Bear Creek Tomato Review & Photos

4/5 - (2 votes)

At a Glance

🍅 Quick take: Bear Creek is a mid-season, indeterminate dark beefsteak. Growers absolutely rave about its complex, incredibly sweet flavor with a rich, fruity aftertaste. It produces dense, meaty, brownish-cherry fruits up to 17 oz (480 g). While it can be susceptible to late blight and cracking in bad weather, its phenomenal taste and long harvest window make it a permanent keeper for many.

Early Yields & General Impressions

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Sofia 27 ⭐ Pro Grower (2,154 posts)

Seeds are from Popenko, first time growing it. Really wanted to post about this variety because it completely won me over with its looks and flavor. Couldn’t find much info on it, so I’d appreciate any replies if anyone else grew it–please share. I’ve got one vine growing outdoors in the dirt. Indet, mid-early. Yield is below average (but with this summer’s weather, that’s not saying much). Fruits are smooth, oblate, brownish-cherry colored. The flesh is dense, juicy, the color of ripe cherries (haven’t seen that color before). The flavor is explosive, has a slight tang, but very sweet and delicious. 5+++ for taste.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Drosera

Bear Creek fruit
Bear Creek sliced

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elena0508 (Elena) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,578 posts)

Sofia, this beauty really caught my eye. What’s the fruit size like? And roughly how tall does the vine get?

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Sofia 27 ⭐ Pro Grower (2,154 posts)

Sofia, this beauty really caught my eye. What’s the fruit size like? And roughly how tall does the vine get?

Lena, height outdoors is about 5 feet (1.5 m) give or take, weights are 9-14 oz (250-400 g).

Finally found some info on this variety in Tatiana Kushnareva’s TOMATObase: http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Bear_Creek. She listed it among her top varieties for 2016.

I can also add that the harvest window was long, and the last tomatoes picked in late September tasted just as good as the ones from early summer.

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elena0508 (Elena) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,578 posts)

Thanks. Adding this to my grow list)))

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Nadia (Nadezhda) ⭐ Pro Grower (10,763 posts)
📍 Kaluga Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Grew it in the hoop house, indet, about 5.2 feet (1.6 m) tall, yield was above average. I loved this variety across the board too.

Bear Creek on the vine
Bear Creek harvest 1
Bear Creek harvest 2

Weather Tolerance & Fruit Cracking

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Ovechka (Lyudmila) ⭐ Pro Grower (13,966 posts)
📍 Russia

First time growing this variety, seeds are from Sofia 27. Indet, got 2 vines in the hoop house. One is on the southeast edge, pruned to 2 stems. Got 8 fruits on it. The second vine is on the south side, running 4 stems. That one has 22 fruits!!! (which is crazy for the summer we’re having). First one to ripen in the tunnel. Plant didn’t care about the hard frost we had. Fruits are I don’t even know what color, pinkish-brown with raspberry marbling inside. Greenish gel around the seed locules. Weights from 7 to 16 oz (200-450 g). ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! No pics, no saved seeds yet either. Everything gets eaten immediately 😄. Found a pic of an unripe one growing on the southeast side.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Ovechka

Bear Creek unripe

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Ovechka (Lyudmila) ⭐ Pro Grower (13,966 posts)
📍 Russia

It reacted to the weather swings by cracking pretty badly. Delicious though.

Cracked Bear Creek fruit

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Lana_s_Kavkaza (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (19,268 posts)
📍 Pyatigorsk, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

Really liked this variety. It was a bit bland at first, but later on it got super tasty.

Bear Creek cut open

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ElenaN ⭐ Pro Grower (28,513 posts)
📍 Kostroma, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Seeds from Sofia27, thanks! 🌺 Ripened outdoors in the dirt among the very first ones. The tomatoes are bright, have a very balanced flavor, just delicious. Already planted it again this year for an early harvest. Only have this photo from last year:

Bear Creek sliced

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Svetikk (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (29,393 posts)
📍 Moscow Region (Stupino District), Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Absolutely loved this variety, indet, grew it in the hoop house to 2 stems, tomatoes up to 14 oz (400 g). Heavy yielder, gorgeous and delicious 👍 Seeds from Popenko.

Bear Creek harvest on scale

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Yulya (Yulia) ⭐ Pro Grower (27,086 posts)
📍 Alexandrov, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Sofia, huge thanks for the seeds! 🌺
Tasty, sweet, with a rich, complex flavor. Not a super tall vine. Very few seeds. My yield was just average so far.

