De Barao Black Tomato Review: Yields, Taste & Photos

De Barao Black. Indeterminate, mid-late season ripening, productive, grows over 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. Quite resistant to late blight, great for canning.

What about for sun-drying/dehydrating?

Mine grew well over 6.5 ft (2 meters) tall outdoors in the open ground.

Amira-12 said:
What about for sun-drying/dehydrating?

I don’t know about that, but they are absolutely amazing grilled on skewers over coals alongside peppers and eggplants 👍👍👍

I think these might be the smallest out of all the different De Barao colors. 😉

I liked the taste. Grew them outdoors, they were very late to ripen. They stored really well indoors, ripened perfectly on the counter, and didn’t rot… until the mice found them and ate them.

Out of all the De Barao variants (I’ve planted Pink, Red, Orange, Gold, and Royal), the Black one was my least favorite. It has the smallest fruits compared to the other De Baraos, and I didn’t like the taste at all.

I have seeds of a private heirloom strain of De Barao Black. It’s early, 80 days, and weighs around 2.8-3.5 oz (80-100 g). I’ll try planting it this season.

I really liked yours! And I just love this variety in general.

I had De Barao Black from the Poisk seed company. Unproductive, and I didn’t like the taste. Maybe it was just a bad year for it.

I have De Barao from SeDek. It was a bad year, so the variety didn’t have time to reach its full potential. Only a few fruits managed to ripen. I didn’t really get a feel for the taste, I’ll have to try it again next year.

I wasn’t thrilled with the black ones either 😞. They were tiny, and they were the only plants in the entire greenhouse that got hit with Blossom End Rot (BER). Which is very surprising for this variety. If I remember correctly, mine were also from SeDek.

Lyubushka said:
I think these might be the smallest out of all the different De Barao colors. 😉

That’s exactly how I would describe this tomato too. The smallest of all the DBs. It was productive, but the taste just didn’t impress me… I decided that for myself, I’m better off planting Black Icicle (Sosulka Chernaya) and Purple Russian instead.

I’ve grown 2 different strains of De Barao Black. In 2012, it looked like the one in the first photo above: small, noticeably ribbed, and I didn’t like the taste (seeds were from “Semena Ukrainy”).

Disappointed with that taste, I bought seeds from Syray this year, and it turned out to be a very delicious tomato. Larger in size, more rounded, very tasty, but gets very soft when fully ripe, and it seemed susceptible to late blight. I’m going to put this variety on hold for now.

De Barao Black from the Russian Garden (Russkiy Ogorod) company – I was very happy with it… tasty, productive, and disease-resistant.

My De Barao Black (from Gavrish) looked absolutely identical to Brown Renklod from Popenko. But Renklod seemed earlier and sweeter to me, maybe because they were growing in different greenhouses. Or maybe my De Barao wasn’t actually a De Barao at all.

My Black De Barao (from Aelita) was very tasty, productive, and resistant to late blight.

Hello colleagues. I bought this variety from Aelita. Has anyone tried it? Could you please advise when I should start sowing them indoors?

Anastasia said:
Hello colleagues. I bought this variety from Aelita. Has anyone tried it? Could you please advise when I should start sowing them indoors?

I sowed that specific De Barao last year on February 28th. I liked the taste fresh, but not for canning. It bursts and splits really badly in the jars and gets a bit mushy.

My De Barao Black was from Dom Semyan (House of Seeds). Very productive. It was planted in the darkest, northernmost corner of the greenhouse, grew over 6.5 ft (2 m) tall. I sowed it late on April 10th, it germinated on April 17th, outgrew all the other plants, started yielding earlier than everything else, and ripened faster than anything else too.

Looks and yield – superb. Taste is an okay 4 out of 5. It’s a bit on the soft side for canning, but it’ll do. I am absolutely planting it again this 2014 season alongside the Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, and Gold De Baraos. If the photo loads, the Black DB is around the perimeter of the basket, keeping company with White Sugar, Mushroom Basket, Gusev’s Ampel, and Japanese Black Truffle (the 1 tomato at the very bottom).

My De Barao was from Poisk. Very productive, fruited for a long time, didn’t catch a single disease. Shelf life is good, but the flavor left me feeling completely indifferent.

Fotinia said:
I have De Barao from SeDek. It was a bad year…

Svetlana, don’t waste greenhouse space on it, better plant something else. The taste of SeDek’s Black De Barao was absolutely nothing special last year, even though the yield was decent and it was early. Maybe I’ll try seeds from a different vendor eventually.

