Commercial growers triumphed in the Tastiest Tomato Competition at the West Dean Gardens near Chichester at the start of September, taking the top places in all the categories judged, together with the prize for the overall winner.
Held during the Totally Tomato Show and organised by the British Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA), the competition was open to both amateurs and professionals.
Growers from the Isle of Wight were awarded the first three places, including the Len Summerton Cup. The cup for the winner of the competition was named in memory of Len, who had a life-long passion for growing tomatoes at his home in Southampton. His daughter Kate Armes contacted the TGA to see if a tomato variety could be named after him and this triggered the idea for the competition.
Cherry tomatoes were again found to be the pick of the crop by the panel of independent judges in 2008, so this year the competition was split into three categories for different sizes of fruit - cherry and baby plum types, cocktail and classic-sized fruit and beefsteak.
Winner of the cherry and baby plum category was Andy Roe of Flavourfresh Salads in Lancashire with an entry of baby plum Santini. In the cocktail and classic section, Brian Moralee of Wight Salads took the honours with Campari. Alan Taylor of Flavourfresh Salads won the beefsteak competition with a Kumato. The Len Summerton Cup went to the overall winner, Andy Roe, for his Santini.
Julie Woolley of the TGA said: “Though this summer again hasn’t been great for growing tomatoes outside in the garden, it does prove that growing our crops in glasshouses as we do, we can produce a fantastic product, pretty much whatever the weather throws at us. When we attend shows we are told by the public that tomatoes don’t taste like they used to, but we actually think ours taste better and they are available if you look for the British label. The problem is that four out of five tomatoes now sold in this country are imported - a message that consumers really need to take on board if they want to continue to enjoy the best of British food.”
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