While I do love the Brandywine tomato–the tomato I call the "poster child for heirloom vegetables", may all time favorite tomato (to date) for eating out-of-hand or recipes where the tomato is used raw is the heirloom Persimmon. It is a gorgeous golden color, flushed with deep orange-apricot color as well (in other words, the color of a persimmon!).
Other favorite heirlooms include Caspian Pink, the Red Currant tiny cherry tomato and, when it grows well for me, Matt’s Wild Cherry. This tomato was found growing in Mexico, and it grows well in my New Jersey garden only when summers are very warm and less humid than average–which is not very often, which means I do not sow it every year–only when my taste bud memory is so strong I feel compelled to try again. For those living in the western states where summers are hot and dry, I suggest you give this tomato a try; it is packed with unbelievable tomato flavor when the fruits do appear. You can learn more about it at Johnny’s Selected Seeds (remember that Johnny’s is in Maine when you read their honest descriptions of how seeds perform in their trials).
Some of my favorite hybrid tomatoes –in other words, tomatoes with wonderful flavor–are ‘Dona’, ‘Carmello’, ‘Big Beef’, and ‘Super Sweet 100’. If you are not familiar with them, ‘Dona’ and ‘Carmello’ are medium sized fruits that are wonderful raw and excellent in cooking as well.
I shop for tomato seeds at:
Renee’s Garden
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/
Totally Tomatoes
Cook’s Garden