Amy Goldman has grown 1,000 varieties of tomatoes in the past five years. Here are some of her favorites, with comments from her new book, "The Heirloom Tomato."

Cherry and Currant

Black Cherry: The flavor is "excellent; fruity and well balanced."

Wild Sweetie: "Tastes like candy; kids go wild for it."

Matt's Wild Cherry: "Savory, fruity, juicy."

Blondkoepfchen: "This yellow tomato is incomparable."

Beefsteak

Pruden's Purple: "Compares favorably to Brandywine but is an earlier and heavier cropper."

Aunt Ginny's Purple: "This big beautiful pink mama cuts and tastes like filet mignon."

McClintock's Big Pink: "Far more productive" than Brandywine.

Great White: "Better than all other whites."

Red Brandywine: "Perfection, high sugar, high acid."

Ribbed

Costoluto Genovese: "Fair to good, acidic."

Zapotec: "Surprisingly good."

Ceylon: "Excellent when cooked."

Globe

White Beauty: This pale yellow fruit is "excellent," with a soft, meaty texture.

Burpee's Gold: "Honey sweet."

Aunt Gertie's Gold: "One of the greats."

Red Rose: "Very sweet and rich ... as good as a tomato gets."

Pear and Plum

Antique Roman: "Beefy, savory."

Super Italian Paste: "Meaty and juicy."

Goldman's Italian American: The author's selection, fig-shaped and "sweet and luscious."

Purple Russian: "A tomato worth living for."

Oxheart

Hungarian Heart: "Savory."

Japanese Oxheart: "Without peer."

Sources

Goldman lists 81 specialty seed sources in North America, including Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (417-924-8917, www.rareseeds.com); Johnny's Selected Seeds (877-564-6697, www.johnnyseeds.com); Tomato Growers Supply Co. (888-478-7333, www.tomatogrowers.com); Totally Tomatoes (800-345-5977, www.totallytomato.com); Seed Savers (563-382-5990, www.seedsavers.org); and D. Landreth Seed Co. (800-654-2407, www.landrethseeds.com.)

Most catalogs don't sell seeds for the 2009 season until early winter, so readers might want to clip and save this information.

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