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Less is more: pint-size varieties steal tomato taste show

Media contact:

Robert E. Thomas
Information Specialist
University of Missouri Cooperative Media Group
Phone: 573-882-2480
E-Mail: thomasr@missouri.edu

Published: Monday, September 21, 2009

Story source:

David H. Trinklein, 573-882-9631

COLUMBIA, Mo. –When it comes to sweetness in tomatoes, size really does matter, and the smaller varieties usually come out the winners.

Cherry-sized tomatoes took the top three spots in a field of 62 contenders at the recent University of Missouri Tomato Festival at the MU Bradford Research and Extension Center near Columbia.

“There’s a relationship between tomato production in pounds and sweetness,” said MU horticulturist David Trinklein. “Since tomato plants have relatively the same ability to manufacture sugar, plants bearing small fruit put that same amount of sugar into fewer pounds of fruit, making the smaller fruits sweeter.”

Super Sweet 100, a hybrid red fruit, scored the highest, followed by a yellow Super Suncherry Hybrid and Sugary Hybrid, a red cherry fruit,

Visitors judged tomatoes on a five-point scale. Each of the top fruit varieties scored above 4.0. Larger varieties such as Big Boy, Beefmaster and Giant Belgium scored in the 2.5 range.

The event drew almost 500 visitors, the largest turnout in its four-year history. Participants were asked to taste small samples and record their preferences on score sheets.

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