A tomato question I almost dread to ask. [View all]

[Denninmi]

But, since our forum host here is a tomato expert, I think I can safely ask him, and anyone else here of course, this question, without the acrimony it could raise on certain dedicated tomato forums.

Background:

I grow somewhere between 200 and 400 plants a year, depending upon how many quarts of canned tomato products we think we will need for the family for the upcoming year. We generally put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 quarts of various things -- whole canned, stewed, tomato juice, salsa, and spaghetti sauce are the main products, then a smattering of oddball items like ketchup and chili sauce.

I also enjoy having a nice assortment of colors, shapes, sizes, and flavors for fresh use.

I have grown as many as 90 varieties in a season. However, I find it sort of logistically overwhelming to keep track of all of that.

So, the question:

What would you consider the best one or two varieties in each of these categories?

Main crop canning/processing tomato

Red sauce/plum type

Orange

Yellow

Green

Purple

Black

White

Striped/Bicolor

Cherry

I would like to just grow one or two real winners in each category for 2012.

TIA.