Bear Creek single fruit

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Ovechka (Lyudmila) ⭐ Pro Grower (13,966 posts)
📍 Russia

Woohoo! Managed to grow a 17 oz (480 g) fruit without any extra fertilizers! Third year growing this variety.

Massive Bear Creek on scale

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Rozalinda (Marina) 🍅 Member (858 posts)
📍 Penza, Russia (USDA Zone 4/5)

Excellent dark tomato. Fairly early. Mid-height vine, fruits are decently large, dense, and meaty. Seed locules are small, not a lot of seeds or gel. The flavor is exactly what I love. That classic black tomato taste with dominant sweetness and notes of pink tomato in the aftertaste. A rich, complex, interesting flavor. It also has these dark pink rays radiating through the flesh when sliced open. I’ll try to get a pic if my camera can handle it. The texture, flesh color, and flavor reminded me of Borisovna’s Black Heart with a Beak. Just a different shape. You absolutely need this marvel in your collection. (Grew it outdoors in the dirt.)

Edited August 14, 2020 by Rozalinda

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Ovechka (Lyudmila) ⭐ Pro Grower (13,966 posts)
📍 Russia

Yay! I grew it. Fruit weighing…

Edited August 21, 2020 by Ovechka

Bear Creek fruit on scale

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Tatunya (Tanya) ⭐ Pro Grower (13,835 posts)
📍 Istra District, Moscow Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

does this variety store well?

Flavor Profile vs. Late Blight Susceptibility

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fifaira (Irina) ⭐ Pro Grower (12,029 posts)
📍 Moscow Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

The absolute best dark variety this year!!!!

Giving all the praise to BEAR CREEK!!!!

The flavor is just mind-blowing!!! Everything is perfectly balanced, the sweetness and the tang!!! Yield is a solid 5+++

Sets fruit constantly, picked the first flush and then new tomatoes grew out of every single blossom. Thin skin, average shelf life. No complaints at all, the only minor drawback is that late blight loves it, but if you spray on time, it’s no big deal!!!

I actually didn’t spray at all and still pulled a massive harvest off two vines. Highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t grown it yet!!!!

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OlyaSashina (Olga) ⭐ Pro Grower (5,355 posts)
📍 Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Grew it again from my saved seeds. Planted it in a spacious, sunny spot. The flesh is buttery, the tomato is juicy and delicious. Large fruits – 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g).

Bear Creek slices on scale
Bear Creek large fruits

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Fotinia (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (8,948 posts)
📍 Tambov, Russia (USDA Zone 5)

Grew it again from my saved seeds. Planted it in a spacious, sunny spot. The flesh is buttery, the tomato is juicy and delicious. Large fruits – 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g).

Man, I’d love to taste one of those right now, straight out of the dirt…

Bear Creek slice quoted
Bear Creek fruits quoted

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sofochkamai (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (4,293 posts)
📍 Yekaterinburg, Russia (USDA Zone 3/4)

Excellent dark tomato, gorgeous, productive, and delicious. The beauties are a nice size, 9-14 oz (250-400 g), flesh is dense, seed locules are tiny. Grew it on the southwest side.

Bear Creek tomato on scale
Bear Creek inside texture
Bear Creek harvest pile

Full Summary: Flavor, Yield, and Growing Quirks

  • 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate, mid-early to mid-season vine. Generally doesn’t get overly tall (around 5 to 5.5 feet / 1.5-1.6 m) but responds well to multi-stem pruning. Growers successfully run it to 2 or even 4 stems in hoop houses.
  • 🍅 Fruit Size & Look: Stunning brownish-cherry, dark beefsteaks. Sizes typically range from 9 to 14 oz (250-400 g), though some growers hit 17 oz (480 g) without pushing extra fertilizers. The flesh is dense, buttery, and has very small seed locules.
  • 📈 Yield & Challenges: Can be incredibly productive, setting fruit continually until late fall. However, there are two main drawbacks noted: it is susceptible to cracking during heavy weather swings, and it acts as a magnet for late blight if a preventative spray routine isn’t followed. Shelf life is average.
  • 👅 Taste: Universally praised as a 5+ flavor. It delivers that rich, complex, sweet “black tomato” profile with a bright, fruity/pink tomato finish.

👨‍🌾 Editor’s Note: Bear Creek Origins & Breeding

This outstanding dark beefsteak was actually bred by Keith Mueller, the mastermind behind several other famous dark tomatoes. It’s a cross between two absolute legends: Brandywine and Cherokee Purple. It is awesome to see how well Keith’s cross performs across the globe—even in short-season Zones 3 and 4 in Russia, it still manages to pump out that classic Cherokee Purple richness and size!

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