Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-6 Experience)
Indeterminate, mid-season slicer. Grew it inside the greenhouse, yield was very good. Fruits are medium to large pinkish-purple-black beefsteaks with a beautifully balanced flavor profile leaning sweet. The vine itself is slender and delicate. Definitely keeping this in the yearly rotation. Seeds originally from Germany.
Elena, how is the flavor and juice level? Is it comparable to Chocolate Stripes?
Olga, you won’t believe it, but I have never grown Chocolate Stripes! 🙈 Just never got around to it.
Flavor on Midnight in Moscow is super balanced, you get both sweetness and acid, with the sweetness taking center stage. Slices are very meaty: not dry by any stretch, but not runny or watery either. Gorgeous internal color. It proved its flavor again this season, so it is an absolute lock for next year. Photos from this year are coming soon, just haven’t sorted through them yet.
On ElenaN said:
Photos from this year are coming soon, just haven’t sorted through them yet.
Olga, finally got around to uploading them! Gorgeous interior color. Seedling stage and early fruit set shown below:
Elena, looking at the slices, does it lean more meaty than juicy?
Loved this variety, both gorgeous and delicious. 👍 😋 Flesh is an extraordinary pinkish-brown, darker on the inside than on the outside skin. Indeterminate, grew it in the greenhouse trained to 2 stems. Heavy cropper, mid-season.
Seeds came from V. Redko via Katya (Zhavoronok). Quite meaty, holds up well on the counter for a while, but still plenty of juice, fruit up to 14 oz (400 g). Nothing but positives, definitely repeating. 👏
Used the flash on these photos, so color looks slightly lighter than in real life:
On Aglaya said:
Elena, looking at the slices, does it lean more meaty than juicy?
Olga, it leans meaty, but it has plenty of juice too, not dry at all. Mouthwatering cross-section with deep raspberry-crimson swirls running through the meat. African Vining, by comparison, has significantly less juice.
Edited February 15, 2017 by ElenaN
Midnight in Moscow is one of the absolute tastiest dark varieties out there. Big thanks to Elena for the seeds! 💐
Midnight in Moscow. Tall grower, hit 6 ft (1.8 m) in my greenhouse, heavy cropper, mid-season maturity. Fruits are large, oblate, dark purple-black slicers. Juicy-meaty interior, fantastic sweet flavor.
My plants stayed fairly short (had 3 vines), roughly 4 ft (1.2 m) in the greenhouse. Set fruit in one concentrated burst, then ripened pretty much in a single flush. Not a late variety at all, more like mid-early here. Juicy, delicious, nice sugar content.
Really impressed. Fruits were all big, meaty, and very flavorful. In protected greenhouse beds, vines grew moderately tall, around 5.2 ft (1.6 m).
Grew this one again, and once more it delivered big time. 👍 😋 🙌
What a gorgeous stunner. Absolute dream tomato.
Total flop for me this year. It was a miserable season for tomatoes, barely had any warm sunny days all summer. Most fruit on this variety started rotting right on the vine during the cold July nights. Other varieties handled the chill and damp way better.
Ran it this season, seeds came from Svetikk. Gorgeous fruit that kept their large size right up until the end of the run. Flavor is excellent, sweet with just a touch of tartness.
My Midnight in Moscow from Svetikk was fantastic: heavy yield, gorgeous fruit, great flavor. Tomatoes are still hanging on the vines right now. Will probably pick every last one tomorrow though, temperatures just plunged and we got hit with snow pellets today.
Edited September 19, 2019 by Irina Fedorova
On 1/10/2016 at 7:41 AM, ElenaN said:
Definitely keeping this in the yearly rotation.
Elena, quoting your 2017 season review report:
Midnight in Moscow (Marianna’s Heirloom 2016). Grew it from two separate sources: my own seed line and Marianna’s. Marianna’s version turned out 1.5 times more productive than my original line, planted right side-by-side. Summer favorite: early, delicious, wonderful variety. Rated 4.95/5.
Marianna’s yielded better, but how did the flavor compare? Was one sweeter?
On 7/2/2020 at 3:24 PM, Tatka said:
Marianna’s yielded better, but how did the flavor compare? Was one sweeter?
Flavor-wise, they were virtually identical.
Turned out to be a very heavy cropper. Beefsteaks averaged around 10.5 oz (300 g). The flavor hit the sweet spot: has that deep complexity you expect from a black tomato, but with the bright sweetness of a pink slicer. Inside it looks mostly crimson, with seeds nestled in green gel like true blacks. Vibrant flavor, barely cracked at all despite growing in partial shade. Definite keeper for next year.
Full Summary: Plant Habit, Productivity, Flavor, and Weather Sensitivity
- 🌿 Plant & Canopy: Indeterminate vine with a surprisingly slender, open habit compared to coarse beefsteak vines. Height ranges from 4 to 6 ft (1.2-1.8 m) in greenhouses. Best pruned to 2 stems. Slices reveal dense, meaty, crimson-pink flesh surrounded by green seed gel.
- 📈 Yield & Seed Strains: Heavy cropper with fruits running 10.5-14 oz (300-400 g). Side-by-side trials show strain selection matters: a line sourced via Marianna’s Heirloom Seeds yielded 1.5x more fruit than older European lines while maintaining identical flavor.
- 👅 Taste: Universally rated as one of the best-tasting dark heirlooms. Melds the smoky, savory depth of a true black tomato with the high-sugar dessert profile of a classic pink beefsteak. Slices are meaty yet thoroughly juicy.
- 🌧️ Vulnerabilities: Sensitive to cold, wet summer spells. In prolonged damp conditions with cold July nights, fruits can suffer from fungal skin rot on the vine. Prone to split-resistance in dry shade, but needs greenhouse shelter in harsh Zone 3/4 climates.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Extensively grown across USDA Zones 3 through 6 (Kostroma, Moscow, Urals, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and the Caucasus).