Good afternoon. I grew De Barao Black and I was happy with it. It ripened well, didn’t get sick, was productive, and the taste was not bad at all. We used it up in salads and for grilling with shish kebabs. As many people as there are, there are that many opinions. You just have to grow it yourself and draw your own conclusions.

I planted the standard Black De Barao from SeDek. Every seed germinated, nice strong bushes, the taste of the tomatoes wasn’t what I’m usually used to, but I liked them.

I know this is off-topic… 😳 but I don’t know where else to ask. Are De Barao Gold and De Barao Orange different varieties? 😳

Vera, I have the exact same question, but about Gold and Yellow – are they the same thing?

This year I planted and already potted up 1 seedling each of De Barao Yellow, Gold, and Orange-so we’ll see soon enough!!! 🤔

And I already potted up seedlings of De Barao Black, Red, Tiger, Orange, and Pink 😉😉😉 I’ll plant one bush of each in the greenhouse, and two of each outdoors. We’ll see how it goes 😊😊😊 Seeds are from “Semena Ukrainy”.

Nadija said:
And I already potted up seedlings of De Barao Black, Red, Tiger, Orange, and Pink… Seeds are from “Semena Ukrainy”.

I haven’t seen Tiger or Black from “Semena Ukrainy” yet, those must be new releases for this year. 😊

I planted De Barao Black last year from a commercial packet. I don’t remember which company. The tomatoes were very, very small. This year I’m planting seeds from Irina Vladimirovna) I loved the taste both fresh and canned 😋

De Barao Black “Amateur” is definitely from “Semena Ukrainy”, but the Tiger one is bred by the “Gisok” agrofirm. I’m really intrigued by that variety 😊😊😊 Such cute red little plum tomatoes with green stripes 😉😉😉 We’ll see…

Nadija said:
De Barao Black “Amateur” is definitely from “Semena Ukrainy”, but the Tiger one is bred by the “Gisok” agrofirm.

Thanks, Nadya. I found the black one on their website yesterday. “Gisok” seeds aren’t sold in our area.

But I did buy some striped plum-types from Tsykalenko, called “Chinese Vining” (Kitaiskiy Lianovidnyi) 😊

Raya, what other De Barao colors did you plant?

Nadija said:
Raya, what other De Barao colors did you plant?

Nadya, go read my post on this page! 🌸
(Link to forum post)

We really liked De Barao Black from “Udachnye Semena” (Lucky Seeds). The very first tomato was delicious, sweet and sour, a great balance. I give the taste a 5 out of 5. The trusses were loaded with tomatoes. We did have some Blossom End Rot, but not much.

Just wanted to ask, are Black Moor (Chernyi Mavr) and De Barao Black the same variety?

Anela said:
Just wanted to ask, are Black Moor (Chernyi Mavr) and De Barao Black the same variety?

No, Black Moor is a determinate, De Barao is an indeterminate. The fruit shape, size, and taste are completely different too 😉

Understood, so they are different…

I compared three varieties side-by-side. De Barao Black (Gavrish), Black Moor (SeDek), and Chocolate Bunny (Shokoladnyi Zaichik) from V.V. Redko’s private collection. Grew them in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems. All were highly productive and very resistant to temperature swings and leaf mold (Cladosporium). Based on fruit shape and size alone, it’s hard to tell them apart if you don’t know which is which.

De Barao had the largest complex (grape-like) trusses. It tasted better than Black Moor. But Chocolate Bunny was the meatiest of the three. I’m thinking about which one to keep in my permanent rotation.

It’s strange that everyone is saying the taste is nothing special. Our De Barao Black turned out super, super sweet this year! The fruits were small, yes, about 1.2 inches (3 cm) long. The skin is very thick, they store forever on the counter, and ripen nicely indoors. But flavor-wise, they were the absolute sweetest tomatoes we had! This is our second year growing them. My mom feeds them something, but what and how she does it is a secret – she just says “everything as usual”…

Tatiana, thanks for the tip on Chocolate Bunny! Added it to my wish list 😊

I always keep a couple of bushes of De Barao. And I prune them to a SINGLE LEADER (one stem). That way they give me my very first ripe tomato in the greenhouse, and they keep producing right up until the frost. Compared to large beefsteaks, they yield a ton, but more importantly, these are guaranteed to be 100% healthy, disease-free plants from start to finish. They easily pump out 12-14 fruit trusses per season on a single vine. It’s been a bulletproof, failsafe variety for years.

