By Bev Tisci and Melinda Heigel, NC State Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteers of Durham County

Scenes from the July 2024 tasting event where members of the Extension Master Gardener volunteer team known as the Seed Starters conducted scientific and delicious taste tests to determine the most flavorful, disease-resistant tomatoes and peppers to grow. (Image credit: Melinda Heigel)

Taste testing has a centuries-long history. Ancient Egyptian rulers and Roman emperors had “official tasters,” who were tasked with ensuring food safety. In the early twentieth century, the USDA employed taste testers as a way to bring overlooked agricultural products into the American diet like soy, mung beans, and lamb. And in 2024, Durham County has a crack team of Master Gardener volunteers growing, tasting, and analyzing tomatoes and peppers so they can bring you the best of the best.¹

Creating Seed Starters and Taste Testing

After volunteering for her first annual Backyard Treasures Plant Sale as a freshly-minted Durham County Master Gardener, Bev Tisci noticed that the sale was focused mostly on ornamentals. She saw an opportunity and volunteered to head up a group who would focus on increasing the number of vegetable plants offered in future sales, thus the birth of the Seed Starters. Tisci and her team painstakingly grow from seed all the vegetables we offer at the annual sale–in the 2024 sale over 1,200 plants! This group also helps train and mentor Master Gardeners in best practices for growing from seeds.

But the work of the Seed Starters doesn’t just begin with sowing seeds in February and March for the April sale; it begins in July when the group comes together to analyze the tomatoes they grew in their own gardens over the summer. The taste testing event features varieties they sold to the public, old-time favorites, and new finds they’ve never tried before. The result? The winners of the testing will make the list for the next year’s sale.

(Left to right) Bev Tisci, Seed Starter team leader and tasting-test creator, holds up a yellow Chef’s Choice tomato. Eric Wiebe tagging his home-grown tomatoes for the blind tasting-testing event. (Image credit: Melinda Heigel)

Growing seeds indoors can be a solitary pursuit, so Tisci started pulling the group together for casual tastings many years ago. As the group expanded and our plant sale grew, the testings have evolved to become more scientific–while just as yummy and fun. Now the group blind taste tests their vegetables, because as Tisci says, “When you don’t know what tomato you are tasting, the results are often different than you’d expect. There is always a chance for a surprise. You might pick something you wouldn’t have otherwise!”

Putting the Tomatoes (and Peppers) to the Test

Tisci sets up the event by creating numbered tent signs for each sample and evaluation sheets where tasters rate each tomato on appearance, texture, and flavor. They also ask the important question, “Would I grow this again?” They discuss other factors like ease in growing and disease resistance. With her years of experience in the garden, especially growing tomatoes, Tisci says, “People are always looking for heirloom tomato taste, but they also want protection from the diseases that are common here in our hot, humid climate.” In her mind, the combination of taste, disease resistance, and high yield makes a variety a clear winner.

While tomatoes have always been the star of the taste-test show, this year the group introduced both sweet and hot peppers to the table. Peppers are popular at the plant sale, so it’s likely this veggie-come-lately may appear in future tests and be subjected to more rigorous evaluation.

Let the nibbling begin! Master Gardener volunteer growers tackle the delectable work of tasting and evaluating their bounty. Volunteers award tomatoes gold, silver, or bronze ribbons. (Image credit: Melinda Heigel)

So what was on the growers’ table at the 2024 Seed Starters’ tasting event?

Slicing Tomatoes

Arkansas Traveler, Mountain Majesty, Mountain Merit, Marmalade Sky, Pruden’s Purple, Gin Fizz, Black Krim, Pink Berkeley, White Tomato, Chef’s Choice, Yellow

Paste Tomatoes

Italian Roma

Small Tomatoes

23 x 1020 (from 2024 Tomato Project Team),* Mountain Magic, German Lunchbox

Cherry Tomatoes

Unicorn, Valentine, Ella Bella, Pink Bumblebee, Norfolk Purple Tomato, Sungold, Sunrise Bumblebee

Peppers

Just Sweet, Carmen, Escamillo, Hungarian Paprika, Mama Mia, Spitfire

Announcing the Big Winners

Tisci and her team are studying comments and compiling results on the tomatoes they savored recently. Stay tuned for a future blog where we’ll share the top vote-getters. If these seasoned gardeners put a variety on their list to grow for the 2025 plant sale and in their own gardens, chances are you’ll want to give that tomato a try too.

Notes

1–https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/testing-for-poison-still-a-profession-for-some-61805292/#:~:text=Testing%20food%20for%20poison%20goes,he%20failed%20at%20his%20job.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/government-taste-testers-who-reshaped-americas-diet-180972823

Resources and Additional Information

To see what tomato varieties the Seed Starters deemed worthy to grow and sell for the 2024 Backyard Treasures Plant Sale, check out the list of offerings. https://www.backyardtreasuresplantsale.org/veggies

For information on growing peppers and suggested varieties, read our 2022 blog post “Picking Peppers in the Piedmont.”

https://wp.me/p2nIr1-2HI

*Follow along with our current 2024 Tomato Project calling “Tomatoes on Trial,” where Durham County Extension Master Gardeners are evaluating tomatoes for a statewide tomato trial for NC State.

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