Congratulations to the 2018 Tomato Taste-Off winners! Thirty one tomatoes were entered in 3 categories. There were 7 cherry tomato entries. First place was taken by Doug Ranck with a Black/Chocolate Cherry and second place by Mary Van de Bogart with a Sungold Hybrid. The slicer category had 14 entries. Richard Ames won first place with a lovely orange tomato variety named Persimmon. Clara Flynn took second place with the Celebrity tomato. The last category was the paste tomatoes with 10 entries. First prize went to Mary Van de Bogart with a San Marzano Redorta paste tomato. It was huge!
Then Pat Flynn took second with the good old stand by Roma Paste. The first prize winners received $50 gift certificates to a local plant nursery and the second prize winners received $25 gift certificates. Thank you to everyone who entered for all you hard work growing such yummy tomatoes this year!
The tomato taste-off was facilitated by the University of Idaho Master Gardeners from Canyon County and done in conjunction with the annual Indian Creek Festival that the City of Caldwell puts on every fall. This was the second year that the Canyon County Master Gardeners put on this event. Tomatoes are brought in from community members and master gardeners. The festival attendees were very enthusiastic in their tomato tasting and judging. It was fun to hear all the comments and interact with so many tomato lovers. The biggest surprise was that the same variety of tomato could taste so different from different gardens. For example, we had 4 entries of the Black/Chocolate Cherry tomato grown by 4 different people and they all had very distinct flavors. 
Tomato classes were held in the afternoon. Attendees learned tomato basics, how to grow tomatoes on a trellis and how to can tomatoes. It's never too early to start picking out that perfect tomato to grow for the contest next year!
The Master Gardeners look forward to seeing you at the 3rd annual Tomato Taste off 2019!