Plum Regal is a hybrid, determinate, red, plum type tomato. The seed we are using comes from Bejo Seeds. Plum Regal’s reputation is a high-yielding, disease-resistant processing tomato with good flavor. The disease resistance package is said to include Fusarium races 1 and 2, late blight, tomato spotted wilt virus, and Verticillium with intermediate resistance to early blight.

Initially, Plum Regal was nothing spectacular. It definitely faced severe disease problems with the tomato leaf mold in the greenhouse, but once in the field, disease severity scores actually got better and better for the variety at each evaluation. Once plants started bearing fruit, Plum Regal began catching our eyes. Plants set fruit heavily, and while the fruit initially looked to be small, they sized up really nicely! The Organic Farm at Evergreen doesn’t sell a whole lot of plum tomatoes (although the other day a customer bought 50lbs for sauce), so Connor isn’t convinced this variety is a good fit for the farm and market. But I’m sure other growers would have an outlet for these.

Interestingly, Plum Regal scored the best for fresh eating out of the trial’s plum tomatoes. People surprisingly enjoyed the texture and skin thickness of Plum Regal more than most others (including some slicers). The aroma is a bit different than the other trial tomatoes as well; tasters reported “earthy” and “musky” notes. I’ve been taking all the plum varieties and slow-roasting them in my oven at 200 degrees F, for the purpose of sampling the varieties after cooking (another nod to the Culinary Breeding Network). This variety took forever to finish cooking because the large, meaty fruit. Based on aroma and aroma intensity (no taste sampling yet), Plum Regal is actually not tops in flavor after being cooked. We should have a better perspective once we hold our official tastings in a week.

*UPDATE* After tasting the slow-roasted fruits in a pan sauce with pasta, basil, olive oil, and garlic, Plum Regal was the least liked of the paste tomatoes. To its credit, these harvest numbers are pretty sweet though.

First Ripe Fruit:

All harvest data represents two Plum Regal plants from each block, or six plants total:

Harvest 1 (September 5, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 3

Marketable Fruit: 25 fruit weighing 2552g (5.63 lb.) Unmarketable Fruit: 14 fruit weighing 680g (1.5 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, cracking/scarring, some soft rot

Harvest 2 (September 12, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 5

Marketable Fruit: 24 fruit weighing 2562g (5.65 lb.) Unmarketable Fruit: 10 fruit weighing 842g (1.86 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, skin blemishes (spotting)

Average Fruit Size: 5.5 cm x 8.18 cm      (2.17″ x 3.22″)

Brix: 5.8, 3.4, 4.7

Harvest 3 (September 19, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 4

Marketable Fruit: 31 fruit weighing 3160g (6.97 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 10 fruit weighing 463g (1.02 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, rot, scabbing

Harvest 4 (September 26, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 4

Marketable Fruit: 42 fruit weighing 4062g (8.96 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 9 fruit weighing 573g (1.26 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, rot

Harvest 5 (October 3, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 4

Marketable Fruit: 34 fruit weighing 3723g (8.21 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 12 fruit weighing 696g (1.53 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, rot