Gardeners in the Decorah area have three locally selected tomato varieties to investigate after visitors at Seed Savers Exchange’s Heritage Farm sampled and ranked 22 entries during a free tasting on Aug. 22, 2026. The event did not name one overall winner. Instead, participants selected a favorite for each of three common uses: slicing, cooking and snacking.
The category-based results give home growers a practical starting point for choosing varieties for a future garden. A gardener planning to make sauce may want a different tomato than someone looking for fruit to eat fresh from the plant, and the tasting connected each selection with one of those everyday uses.
The three favorites
- For slicing: Bookie
- For cooking: Rizzi Softball Plum
- For snacking: Chocolate Cherry
Bookie received the most support from visitors seeking a tomato for fresh slices. Rizzi Softball Plum led the cooking category, making it a variety for gardeners to research for sauces and other cooked dishes. Chocolate Cherry was the favorite among participants who preferred eating tomatoes directly from the garden.
What the results mean for local growers
The tasting results are a focused local outcome, not a guarantee that one variety will perform best in every Decorah-area garden. Growing conditions, recipes and personal taste can affect both how tomatoes grow and how they taste.
Participants also encountered varieties they may not have considered before. By narrowing a field of 22 entries to three names associated with familiar kitchen and garden uses, the event offered a more targeted way to begin researching future plantings than a single overall ranking would have.
Seed Savers Exchange provided follow-up information for gardeners interested in the selected varieties. Participants were directed to research Bookie and Rizzi Softball Plum, while Chocolate Cherry seeds were listed for purchase through Seed Savers Exchange.
A Heritage Farm event tied to seed preservation
The free event was open to tomato lovers of all ages and formed part of Seed Savers Exchange’s broader seed-preservation work at Heritage Farm near Decorah. The gathering focused on sampling, comparing and voting while introducing visitors to the organization’s work with seeds and plant varieties.
Decorah Bank & Trust Co., Mountain Rose Herbs and Streamworks supported the tasting. Seed Savers Exchange also thanked the participants who sampled the tomatoes, shared their opinions and voted.
For gardeners planning a future crop, the locally selected list is straightforward: Bookie for slicing, Rizzi Softball Plum for cooking and Chocolate Cherry for snacking. The results can help narrow the research, but each grower’s garden conditions, recipes and preferences will shape the final choice.