Tomato Tropical Ruby Seeds (Bush)

I've not read all the previous reviews, but suffice to say I'm not at all surprised that these seeds are a five-star rating. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Ridiculously easy to grow, very forgiving and tolerant. Equally abundant in the greenhouse and outdoors, but I prefer greenhouse as they do become (as other reviewers have said) just little sweeties. I grew 7 this year - 6 greenhouse and 1 outside - and they kept two of us stuffed on salad, snacks AND cooking, with plenty to swap with friends and neighbours as well. The sort of tomato that you can't afford to buy and then cook with. I cannot recommend this variety highly enough.

I have grown a lot toms in my time and this one is just about the best i've come across. If you're only going to grow one variety then this is the one for you. You can take that as gospel. The plant itself is tidy and easy to keep, i prefer to grow as a cordon. They produce an abundance of fruit that taste fantastic and the texture is great too, meaty. Toward the end of the season you want strip all of your plants, put them into baking trays with a good drizzle of olive, salt and pepper, thyme and bay and whatever else you want (garlic, onion, peppers, a chilli etc). Put them into a low oven for a few hours or a day...whatever it takes til they look good, a little bit of colour, not too dried out and completly soft. Then pass it through a sieve(get urself a good chefs one that can take some abuse cause you wanna get everything through except the real rubbish....skins,seeds, herb stalks etc no flavour left in these anyway) And there you have the best tomato sauce/paste EVER. Bit of fresh basil, some more olive oil, adjust seasoning, straight over pasta. You can use this base tomato sauce in loads of other recipes, pretty much any that call for tomatoes or tomato paste. I make tons of this stuff and freeze it in portions. You can make this with any tomatoes but dont waste your time with really watery tasteless ones, its just not the same even when you add other flavours and reduce and dry them out in the oven.

I grew this variety for the first time in 2009. It is very easy to grow both indoors and outdoors. We have never had so many fruits on one plant and had an endless supply of firm bite-sized, thin-skinned tomatoes. The family (and neighbours) loved them. Tropical Ruby is definitely on the list for 2010.