Around here, most folks use one of the following: Rutgers, Bradley, Homestead, Campbell's 1327, Heinz 1439, or Celebrity. The key is to use a true determinate variety whose fruit will all ripen within a short time period. But, you can use any variety.

I have Rutgers and some paste types planned for next year. The paste types like Opalka, Amish Paste, Gallo Plum, Roma, and Wuhib (to name just a few) are good for canning because most are not super juicy - making cooking down a lot easier.

Hope that helps.

Ted

Prolific heirlooms might include:

Break O Day
Bulgarian #7
Druzba
Picardy
Mama Leone, paste
Heidi, paste
Opalka, paste
Box Car Willie
Valiant
Rutgers
New Yorker

...for starters

All are prolific, some are det, most are not, some are paste types others are not but for sauces one can always cook them down to the desired consistency.

Carolyn

I had good results with Matt D Imperio that I got from Carolyn this year. It produced well for this year. And what I would consider an all around tomato with very good flavor. Didn't see it on Carolyn's list and she would know it way better than me and may have some thoughts about it. I plan on planting several next year for eating and making salsa. JD

As has been pointed out in the previous discussions on this issue, you can CAN any variety of tomato ;) although some prefer using just paste varieties so that you don't have to cook it down so much. That sacrifices flavor IMO and there are ways to thicken even the thinnest sauce without prolonged cooking.

We can hundreds of quarts annually, but to make the canning convenient and worth the time and effort you either have to 1) have room for many, many plants so that you have enough ripe at one time, or 2) use determinate varieties.

So if you don't have room for 50 or more plants then it is hard to beat Rutgers for both production, convenient cropping time, and flavor. San Marzano (paste) is our next best bet and Amish Paste the 3rd choice. You can always mix in any ripe others as they become available to boost the flavor. Opalka is a great addition but we don't get the production out of it that we do out of the other 2 paste varieties mentioned.

Also keep in mind that if you are getting spotty production you can always freeze the tomatoes whole until you have enough to get a canning assembly line going. We core ours first as it is less messy, toss into a ziplock bag and freeze. Skins peel right off when thawed.

Be sure to check out the Harvest Forum here for all the great canning discussions.

Dave

I had good results with Matt D Imperio that I got from Carolyn this year. It produced well for this year. And what I would consider an all around tomato with very good flavor. Didn't see it on Carolyn's list and she would know it way better than me and may have some thoughts about it. I plan on planting several next year for eating and making salsa. JD

****

Jay, I had it on the above list and then deleted it b/c it would have meant adding quite a few others that are similar such as Prue and also Amish Paste, the latter being a moderate producer but is too juicy to be a paste.

But yes, I could live with Matt D' Imperio on the above list as well as Prue which for me has a wonderful unique taste,. and do it very nicely for both of them. ( smile)

I could also live with ANY variety being used for canning, as Dave suggeted, but if it were me doing the canning I wouldn't want to do it with huge beefsteak types. Just my opinion based on all the years I worked with my mom canning tomatoes.

Carolyn

"Ludmilla's Red Plum".

"Ludmilla's Red Plum".

*****

Ami, I would certainly agree with that and would have put it on my list if it weren't for the fact that there is no current commercial source for it in the US.

I know you and I expect to list it in the 2009 SSE Yearbook for SSE members only along with two others that originated with Reinhard Kraft and the only other way one could get it would be to go to Reinhards website and order it from Manfred Hahm who does sell many of Reinhard's varieties.

I'm sending Ludmilla's Red Plum as well as Ludmilla's Pink Heart as well as Ceman to several places I trust for trial so hopefully they will be available soon as well as the other two. And that goes for several other varieties such as Orange Minsk that Andrey from Belarus sent me.

If you know of a commercial place other than Herr Hahm's for Ludmilla's Red PLum please let us know. ( smile)

Carolyn, who in one season became a fan of Ludmilla's Red Plum.

Thank you all for the great information. I will have to see which seeds I can obtain.

I am a huge fan of SSE but unfortunately with finances as they are so far this year I cannot afford a membership. Hopefully next year will be better and I can another membership. Kim

Kim,

Check out Anyone ever save seeds from Big Mama or Romeo?

I saved seeds from both of these in 2008, and would gladly send you some. They are both so meaty that they require a lot less time to cook down for sauce.
Drop me an email if you are interested.

Sue...chemocurl