Still life featuring De Barao Black.

July 13th, the first 3 feet (1 meter) of the plant. It set fruit without dropping a single blossom, and the top 3 feet of the vine had just as many tomatoes.

I grew De Barao Black outdoors right in front of the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems. The yield was very good, 8-10 tomatoes per cluster. They ripened on the vine, didn’t catch any diseases, but I didn’t really like the taste for fresh eating. However, the juice made from them was outstanding 😋 Clearly, it’s a processing variety. I will plant it again!

But I also got my hands on some Black Moor (Chernyi Mavr) seeds, so I’ll plant that to test and compare.

I’ve been reading all this… I wanted to plant both Black and Pink De Barao too. Some people say it’s tasty, some say it’s tasteless… I guess I’ll just have to plant it and find out for myself! 😊

I’m planning to plant it outdoors in the open ground. Can anyone advise how many stems I should prune it to?

• Bush Appearance: Mid-early, tall indeterminate, very vigorous plant.
• Fruit Set: No dropped blossoms, sets fruit continuously, still fruiting heavily right now.
• Height: On August 2nd – about 5 ft (1.5m), by September 6th – 5.5 ft (1.7m).
• Trusses: Dense, 7-8 fruits per cluster.
• Fruit: Plum shaped without a pointy tip, brownish-burgundy color.
• Density: Very firm when ripe.
• Taste: Juicy, meaty, tasty, sweetness is a 5/5.

Initial impression: a tasty, highly productive tomato. A proven, reliable variety. My rating for the seedlings – 4, the bush – 4+, the fruit – 4+, overall rating for the variety – 4+.

It was my most disease-resistant and productive variety this year. The taste was unusual for me, but not bad. As my youngest daughter said, “it tastes like hemoglobin” (iron-rich). The only thing is, mine had pretty thick skins. But this variety really is like a steadfast tin soldier, it kept setting fruit right until the very end.

That’s exactly what it is–a steadfast tin soldier!

It’s just that there are other varieties with a richer, more complex flavor profile out there…

My seeds were from “Belaya Dacha”. My description based on growing them in my mom’s greenhouse: Indeterminate, late-season, prune to 2 stems, plum-shaped, small, productive, red-black color. In canning, it gets soft. Taste is sweet. Opinions on disease resistance vary, but shelf life is excellent, ripens perfectly indoors on the counter. Grew in a greenhouse. Forgot to take a cross-section photo. Good, prolific plant. The fruits are very uniform in size. Perfect for sun-drying! But unfortunately, the skins split during canning – we tried to can them in their own juice, and they just turned to mush.

The plant gets extremely tall.

Interesting fact: My mom planted these exact same De Baraos from the exact same seed packet. Just the other day, I compared ours side-by-side. Mine turned out larger and lighter in color, but the taste was just so-so, not very pronounced, although somewhat sweet. But my mom’s were much smaller, with tougher skins, very dark, and insanely sweet! I could eat hers without even adding salt. A very rich sweet-and-sour flavor. That’s why I fell in love with them. For comparison, in the photos, it’s next to De Barao Royal Red (and a few little Ildi cherries).

kalinka-malinka said:
My mom planted these exact same De Baraos from the exact same seed packet… Mine turned out larger and lighter… But my mom’s were much smaller, with tougher skins, very dark, and insanely sweet!

Natasha, did your mom grow hers outdoors or in a greenhouse?

In a greenhouse. She fertilizes them with something, but won’t confess what it is: “Everything as usual” 😂 Plus, she has a very sunny spot, her greenhouse is basically out in an open field))

I’ve been planting De Barao for 3 years in a row now, very happy with it, always guaranteed a harvest. Of course, the taste can’t compete with large meaty beefsteaks, but it’s perfect for canning and preserving. I will definitely keep planting it.

My experience growing this variety in the summer of 2016 near St. Petersburg: Alyona’s description above matches perfectly even for our northern climate, both in terms of size and taste. Out of all our varieties, this one’s first trusses started ripening super early, already in mid-July. The taste is a bit different from a classic tomato, but our family really liked it. The only issue is that every single one of them cracked/burst during canning, it seems the skins are very thin.

Yana said:
My experience growing this variety in the summer of 2016 near St. Petersburg…

Where did you grow them? Outdoors or in a greenhouse? And when did you sow them? I want to plant it this year too, but can’t decide where to put it.

