The Carrot Tops Allotment Blog!

There’s always that old adage that reads, homegrown is better than shop bought. So for a bit of fun, I thought I’d do a taste test between homegrown cherry and plum tomatoes versus shop bought cherry and plum tomatoes, and see how they compare in real time.

For this I brought in the camera lady, because I’m clearly over biased towards my very own homegrown produce.

The plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are of no particular variety – when I purchased the seeds, I literally went into Wilkinsons and picked up a packet of each. I wasn’t too focused on variety this year because it’s been a good couple of years since I’ve grown produce properly.

So how do the two compare?

Homegrown

• The cherry tomatoes have a nice full smell, and it really stands out.
• These tomatoes look a bit more pale in comparison.
• The cherry tomatoes are rich, have flavoursome taste and they taste like cherry tomatoes.
• The plum tomatoes taste ripe, the flesh is full and if feels like there’s a lot there.
• The smell and taste go together with this set of tomatoes, even if they don’t look as nice or as perfect as the shop bought tomatoes.

Store-bought

• Not that much of a smell in comparison. There’s no tomato smell that you would normally have.
• These look more appealing, the colour is fully and more red.
• The cherry tomatoes are sweet, but they’re a little bit on the watery side.
• The plum tomatoes don’t look as ripe, and they look watery, a bit more pale.
• The plum tomatoes would need seasoning, like salt to make it taste like a tomato.

Of course, in this particular instance, there’s no comparison between the two – the homegrown tomatoes, although don’t look as appealing, triumph because of their superior flavour, texture and smell.

What varieties of tomatoes have you grown this year and what would you recommend over shop-bought tomatoes? I’d love to know in the comments below 🙂