My hobby is growing tomatoes and eat them. Over the years I have grown many tomato varieties in my greenhouse. Some varieties turned out disappointing, others taste much the same and yet other types are real jewels of tomatoes.

Here are my top 10 favorites. The list can help you choose which varieties to grow for yourself.

Red Brandywine is one of the tastiest beef tomato varieties in existence. This red tomato has a full, sweet taste and is very juicy. The fruits can grow up to 500 grams or more under ideal conditions. The tomato has little trouble with blossom end rot or cracks. Because the fruits grow so large, it is wise to keep only 3 to 4 fruit to the bunch and prune the rest away. This ensures that the plant will grow strong and evenly. When the plant is full of large fruit, the crown will continue to grow vigorously. That’s why the harvest of Red Brandywine is so big.

Red Brandywine is named after Brandywine Creek in the United States. The variety was first mentioned in 1885 by Tom Hauch of Heirloom Seeds. He says that the Red Brandywine comes from the farmers in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

The red fruit of Cornue des Andes is shaped like a pointed pepper. I find this tomato the best for making pasta sauce. The fruit is deliciously beefy and has a thin skin. It contains hardly any juice or seeds. After heating, the flavor becomes very aromatic without tasting sour and nasty, which you often get with supermarket tomatoes.

The origin of this variety lies in the Peruvian Andes, where the locals have been cultivating it for centuries. Cornue des Andes is a real heirloom variety. Apparently a French collector discovered this variety and took the seeds to France, where it spread quickly among other hobby breeders.

This ordinary red tomato is very tasty and gives a high yield of round juicy fruits, each about 40 grams. The first fruits ripen very fast, about 58 days after planting. The plants don’t have the usual leaf but a smooth-edged potato leaf, which makes the plant very open and airy.

This nice strong plant has little trouble with disease and is also suitable for growing outdoors.

I can’t find much about its origin, only that it is an old heirloom variety from Germany.

DThis is the first successful hybrid we crossed at Farmzy®. The mother was an F1 that came originally from commercial horticulture. I stabilized the seed (it is true-to-type) and now this tomato is one of the sweetest varieties in my collection. The father was a strange plant with small, dense leaves that are very resistant to Phytophthora.

In 2018 we first tested F1 Sweet Outdoor in a greenhouse. The vigorous plant has short, very dark green leaves and short internodes. The yield is pretty good and these cherry tomatoes are very tasty. The plant is strongly resistant to diseases like mildew and Phytophthora and is therefore very suitable for outdoor cultivation.

A friend of mine in Romania gave me some of his seeds which have been passed on in his family for generations. It is a real Romanian heirloom tomato variety. This pink beef tomato has a delicious, full and rich taste and a good yield. 

The plants are strong growers and make large leaves. It is wise to prune the clustersdown to 4 to 5 fruit, so that the plant stays in balance and keeps growing evenly.

Aunt Gertie's Gold is an heirloom variety that originated in the state of Virginia in the USA. It is a beautiful yellow beef variety, with fruit 10 to 14 cm large. The tomatoes are intensely yellow, juicy, and soft and taste very sweet. This variety is definitely a must-try. The plants do not have ordinary leaves, but potato-type leaves. This makes the form of the plant nice and open.

Lollipop is a delicious light yellow cherry tomato with a good sweet taste. It is one of the best-tasting yellow cherry tomatoes around. The yield is not super high, because of the smallclusters, but the taste makes up for that. It’s very sweet, firm yet juicy. The tomatoes do not split easily.

The plants grow very evenly and because of the relatively short internodes and large sturdy leaves the plants are full of growth. An easy variety with delicious cherry tomatoes.

It is hard to tell when the fruit of this variety is ripe and eating green tomatoes will always feel a bit strange. But how nice they are! A fully sweet and soft taste. Indeed, Green Doctors is one of the best-tasting varieties. As it ripens, the flesh stays green, while the outside turns a greenish yellow. The average weight of these green fruit is 15 grams. That’s a real cherry tomato.

In 2002 Amy Goldman found a green ‘mutation’ growing in her garden in between the yellow cherry variety 'Dr. Carolyn’. Because it does not turn yellow as it ripens, it gained the name ‘Green Doctors’.

The plant has a nice even growth, not very fast, and it has short internodes. From planting to harvesting takes on average 69-79 days.

The first thing that strikes you about this variety is its enormous capacity for growth. That is why it is also called the tomato tree. Heat, drought or cold, nothing seems to stop this plant from growing. This plant also has a huge harvest. The plum-shaped fruit is excellent in taste and deliciously juicy. The fruit has a green collar on its shoulder, which for the most part disappears during ripening. Never the less, the top, where the green collar has been, remains some what stiffer. 

The De Barao originates from Latvia and Russia. Because of its enormous strength and because it is reasonably resistant to Phytophthora, this variety does well outside the greenhouse.

The brown-purple fruit of Black Cherry are among the tastiest cherry tomatoes out there. It tastes very sweet, spicy and has something reminiscent of a grape. Because of its color and special taste it is quite striking. The plants grow well and give fruit early (from planting to harvest is 50-68 days). Because the clustersof 10 fruit are not very large, the yield is on the low side. Black Cherry is more susceptible to Phytophthora in the autumn, when it rains a lot. This variety does better in a greenhouse.