I wasn’t impressed. The taste was absolutely nothing, and they burst open in the canning jars. Grew them in a poly greenhouse. Maybe they would have done better outdoors, but I won’t be repeating them. There are plenty of other good varieties out there.

Vikki said:
Where did you grow them? Outdoors or in a greenhouse? And when did you sow them?

I grew them in a polycarbonate greenhouse. Sowed seeds on February 14th, planted them out in the greenhouse on April 30th.

My De Barao was a failure 😞

Oddly enough, it got destroyed by late blight, even after I sprayed it with fungicide. 😲

It’s true, it does burst during canning. As for the taste-there are much tastier varieties out there. Yield is decent, ripens nicely indoors on the counter. But I won’t be growing it again.

Wow… opinions are really split… But I’m still going to try planting 2 bushes of the Black and 2 of the Orange. Especially since someone already gifted me the seedlings. I’ll report back later on how it behaves here in the Smolensk region.

I really liked De Barao Black. In the greenhouse it was very productive, up to 6.5 ft (2 meters) tall, mid-season ripening. The fruits are tasty, tender, and sweet.

I didn’t like De Barao Black. Granted, there were a lot of fruits, but they were incredibly tiny and totally tasteless.

ilja said:
I really liked De Barao Black… The fruits are tasty, tender, and sweet.

Ilya, could you tell me where you got your seeds from? My De Barao (from a commercial seed packet) didn’t produce a single fruit over 1.4 oz (40g) in weight.

Olya, my seeds were from the “Schastlivy Sad” (Happy Garden) company.

I loved De Barao Black! Absolutely zero downsides. It grew in the greenhouse in a less-than-ideal spot, didn’t fuss, didn’t get sick. Reached about 6.5 ft (2 meters) tall. I pruned it to a double leader (2 stems), which is something I don’t let just any variety do-but both stems handled the load perfectly and set fruit without missing a single truss. And the taste is excellent. 👍

Love it. It grew on the north side of the greenhouse, practically zero direct sun, but it set a ton of fruit and never got sick. For people with high stomach acidity, it’s absolutely perfect-the flavor is completely sweet with no acid kick at all. I still have a whole platter of them sitting on the counter right now. And they are so good for canning.

Looks like I just got unlucky with my strain. Elena, Natalya, could you please tell me which seed company yours came from? Unfortunately, I can’t remember who packed mine; I got disappointed and threw the packet away. Maybe it’s worth trying one more time.

My daughter and I really loved the taste 👍 A beautiful little tomato, a very convenient size, sweet – we ate them like candy 😋

Mine grew outdoors in the open ground from a March sowing. It didn’t start setting fruit early, but then all of a sudden it threw out a ton of clusters all at once. Turned out to be highly productive, but since I only had one bush, it only yielded enough for fresh eating.

I definitely want to plant it again in 2018.

Olga, same question to you–which seed company was it?

Ariya said:
Olga, same question to you–which seed company was it?

Mariya, my seeds were from Angelina’s private collection.

Here is what it looked like in July. We canned an enormous amount from just 5 bushes. There are no ripe ones in the photo because we were constantly picking them. They fruited like absolute maniacs right up until the frost. We ate them straight off the bush from June through November. I don’t have a ton of gardening experience, but out of the 30 varieties I grew last year, this one is in my top favorites. It is the ultimate canning tomato. You just bite the tip off, drink the juice, and grab the next one. This year I’m planting the entire rainbow of De Barao colors, plus the Royal one.

My De Barao Black from SeDek shot up to about 6.5 ft (2m) outdoors on a trellis. It set fruit well, and the tomatoes (especially on the first few trusses) were actually pretty large (over 3.5 oz / 100g). And it turned out to taste great (sweet with a pleasant acidity, moderately juicy and firm flesh). Much better than the Red and Pink De Barao (those seeds were from Gavrish), although I strongly suspect Gavrish slipped me a completely mislabeled off-type in that packet.

I liked the variety. My neighbor gave me the seedling. Grew outdoors in the open ground. Very good for salads. Saved seeds from it.

I decided to skip planting it this year because my wife complained about the taste. And then I realized-the very first ripe tomatoes we get in our greenhouse have ALWAYS been De Barao. I’m bringing back 3-4 bushes. This variety is bulletproof and extremely reliable; I’ve never had any disease problems with it. And it fruits for a very long time.