I guess everybody has their favorite mater. My wifes family grew maters commercially when she was growing up, so I defer to her expertise when it comes to making mater sandwichs. I only try to grow enough plants to eat with burgers and making a sandwich in the summer, but I do like to make juice for soups and juice. For that, I usually head to Tellico Plains and buy boxes of maters from the amish. A few years ago I bought a box of Pink Ladies and have been hooked ever since. Now the Pink Ladies and Mister Stripey are pretty much all I fool with. Ruby Orr's are another good heritage tomatoe if you like the very large and knottey type. Now some of you may be poohphawing me for buying tomatoes but my reason is simple. When I get ready to make Juice or can tomatoes I can buy a box in the morning and be done with the juiceing in just a couple hours, counting the time it takes to do the canning. I use a Jack LaLane juicer and can make the juice faster than the wife can wash and cut up the maters. A box of maters will make about 10 quarts. None of that going to the garden and picking the maters that are ready and going back tomorrow and picking a few more, and again the next day, until I have enough to make a canning run. I could plant enough plants to be able to harvest as many as I would buy, but what do you do with all the extras when your done with the canning. It only takes a handfull of plants to provide what I grow and that saves me a lot of my limited space for growing. other things. I do save seed from what we grow.
