You'll find most of the discussions about best canning tomatoes over on the Harvest forum here. I linked it below. It is the canning and preserving forum and this question comes up often over there.

The consensus is that there is no "best". Any tomato works well for canning depending on how you plan to use them so most prefer using a mix of varieties. But flavor is the most important consideration if one is going to spend the time and energy to do the canning.

So unfortunately few of the paste type tomatoes are commonly recommended simply because they aren't noted for flavor. There are a few exceptions - Opalka is one that comes to mind. But the many heart varieties often recommended have the benefit of both good flavor and less seeds.

Personally, while Green Zebra wouldn't appeal to me for canning, all the rest you listed are good. I often can Giant Belgium, Brandy Boy, Arkansas Travelers, Rutgers, San Marzano, Bradley, Big Beef, German Strawberry, etc. Others that are often recommended in discussions are

Druzba
Wisconsin 55
St. Pierre
Amana Orange
Lynnwood
Box Car Willie
Oxheart
Bulls heart
Rostova
Cuoro D Toro
etc.

to name just a few.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum

Add Picardy and Lyuda's Mom's Red Ukraine to Dave's list and you have some very good choices.

If you want a pure sauce tomato, try Costoluto Genovese.

Ahhh, this reminds me I finally got my hands on some Picardy seed and forgot to plant them. Maybe for Fall.....

If I ever had enough to can , I would use small size ones like San Marzano, Roma, Opalka, ... that are small in size with more meat and they can be canned whole without cutting. That is how most canned tomatoes are sold in the stores.

On the other hand, canning whole tomatoes take too much space and containers. I would rater make sauce , by reducing the volume by more than half, maybe by 2/3. I have done this way in the past.

I like tomatoes canned whole. And I like them on the smallish side: this way, they fit better in the jars leaving less empty space between them and I also like when they fit whole into my mouth. :)
Last year, I had success with canning Juliet (red) and Joe Lauerer's Pink German Eggs (light pink) as whole-canners, they are small, keep their shape well in jars and stay firm, not mushy when canned. Somehow, I didn't like San Marzano Nano as whole-canners, maybe, they are better for sauces.
This year, I will also try for the first time these as my whole canners:
-Heidi
-Legenda Tarasenko
-Mountain Magic
-Principe Borghese

I am trying to locate the seeds for Kada tomato - someone on the forum recommended them as âÂÂsmall and hard as rockâ - just what you need for canning whole. :)

By the way, Green Zebra is not good for canned whole: I added a few GZ into jars to diversify the colors, but Zebras turn mushyâ¦.

This post was edited by green_go on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 14:14

I like San Marzano Redorta the best for paste and sauce but I throw in some Brandywine pinks for more flavor also.

Brian