Slicing/Salad

Slicing tomatoes are the all-purpose garden tomato: medium to large, usually round and smooth, and juicy, with a flavor balanced between sweet and tart. They are the tomatoes for sandwiches, burgers and salads, and they are good cooked as well, though their juice makes for a thin sauce unless you cook it down.

How they compare with the other main types:

• Beefsteak tomatoes are the largest slicers, often 12 ounces or more, flatter and often lobed, with many small seed cavities. They are the best for one slice per sandwich but are slower to ripen and more prone to cracking.
• Paste tomatoes have dense flesh, few seeds and little juice, so they cook down quickly into thick sauce. Slicers are juicier and better fresh.
• Cherry and grape tomatoes are bite-sized and sweeter.

Reliable slicers include the hybrids Celebrity, Early Girl, Better Boy and Big Boy, which are bred for disease resistance and steady crops. Many slicers are indeterminate, but some, such as Celebrity and Bella Rosa, are determinate or semi-determinate and suit smaller spaces. Slicers on this site are listed below; growing basics are in Growing tomatoes.