PanAmerican Seed is very excited to introduce a new tomato variety for 2023: Sun Dipper. With so many tomatoes to choose from nowadays, it was really important for us to have a new variety that would stand out in the kitchen AND garden.
Sun Dipper fruit has a unique shape – an elongated oval, making it perfect for dipping! There are indents about half-way down from the stem end, which are easy to grab like a handle and keep your fingers above the dipping sauce.
Compared to traditional cherry tomatoes, Sun Dipper will have a more mellow, smooth, and rich flavor. Also, in comparison to other elongated tomato types, like saladette or Roma, our tomato is sweet with a slightly acidic finish. It truly is the perfect combination!
Trialing
In our trials, we rarely saw varieties that were elongated, good flavor and had limited fruit cracking. We often see small-size tomatoes crack after a rain or when they are close to ripe. No tomato skin stuck between the teeth from Sun Dipper. Along with being crack tolerant, it also has a thin skin, which makes it perfect for snacking fresh. Sun Dipper was one of the longest-lasting varieties in my own mom’s upstate New York garden. A great-tasting tomato that lasts until fall.
As a snack
Someone recently asked what my favorite go-to-dip for fresh vegetables was. I actually started making spicy feta dip, tirokafteri in Greek, as an accompaniment while snacking on Sun Dipper Tomatoes. If you’d like to try it, you’ll need the following ingredients:
• Feta cheese
• Roasted red pepper
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Crushed red pepper and
• Greek yogurt
Blend all the ingredients together in a bowl for a delicious dip. The sweet and tangy flavor of Sun Dipper balances nicely with the feta cheese. The fruit “handle” is perfect to hold onto, so you don’t get any on your fingers.
What’s in the works
We’ll keep looking for companion colors to Sun Dipper in our trials, but we want to make sure that we keep the high quality of flavor and fruit quality. Also, up next from the HandPicked team, look for our new BlushingStar Tomato. This gorgeous pink beefsteak fruit has an indeterminate plant habit. It features disease resistance to late blight and Septoria leaf spot. So be on the lookout for this beauty, too.