Piedmont Pear Tomato Review & Photos: Bicolor Cocktail Pear

Grew this outdoors in open ground. Indeterminate vine loaded with eye-catching pear-shaped fruits. They turn yellow-orange with a bright pink blush, averaging 2-3 oz (50-80 g). Real head-turners in the garden.

Piedmont Pear, such a neat little pear tomato. Alena has it listed over in her catalog notes, too.Alexander, cut me some slack on the exact translation, will ya!

Rodebielesumer said:
Piedmont Pear, such a neat little pear tomato. Alena has it listed over in her catalog notes, too.

1. Piedmont Pear is a true bicolor. Standard Piedmont is a round pink. Easy to see how folks mix these up.
2. As for the name, both varieties are American heirlooms, not Italian. Named right after the Piedmont plateau in the eastern United States.
3. Just to clear things up, there are no special sub-catalogs on the forum. That personal thread was set up purely so one grower could keep track of her own seed stock.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Drosera

Such a killer cocktail variety. Sweet, gorgeous, and puts out an insane amount of fruit. Canned a ton of them, the size is just perfect for slipping into jars. We will see how the texture holds up once we crack them open this winter.

Put mine in the ground May 5th, kept under perforated plastic along with 13 other plants until June when the covers came off.Out in the garden bed it stayed around 32 inches (80 cm) tall. Sets fruit like crazy, whatever blossoms it pushes, it carries all the way. The plant was smothered in fruit all summer since we hate pruning suckers.

Flavor was way above average, definitely sweet. We never picked it for the dinner table or fresh sales though, strictly sent it to the kettle for sauce and juice. Everyone walking through our patch would pick everything else clean and leave this one hanging.

Growing it unprotected in open ground was our downfall. The fruit soaked up moisture through the roots, foliage, and right through the skin. We had maybe one dry month, and after that it rained constantly. Every single tomato split. And not clean dry cracks like other varieties, these turned to gray mold immediately, look at the photos. Needs a rain shelter or a high tunnel, hands down.

Man, did I ever fall in love with this gorgeous bicolor beauty! Grew it under a rain shelter where it topped out around 3.3 ft (1 m). Trained it to two leaders and did not water it once, the roots just pulled moisture from the garden aisles. Not a single split skin. No monsters either, all came in right at 2 oz (60 g). Flavor had plenty of sweetness to it. Definitely growing it again, but giving it a spot in the greenhouse next year.

Elena 62 said:
Man, did I ever fall in love with this gorgeous bicolor beauty! Grew it under a rain shelter where it topped out around 3.3 ft (1 m). Trained it to two leaders and did not water it once, the roots just pulled moisture from the garden aisles. Not a single split skin.

Put me down as a fan, too! 👍 😋 No photos ready yet, but here is my take.

Ran mine in the greenhouse and the vine hit the rafters, easily topped out at 6.5 ft (2 m). Not an early bird. It sets a massive load of fruit 🙌 first, and only starts coloring up after all that fruit is on the vine. Firm, zero splitting, never turned to mush on the plant. Delicious and stunning. Fruit averaged 3-4 oz (80-120 g), though most varieties seem to size up bigger in my soil anyway 🤷.

Kae-3 said:
Ran mine in the greenhouse and the vine hit the rafters, easily topped out at 6.5 ft (2 m). Not an early bird. It sets a massive load of fruit… Fruit averaged 3-4 oz (80-120 g)…

Irina, I bet they really are supposed to be that size, or your garden dirt is just way richer! 😄 Definitely putting it in the greenhouse next season, bet the yield jumps even higher.

Kae-3 said:
(Ran mine in the greenhouse and the vine hit the rafters, easily topped out at 6.5 ft (2 m)…)

Did the exact same thing for me as it did for Irina. Grew it two years back-to-back in a plastic hoop house (2016 and 2017). Started with seeds from Popenko, then saved my own for year two.

The first season the poor vine got bullied, got planted right next to some monster indeterminates that completely choked it out. Only squeezed out two ugly, sour fruits. Plus my soil was pretty depleted back then, as I figured out later.

This year though, it came out swinging. Tall vine, packed trusses, never dropped a single blossom through heat or cold. The fruit really will not ripen until five full clusters are locked in and sizing up. Held off leaf mold until the bitter end of the season when everything around was already toast. Fantastic variety: meaty, tasty, and a heavy producer.

Incredible variety! 👍 👍 Delicious, eye-catching, and a real heavy producer.

Here is what the inside looks like sliced open:

One of my all-time favorites, I grow it year after year. My favorite way to put it up is whole in fresh tomato juice rather than vinegar brine. I crush up big red, black, or brown beefsteaks for the juice and pack these pears whole. These little bicolor gems look stunning swimming in rich red tomato juice. They have got real meat to them, something to sink your teeth into instead of just gulping down a skin full of water. And fresh off the vine, they are sweet, gorgeous little snacks.