📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zlato Skifov (Scythian Gold)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety marketed for its high carotene content. The name “Zlato Skifov” translates to “Scythian Gold”, a nod to the ancient nomadic tribes and their famous gold artifacts.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Classified as an indeterminate, but generally behaves more like a semi-determinate. Rarely exceeds 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) tall in a greenhouse, and stays around 3.3 feet (1 m) in open ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright, golden-orange round fruits. They are very uniform in shape and size, typically weighing between 2.8 and 4.2 oz (80-120 g). The flesh is firm and meaty.
- 👅 Flavor: Highly debated! Some growers rave about its rich, slightly tangy flavor and meaty texture (making it great for fresh eating and canning). However, certain seed batches (specifically from the Aelita company) have resulted in bland, watery fruits.
Description from the seed packet: Mid-early (107-112 days). The plant is indeterminate, vigorous, reaching 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) in height. The fruits are uniform, round, smooth, golden-orange, weighing 3.5-4.2 oz (100-120 g). They are firm, very tasty, and have an elevated carotene content.
Photo by: Rafitta
Another packet description: An ornament for any garden bed, these deep orange clusters will surprise any gardener. Tall, mid-early, deep-orange fruit with high carotene content, weighing 2.8-3.5 oz (80-100 g). The variety is very prolific!!! All-purpose use, great for dietary nutrition.
Mine were from Pomazan (www.rastim.com.ua). I really liked them, very tasty (both fresh and canned), meaty, heavy yielders, and not prone to diseases. Outdoors in the dirt they were more of a medium-height bush (about 3.3 feet / 1 m).
“Scythian Gold” (From AELITA, batch number 16.395 02) – tasted like water and grass. Even grown outdoors in the dirt.
My Scythian Gold was from this specific seed packet: I really loved the variety. Heavy yielder and very tasty. The size even slightly exceeded what was claimed on the packet. The taste has a nice tangy kick to it, which are exactly the kind I love the most.
I grew this in 2015. For a greenhouse, the bush is quite short, about 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 m). Prolific yielder. Quite tasty. Seeds were from Yashchenko, I have no idea where she originally got them. I’d definitely like to repeat this one.
