thing I like about the Costoluto is that the same plant has different forms of tomatoes, the larger lobed fruit and a large-ish round cherry type that are excellent in salads.

Since I was thinking that what I had (ordered) was Polish Dwarf, I planted it in a 4-5 gallon pot. For some reason it had some kind leaf problem. Looked liked some kind of deficiency. Anyway, despite of that it kept fruiting til the end of season. This year I will plant one in the raised bed.

As I have said before, I liked its ribbed fruit shape and it was perfect on the pasta.Good and tasty as sliced along the ribs too.

Sey

We are growing costoluto Genovese tomatoes and we find them tasty. They have a strong taste but our first harvest has produced a lot. We mainly use them for sandwiches but have used them in salads

Folks, Costoluto is not mostly for fresh slicing and eating. It is used for/in cooking.

You saute' it a bit with olive oil, garlic, basil ,... and put it on top of pasta.

.Delizioso !

Sorry, disagree with you there; this is one of my favorite sandwich tomatoes. I rarely cook this. A couple of nice thick slabs of this juicy beauty and toasted bread with mayo and basil is heaven on earth. To each their own.

That is good, ala

I had a lot of slicers at the time. Plus I found my Costolutos not very juicy. This coming season I should try them.

I like them for their look. There are too many round and smooth tomatoes around.

Sey

It may just depend on how their grown; since they are heirlooms, they may be more affected by the varying growing conditions. I agree with the look of them, so unique and gorgeous, but it's because of all those lobes that I don't go through the effort of trying to skin them when cooking and just use em fresh. I adore the acidity they have.

I've grown Costoluto di Parma, which is a similar deeply lobed heirloom from Italy. Starting from the seedling stage it had gregarious vegetative growth, probably because it always had huge sized leaves compared to the other tomato cultivars. (Seriously, I could easily tell the CDP from other seedlings by the size of their leaves). Both in pots and in the ground, it set fruit as early as the neighboring cherry tomatoes did. Definitely plan on good support system because this thing vines like crazy. I placed a container plant along the fence line with the grapevines and it easily topped the 6' fence.

Seemed to like a little neglect as the plants that got less water overall put out more fruit. Of course the container plants needed to be watered more often, especially as the plants got huge. Didn't seem unduly affected by the heat of August other than the usual afternoon droopiness. I suspect that extremely rapid growth could deplete nutrients faster, especially in containers. Produced all season.

Taste was overall good. Texture was not as juicy as say a Brandywine but not at all mealy. I sliced quite a few fresh for salads when I was in between making batches of sauce. I picked most after blush but before they were fully red, so that might have influenced the texture. And as has been mentioned, the fruit is quite pretty.

I would and am growing again. Seemed pretty resilient and productive for a heirloom.

There are 2 possible reasons for the discrepencies about CG. (1) Could be different cultivars. (2) Seeds could be cross-polinated accidentally. It probably is not just the growing temperature because mine did not deteriorate when colder fall weather arrived.

Since it is an OP, this is one variety where I feel that it is worth all the trouble of isolating, bagging, and hand polinating to save seeds, if I have the same wonderful CG that I grew before.

(1) DIFFERENT CULTIVARS. There are many Costolutos. At least two diferent Costoluto Genovese have been sold in the US. Most companies sell a very convoluted one. seedsfromitaly is now selling a smooth one also called CG, but someplace in the catalog or package it says "Costoluto Genovese var Valente".

I love the CG that I grew from seeds from Pinetree: large robust plant, fruit almost as big and prolific as Big Boy. To me the taste raw was as good as Big Boy and Brandywine, but in taste tests, others preferred Brandywine raw. (I like a true acid tomato taste.) Thick and meaty, not at all watery.

The one odd thing about it was that it did not grow well in the spring. But when the summer got hot, it caught up. Now I use passive solar jugs of water to help a little in the spring.

Pinetree no longer has the seeds. This year, mine are from Thompson and Morgan. Also testing the Valente variation, plus C. Florintino. Hope I have the right variety.

(2) ACCIDENTAL CROSS-POLINIZATION. So many people today are saving seed carelessly and causing cross-polinization. Some people may have been sold or given crossed seed. If an OP is crossed with a hyprid, there will be a variety of results. Since I loved the CG that I grew, I will be bagging and saving my own seeds for this cultivar from now on. It is really a shame that some people save seed from plants that have been grown in the open. To save seed, I sew 6-ft bags from row cover, put the plant in a small pot to dwarf it, put the whole plant in the bag tightly closed, and hand polinate to get one fruit. Then I give the dwarfed plant away.

I get mine directly from tomatofest.com every season, so at least starting out, they are the true plant. I''ve been growing them going on 7 or 8 years and each season, I get the same results, except for 1 summer that was cooler and wet.

