North Florida Gardening

[PlainJane]

[mention]MissS[/mention] , I’m liking Daniel Burson more and more. Taste is right up there.

[MissS]

@MissS , I’m liking Daniel Burson more and more. Taste is right up there.

DB is not the best dark tomato that I have ever had, close though, but as the season progresses just watch yourself to see which plants you are going to to look for a tomato for your dinner that evening. CP is better, but it just is not a big producer. It was Daniel Burson that I could rely on to put a very good tomato on my plate almost every night of my tomato season. I would find myself checking this plant every day to see what offering it had for me. I once made a seed offering of this tomato just because I wanted everyone to have the chance to grow it. I thought it was just THAT good. BTW the offer is still open for those that want seeds.

[PlainJane]

I went ahead and picked this cluster of Claude Brown’s Yellow Giant at first break as I didn’t trust myself when weaving around the cages. I hate it when I knock off a nice green fruit cluster because I’m rushing around watering or whatever.

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[GoDawgs]

Yellow Giant, indeed! That's nice looking 'mater.

[PlainJane]

First shelly beans of the season plus filets still coming on.

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[GoDawgs]

Pretty! Somebody's gonna be eatin' good!

[PlainJane]

I haven’t posted as much these last couple of weeks because time was devoted to my annual tomato tasting event.
We ended up doing it virtually by printing up tasting sheets like we always do, then boxing up assortments of tomatoes to the participants and either dropping off (local folks) or shipping Fedex (close out of town friends).
I kept track of what each person received so that subsequent deliveries had new varieties.
Everything was individually labeled so people knew what they were trying.

It ended up being just as much work, but spread out over 4 weeks instead of one weekend. Plus people got entire fruit whereas in the prior in-person events they got slices.
At the end of it all I asked for notes, pictures and favorites. This part was hilarious, as usual.

I’ll make up a Tasting recap post this weekend, but now here’s what I’m left with.

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[Barb_FL]

Your participants must of loved you doing that for them.

It is brutally hot here, I stopped watering the first week of June and have taken down all my plants but 2. Do you still have tomatoes on your plants or is what is on the table it for the season?

What was your favorite?

[MissS]

[mention]PlainJane[/mention] Your commitment to your annual tasting and it's participants is commendable. You have gone to the extreme to allow everyone to participate. Your generosity is remarkable. My hat is off to you Mam.

[PlainJane]

[mention]Barb_FL[/mention], I’ve still got fruit developing on some plants but everything is pretty tired looking. It’s been miserable here the last couple of weeks. Eggplant is ok of course and I’ve been starting new beans periodically. Haven’t decided if I’m going to try for fall tomatoes yet.
We had a fantastic spring season though so I’m not complaining too much. It set things up for the first wave of tomatoes to be absolutely pristine.
My favorites were Daniel Burson, Wild Thyme Purple, KBX and Thorburn’s Terra-cotta.
And of course Green Bee, which is the cutest, oddest tomato ever.

[PlainJane]

[mention]MissS[/mention], thank you! I love my annual tasting event and am actually pretty happy how it turned out, given we weren’t all going to hang out in my dining room for it. We all had fun sharing photos of the tomatoes and comments about flavors.

[PlainJane]

Eggplant haul this morning - Louisiana Long Green and Paloma F1. Both are very good and Paloma has a nice creamy texture if harvested young.

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[GoDawgs]

Very nice! What do you do with all that eggplant? I've got one Millionaire plant and it's sure all we can keep up with. We used to grow several but ran out of recipes.

How do you like that Louisiana Long Green? I was looking at that in a catalog this spring and almost got some.

[PlainJane]

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention], I like LLG a lot, but Paloma F1 is the best I’ve ever tasted (must pick young though.)
I make a lot of ratatouille, lol!

[Ginger2778]

Very nice! What do you do with all that eggplant? I've got one Millionaire plant and it's sure all we can keep up with. We used to grow several but ran out of recipes.

How do you like that Louisiana Long Green? I was looking at that in a catalog this spring and almost got some.

There are recipes online for the eggplant casseroles like we used to get as a kid at Morrison's Cafeteria. One has crushed Ritz crackers and butter, and sweet onion, it's so good, and uses a lot if eggplant. My husband loves it as a side instead of rice or potatoes.

[karstopography]

https://food52.com/recipes/30722-pasta- ... mato-pasta

Above is a great recipe if one likes pasta and simple flavorful sauces using fresh eggplant and fresh tomatoes. I’m growing black beauty eggplant and one of those in a fairly young stage is great for this recipe. I think the link mentioned two of the Asian types as substitute.

I peel fresh tomatoes without blanching. It really isn’t such a big arduous deal for a cup or two of chopped tomatoes. Hard to beat the fresh and not canned tomato taste in this recipe.

[PlainJane]

Very nice! What do you do with all that eggplant? I've got one Millionaire plant and it's sure all we can keep up with. We used to grow several but ran out of recipes.

How do you like that Louisiana Long Green? I was looking at that in a catalog this spring and almost got some.

There are recipes online for the eggplant casseroles like we used to get as a kid at Morrison's Cafeteria. One has crushed Ritz crackers and butter, and sweet onion, it's so good, and uses a lot if eggplant. My husband loves it as a side instead of rice or potatoes.

How can you miss with crushed Ritz crackers!

[PlainJane]

[mention]karstopography[/mention], that looks really good. I like Food 52’s recipes.

[GoDawgs]

There are recipes online for the eggplant casseroles like we used to get as a kid at Morrison's Cafeteria. One has crushed Ritz crackers and butter, and sweet onion, it's so good, and uses a lot if eggplant. My husband loves it as a side instead of rice or potatoes.

I did a search for Morrison's eggplant casserole online and found it/them, at least several variations. But the variations all have the same ingredients, just a slight difference in the quantities. Since I have all the ingredients I'm going to make it today using two of those Millionaire eggplants harvested yesterday. One thing all the recipes have in common is using saltines for the crackers. But you *know* what I'm going to use..... yep, Ritz!

[Ginger2778]

There are recipes online for the eggplant casseroles like we used to get as a kid at Morrison's Cafeteria. One has crushed Ritz crackers and butter, and sweet onion, it's so good, and uses a lot if eggplant. My husband loves it as a side instead of rice or potatoes.

I did a search for Morrison's eggplant casserole online and found it/them, at least several variations. But the variations all have the same ingredients, just a slight difference in the quantities. Since I have all the ingredients I'm going to make it today using two of those Millionaire eggplants harvested yesterday. One thing all the recipes have in common is using saltines for the crackers. But you *know* what I'm going to use..... yep, Ritz!

I think the one I found called it escalloped eggplant.