The Best-Tasting Tomatoes to Eat Right off the Vine

Red Tomatoes

• Although the great majority of tomato varieties produce red fruit, not all are equal in flavor. The heirloom variety called "Brandywine" produces an extra-sweet, flavor-packed tomato. A member of a group called potato-leaf plants because their leaves resemble those of potato plants, this variety takes about 80 to 100 days to produce pinkish-red tomatoes that weigh 1 or 2 pounds each. Among hybrid varieties, "Better Boy" is extra resistant to disease and produces 1-pound, strongly flavored red tomatoes in about 70 days.

Yellow and Orange

• Many hybrid tomato varieties and a few heirlooms have yellow or orange fruits that are highly flavorful right off the plant. Among the hybrid plants, a variety called "Sunny Boy" has 1-pound tomatoes that belong to a large-fruited type called beefsteak. Its fruits are extra-juicy and highly flavored, and take about 75 days to ripen after spring planting. An heirloom variety and relative of the "Brandywine" cultivar called "Yellow Brandywine" has yellow-orange tomatoes that ripen in late summer and have intense sweetness, with flesh that has a smooth consistency similar to a nectarine.

Unusual Colors

• Some tomato varieties produce odd-colored but highly flavorful tomatoes. These include "Cherokee Purple," an heirloom plant with fruits that are purple-black on the outside and have greenish flesh shaded in red-to-purple. These tomatoes have a sweet flavor with a hint of red wine and an acidic bite. "White Wonder" and "White Queen" are unusual, white tomatoes with pinkish-white flesh. Both produce fruits low in acid and sweet, with "White Queen" a bit richer-tasting. Highly flavored tomatoes that stay green when ripe include "Aunt Ruby's German Green," a plant that has large, beefsteak-type tomatoes with strong, rich flavor. Tomatoes on this plant don't change color when ripe, but soften slightly when ready for picking.

Bicolor Tomatoes

• Some tomatoes with excellent flavor that are great eaten directly from the plant are bicolor, with two or more colors. A hybrid called "Tye-Dye" is one example with highly flavored fruits that have red and gold streaks both in their skin and flesh. This plant has smaller, 7-ounce fruits, takes about 78 days to produce ripe tomatoes and generally starts bearing in mid-summer. The heirloom variety called "Striped German" is an example of a plant that produces exceptionally sweet and large, beefsteak-type fruits with mixed colors. Its tomatoes have strong veins of red that resemble stripes in orange-yellow flesh.