I have saved seeds from 2015 fruits and am growing it.

We shall see how it does. I will plant it in the raised bed time.

Another thing That I observed lat year, it was very early to flower and set fruits.

Sey

Ala565626 - Sounds like you may have the CG that I used to grow. Is it a large beefsteak?

This year my CG was old seed from Thompson and Morgan when they used to sell in the US. This plant is certainly good enough to grow again. Dense for cooking, good acid taste for eating, very prolific. But it is not the large beefsteak CG that I used to grow from seed from Pinetree, which no longer sells it.

I also grew the smooth, slightly ribbed CG that seedsfromitaly is now selling. It was definitely inferior. Smaller fruit, good taste, but may not have the great acid taste of CG, not nearly as prolific. Took a break after producing its first crop.

I plan to buy GC seed from three different sources next year, spending a fortune on rip-off postage. Will try tomatofest as one.

Hello all, jumping in. I was watching P. Allen Smith a few weeks ago. He was at the Chicago Botanical garden. They were growing the Costoluto Genovese in an all organic garden. I'm all organic too. I found the seeds on the Thomas Jefferson center for historic plants. Apparently, according to the gentleman at Chicago Botanical Garden, the Costoluto Genovese was Thomas Jefferson's favorite tomato. Anyway, eager to get the seeds started. I'll let you all know what I think at the end of the season.

I grew it last year and it was very prolific, but the BER was out of this world and didn't disappear after the first few fruits. For that reason I will not grow it again.

Linda

i commanded my costolto genovese sit,stay, beg,fetch, and beg it ignored me and grew as it wanted to.

It's hard to fetch when you are sitting and staying, but I agree that they are hard to train {LOL}.

I think the dwarfs are more trainable!

Linda

I don't think that much of any of the Costolutos and I've grown 4 of them. They are all red and ribbed and named from the places where they were found,only,so pretty much the same if you are growing Fiorentino, that's Florence,if Genovese,that's Genoa. No different for all of the various Mortgage Lifters found and named that way as well, or pink Brandywines as well.

Kelli, I have the two volume garden Journals of Jefferson, and copied down all the varieties he mentioned and I don't remember a Costoluto being one of them, of course I could be wrong since no one is perfect..

Benjamin Franklin was the ambassador to France for Jefferson and what he brought home were mainly French varieties and a few more. I'd check in my Fearing Burr book of 1883 which is a tremendous resource, but can't get to it, as Linda knows I'm homebound and have to use a walker, and still snowed in from the recent blizzard

http://ventmarin.free.fr/passion_tomates/tomates_cl_cz/tomates_cl-cz.htm

Scroll down to the costolutos in the above link I didn't take the time to have it be translated to English, but you can see the dates of all and just one goes back to the 16th century with no verification. Christian who maintains this site is very good with his research and no ,this is not a place where you buy seeds from.

Carolyn, who hopes the above helps

tarolli2011, this past year, they were much smaller than usual for some reason, but the ones i've grown in the past were fairly large and comparable to beefsteaks. I was gifted with an absolutely gorgeous book on heirloom tomatoes for my birthday this year and subsequently sought out a lot of new varieties for this year. i did start the costoluto's again from seed this year, but i'm excited to try some of these new varieties!

Thanks for the info, ala. I bought CG seed from a variety of sources this year to try to find the older beefsteak one. But I was lucky enough to germinate my own collected 10-year old seed. If it works out well, I will carefully save seed and offer it here.

Carolyn: C. Florentino is much smaller fruit than any of the C.G.'s. I will not grow it again.

One of the C.G.s being sold by seedsfromitaly.com now, plus a few other places, is not highly ribbed at all: C.G. var Valente, and it is the least desirable one I have tried: not the great acid taste and not too productive like the others. I will not grow it again, and I want to warn others that it is totally different.

To me, the smaller C.G. being sold most places now is still worthwhile: fabulous taste and productive. But I desperately want that beefsteak one that I used to grow.

Agree. I stopped growing it too. Not productive and not that great tasting either. I mostly liked its ribbed shape.Not a fan of smooth round and egg shape tomatoes. Those remind me of the store bought.

So anyway, there are a lot of better choices (IMO). I am growing about 34 varieties that 60% of them are for the first time.

sey

Reading this dead thread is kinda a downer because I have been growing this variety for almost 8 years and I am in love with it. It is not for fresh eating, but makes such a rich flavored sauce. I feel it is one of my most finicky varieties to grow but when it is taken care of can grow beautiful tomatoes that make a superb sauce. It is especially sensitive to very wet environments so if you are in an area where it is extremely wet, it may not be the variety for your garden because it will not grow well. I grow between 35-40 different varieties of tomatoes each year and this is one of my favorites when it does well. Also, it needs good support and I will pick it a day or two early if I know we are getting a big rain storm before harvest because the water will can cause it to become soggy. When I see someone growing this variety successfully, I consider them to be part of the "big league" of gardeners.

I lost a very long post about the 4 costolutos and all the San marzanos' when I realized that the link I gave for Genovese from Tanias's superb data base site had to be dealt with differently than just inserting it in the text as a link.

So I'm not coming back. Each of you has to decide what is best for you as to useage, whether using hearts, which have few seeds and taste much better than any Costolutos or Marzanos or using 1/2 hearts and 1/2 C's or M's.

I think it's at the point where if there are any disagreements/opinions, it's best to just say, let's agree to disagree, and move on.

Carolyn

I finally figured out the history of CG strains in the U.S. I have grown so many different ones. Costoluto Florentino appears to be consistent from different sources, but every seller has a totally different CG. That is the reason for the strongly varying reviews. There is not one CG tomato cultivar in the U.S. There are many different plants sharing the same name.

I started growing CG from Pinetree seed over 10 years ago. It was a fabulous tasty large tomato, perfect for cooking and eating. Over a few years, that packet of seed was used up. Since then, I have bought from many sources to try to find the original wonderful CG. Never found it. But last year I found seed that I had saved from the original. I was so excited. They had listed my original CG as an OP. Well, the original seed that I got from Pinetree was definitely a hybrid. The plants that I grew this year are clearly F2s. Every plant was totally different. Size ranged from one inch to about 3 inches. Some fluted, some smooth, some in-between. The only one that was highly fluted, like the original CG, was only an inch across. (Cute little fellow.) Most tasted good, but not as great as the original. The only possible explanation is that my original seeds were hybrids listed as OPs. That also explains why every seller whose seeds I have bought has a totally different plant named CG. The first CGs brought into the country must have been hybrids, and different companies grew out different versions.

I would have loved to grow my old beefsteak CG again, but that will probably never happen. But there is an alternative. PanAm used one of the GCs to cross with Brandywine, producing Genuine, which is comparable to the original fabulous CG. It looks the same, highly fluted. It is beefsteak size. Taste is better than any of the CGs that I have grown for 10 years. It is dense for cooking, like the original. It is the most productive tomato that I have ever grown. I have had it two years now, and it has been equally outstanding both years. People who got plants last year requested it again.

I am giving up the quest for the original great CG, and using Genuine to replace it.

In checking that I reported the new info and cultivars that I learned from last year, I see that I miss-spelled Genuwine twice in my last post. Genuwine is CG x Brandywine, and it is fabulous.

Bringing this thread into 2018! First time I'm growing anything really, but I've planted C.Genovese and San Marzano seeds last Wednesday and this morning (Sunday) I've seen them come through. Perhaps mid February is a bit early (London UK) but once they've been transferred I'll plant more seeds which seems fail-safe in that regard. In my opinion the San Marzano are for sauce and I'll be fertilizing them with volcanic dust to recreate conditions of Vesuvio and the Cosotoluto is for slicing and eating on toasted sourdough. The Cosotoluti are in the image below. This morning they had only just appeared but this evening first leaves are visible.the San Marzano are this evening just appearing so are a bit slower. Any tips going forward would be much appreciated but it's fair to say these tomatoes will be YouTube tomatoes since it's my main resource for learning how to grow them.

Are those muffin tins you have tomatoes planted in? Much too shallow.

@danintyedirt haha no it is the 'Root !T natural rooting sponge' tray. I think they're actually growing quite fast

At this point should I keep the lid off the top for ventilation and have them enjoy some sunshine through the window? The next few days will be cloudy anyway. I'm keeping them in a room at about 75°

Ha ha! They look like bran muffins :). Definitely remove the lid now that they have all emerged. They don't need it any more and you don't want them to rot! I'm sure they will enjoy the daylight through the window :). They might get a bit leggy, but you can always plant them nice and deep when the time comes.

Linda

One has to wonder if one can do rooting in a bran muffin. That would be something, wouldn't it?

It's been pretty overcast here and I only got lights for them last night. They are now 8 days old since planting the seeds... Would these be considered leggy?

They are much too leggy. They need more light. As they get older, they will need still more light. Can you add artificial light 24 hrs a day for several weeks. It will not hurt them until 6 weeks.

A wonderful thing about the original CG is that it was both a fabulously dense cooking tomato, plus equally great for fresh eating. The original was better than San Marzano for cooking (equally dense and much better tasting). Most of the varied versions of CG today still have that denseness for cooking, but many have lost much of the fabulous taste.